Chapter 21: Falling Ill
"Lovely!"
Claire was entertained as she watched rain dripping through her window.
'No need to water plants today,' she thought.
"Beethoven, you're gonna have to stay here 'cause it's pouring outside," she petted her canine friend.
Apparently, Beethoven was still enjoying the bed weather so he was still lying down on the carpet. Claire prepared his food at his side then stood up.
"Hachoo!" She wiped her nose.
'I think I got colds. The weather's getting cool since winter is approaching,' she thought.
'Oh no..' The umbrella she ordered hasn't arrived yet. 'But I need to attend to everyone.' So she went out and headed to the animal shelters, nonetheless.
She first checked on Pachelbel and Tchaikovsky at the coop. All good. Afterwards, she proceeded to the barn.
It was not all good at the barn unfortunately. Mendelsson was lying weak in his corner. Claire worriedly rummaged through her barn chest for the animal thermometer.
She was right. Mendelsoon was sick.
Claire went back to the barn chest but found there was no more livestock medicine. 'Oh this is bad. I have to buy medicine from Barley.' She looked outside. 'The rain isn't so bad. I know! Uhm.. I'll be back for you Mendelsson.' She ran back to her house.
From her closet, Claire grabbed a thick long hoodie coat then put on her boots. 'Perfect.' Then she rushed to Yodel Farm.
As she turned to the town's south path, she met Popuri who shared the shade of her umbrella.
"Claire…what are you doing out here in the rain without an umbrella?"
"Hi Popuri. I ordered one from the tv shopping but it hasn't arrived yet. Right now I'm going to Barley to buy some medicine for my animals. My cow is sick."
"Oh my goodness. But wait, will you walk with me to my house? I'll lend you this umbrella for a while."
"But what are you going to use when you need to go out later?"
"Don't worry Claire. We have two more umbrellas at home."
"Okay. It's so kind of you. Thank you."
Once Popuri got to their house, Claire bade goodbye and proceeded to Barley's.
oOo
"Barley? It's Claire," Claire called as she knocked on Barley's door.
"Claire. Please come in."
Claire opened the door. She removed her boots and put them on a corner with the umbrella.
"Claire you shouldn't have removed your boots."
"It's okay. It's wet and muddy," she giggled.
"How can I help you on a rainy day?"
"Oh yeah. I'd like to buy a bunch of animal medicine please. My cow is sick and I found out I have no more supply of animal medicine. I need to treat Mendelsson and to stock up too."
"Alright." Barley turned to his back to get medicine packs, then later turned back to Claire. "Here you go…One medicine pack for cows and another for sheep. They're good for storage because they have very long shelf life."
"This is great Barley. Where is May by the way?"
"May is still sleeping upstairs. She must be feeling comfortable with the weather."
"Actually, the weather is really inviting for bed," Claire chuckled. "I won't be long Barley. I have to give my cow medicine immediately," she said after paying for the medicine packs.
"No problem Claire. If you have time, will you come back here to update me about your cow's condition?"
"Sure thing. Thanks for these."
"You're welcome."
Claire rushed back to her farm.
oOo
"Here you go Mendelsson," Claire said as she helped her cow take medicine using a funnel and hose, since it couldn't stand up to drink on its own. "You'll feel better soon," Claire said while stroking Mendelsson's head.
Claire left Mendelsson and Schubert and walked back to her house to have lunch. She ate lunch while watching "Life on the Farm." Today's episode was about mining and she got very interested.
'Come to think of it, there's not much to do today.. Might as well try mining!'
And she did as she thought. After doing the dishes, she grabbed her hoe and her basket. She couldn't carry anymore so she decided to leave the umbrella Popuri lent her and just wear her coat and boots.
oOo
Claire went to the Spring Mine to dig for ores.
She mined at the top three levels and had great luck with gold, silver, and bronze ores. She worked until her basket was full.
Claire didn't mind the rain and that she was occasionally sneezing as she walked back home with a basketful of ores.
At 5 p.m., Zack arrived at the farm in his raincoat to pick up shipments. With an umbrella, Claire was standing beside the shipment box at the corner of the field when he came.
Zack opened the shipment box to transfer the produce to his sack and was surprised. "Woah! This is the first time you're shipping ores. And you got a lot of ores, plus the farm produce!"
Claire smiled. "I got interested in mining when I saw it on tv so I tried it. After all, I didn't have much to do since it's raining."
"Hmmm.. But you sound different. You have colds, don't you? I'm going to leave now. You have to hurry inside and not expose yourself here outside when it's cold and raining. Here's your pay."
Claire happily received her earnings. She proceeded back to her house when Zack left.
She noticed that it got darker and the rain poured heavier. But she breathed a sigh of relief thinking that all her animals are safe and well in their shelters.
"Hachoo!" She was, however, the one starting to feel unwell, as she felt pain in many parts of her body: head, back, arms, legs.
She decided to stay at home to rest.
oOo
When Claire woke up the next day, her body was still aching. Nonetheless, she forced herself to get up to do her farm tasks.
Claire first took care of the chickens, then the cows and sheep next.
After feeding the animals in the barn, she went to Dvorak to brush him. She then took her horse outside to let it run around the farm.
It was a struggle for Claire to walk. She squinted most of the time as she moved, not because the sun was too bright, but because she was really not feeling well.
When Claire had let Dvorak out, she walked to small pond to fetch water for the crops. But before she could reach the edge of the pond, her vision spun, everything around her lost color.
Claire lost her balance and fell on the grass. Beethoven rushed to her and tried to move her but she did not respond. He ran to town, barking.
oOo
"Laters dude!" Gray said to Cliff before he turned to the road headed to his grandpa's house. Cliff was headed to Duke and Manna's house to report for work.
When Gray faced south, he saw the barking Beethoven approaching. "Cliff!"
Cliff was about to knock at Duke and Manna's door but he heard Gray and Beethoven so he turned to look.
Gray lowered himself and looked at Beethoven. "What's the matter buddy? Why are you here?"
Cliff came in rushing and bent to stroke the dog. "Why are you alone?"
Beethoven bit Cliff's trousers and pulled him.
"Something must have happened to Claire," said Cliff. "I'll just tell Duke and Manna that I'll be late for work."
"Okay I'll hold on to Beethoven," said Gray.
Cliff removed Beethoven's mouth from his trousers. He went to Duke and Manna's and told them what happened and apologetically said he will be late for work for about an hour because he will check on Claire. The couple kindly allowed him.
"It's alright Cliff. Please make sure Claire is okay."
"I will. Thank you."
oOo
When Cliff, Gray, and Beethoven arrived at the farm, Beethoven ran to Claire who was still lying down on the grass, unconscious.
Cliff and Gray were startled at the scene. Cliff ran ahead of Gray.
Cliff lifted Claire's upper body. "Claire?" He held her arms, then her forehead. "She's burning!"
"You have to get her to her house. I'll just ask someone from the clinic to come," said Gray.
"Alright. Thank you Gray."
Gray left to go to the clinic. Cliff lifted Claire and carried her to her house.
Cliff laid Claire on her bed. He removed her shoes and covered her with a blanket.
Later, Gray came back with Elli.
"Hello there. Oh dear.. Claire is so red," said Elli, worriedly.
She then proceeded to get Claire's temperature. "Thirty nine degrees Celsius. I expected it based on how she looks and feels."
Next, she checked Claire's breathing. "A little bit faster… this means she must be over fatigue."
"That must be the case! I happen to meet Zack on my way to the clinic. When he asked me why I was in a hurry, I told him I had to ask someone from the hospital to attend to Claire because she's sick. Then he told me, Claire must have overworked herself because she shipped a lot of ores yesterday, aside from the farm produce," shared Gray.
"Oh, I see.." Elli was putting a cold towel on Claire's forehead to lower her fever when she remembered something. "Oh! By the way, when I visited Lillia to deliver her medicine, Popuri shared to me that she met Claire running in the rain headed to Barley's. Something about a sick cow if I'm not mistaken," Elli said.
"Claire's been dedicating a lot of her time and energy for the farm," Cliff said sadly. "Elli, is she going to be okay?" he asked.
"Yes she will. Don't worry. But it will take a few days for her to fully recover," Elli responded, smiling.
Cliff somehow felt relieved. "That's good to know. Thank you so much Elli."
"My problem is..I couldn't stay the night for Claire. I have to be with Stu and Grandma," said Elli.
"I can ask Mary to come here and stay the night to look after Claire. I'm sure she and her family wouldn't mind that," Gray offered.
"No!..Uhm.. I mean..it's okay… Don't ask Mary..I..I'll be the one to stay here and take care of Claire," Cliff said, blushing.
Gray and Elli smiled at each other.
"That's great to know, Cliff. I am certain that Claire will be happy to find out that you would take care of her," said Elli.
Cliff's blushed even more.
"Don't worry about work Cliff. I'll drop by Duke and Manna's to inform them," said Gray.
"For now you can let Claire take this Turbojolt and Bodigizer. She has to drink each when she wakes up later, after dinner. I'll come back later with Doctor's full prescription."
"O-okay.. Uhm.. Is..is there any other thing I should do or prepare?" Cliff said.
Elli giggled. "Just dip the towel on Claire's forehead in the cold water that I prepared beside her so her temperature would be lowered. Apart from that, nothing more. Everything's alright here for her. Just don't leave her, okay?"
"Okay. Thank you so much you guys."
"You're welcome," Gray and Elli both said. They later bade goodbye to Cliff and left.
oOo
Cliff locked the door after Gray and Elli left. But before he could step farther from the door, someone knocked.
"Cliff? It's Popuri."
"Oh Popuri." He opened the door. "Come in."
"Zack told me what happened to Claire. How is she now?"
"Not really good. She's still burning," Cliff sadly replied.
"Oh Claire. I saw her running in the rain yesterday. She already had colds. Her exposure to the rain must have made her feel worse."
"Yeah. Elli shared to us that Claire went to buy medicine for her cow."
"She always thinks about others before herself." Popuri placed something she was carrying on Claire's dining table. "Here. Please ask her to eat this. It's vegetable soup. It will help make her feel better."
"Thank you Popuri."
Popuri walked to Claire's bedside, knelt, and held her blonde hair's hand. "You're gonna be okay Claire. Just rest," she said softly.
Popuri then stood and faced Cliff. "Cliff, thank you for staying for Claire. I know she will be happy when she wakes up and sees you," she said, chuckling.
Cliff just blushed like earlier.
"Okay. I'll be going now. It's going to be late. I'm still needed at home."
"Thank you Popuri."
So Popuri left and Cliff once again locked the door.
When he turned to face Claire, he got worried as he saw her looking uneasy. She was still asleep but she looked like she was in pain, and she was groaning, although very discreetly.
Cliff rushed to Claire's side. He knelt on her bedside and held her hand. "Claire…" he whispered.
Claire's eyes were still closed. But she spoke sadly, "No. Please don't leave me alone." Then she woke up and quickly sat up, making the towel on her head fall to her lap. "Pleease.."
Cliff sat beside her when she got up. He told her kindly, "Hey..it's okay.. you're not alone." He was still holding her hand.
Claire looked at the hands holding her and raised her gaze to the brown eyes kindly looking at her. She was still sad but overwhelmed by the presence of the boy beside her that she wrapped her arms around him. She continued to cry.
Cliff's arms were on mid air for a while because of shock. But he later gave the crying blonde his warm embrace. "You're not alone. I'm here. I'm here for you," he whispered into her ear.