Razzle-frackin' English! Hostickilfeifer oratorical research paper! How am I supposed to come up with a current issue to talk about with 'Dracula' and 'The Three Musketeers' as reference?! *sigh* I suppose it's my own fault for reading old books... Pardon my cartoon French, but I just think it bites...





Rematerializing in his room, Sheik shuffled through some drawers before finding his whip, then reached under his bed and snagged his harp. No way was he going unprepared again, no sirree Bob. That done, he teleported over to the hot spring and changed into his now-dry clothes. Securing his mask over his face, he picked up his harp, stuffed it into that...void thing where travelers keep their stuff, wound his chain whip around his arm, and set off.

The gate separating Kakariko from the trail leading to Death Mountain had long ago bitten the big one, and the gatekeeper that went with it had been unceremoniously retired, so Sheik wasn't expecting to meet anyone. However, to his unmitigated consternation, there sat along the side of the entryway not only a soldier, but Dominic, carving an apple with his dagger and whistling "Exa of Thirty-One." Sheik remembered, years ago, the hylian children singing it. Sheik had liked it as a child; the words were all utter nonsense, and the tune was blessedly simple, as youngsters are, essentially, tone-deaf. Zelda had later made the mistake of asking Impa what the song was about. (Apparently, Exa had, a hundred years ago, been a female zora serial killer who had managed to brutally slaughter thirty-one victims before being chased into the Lost Woods by a group of officers and vigilantes, never to be seen again. This little tidbit of information had very successfully sucked the fun out of "Exa of Thirty-One" entirely.)

[Amazing, what children make up songs about...]

Before he was noticed, Sheik hurriedly stuffed his chain whip down his shirt, and hoped it wouldn't be noticeable. Carrying a weapon was a big, no-no, bad thing to do, according to the (Somewhat Revised) Law of Hyrule, and the penalties for violation were superlatively harsh. The law had also become admirably creative with regards to sentencing. The whip would stay out of view.

Fervently wishing that there was more than one path to take, Sheik walked quietly, in the ridiculous hope that he could just breeze on by unseen. As expected, Dominic looked up. "Oh, hello there, sheikah."

[Wow, my heart just trembles at that tender greeting...] "Good afternoon, Captain." Sheik acted as though he had just realized that the hylian was even there.

Dominic eyed Sheik in perlustration for a moment. "Why all the wrappings? You look ready for interment." He wore an obnoxious, galling smirk, but his eyes were unadulterated venom.

Thinking quickly, Sheik whipped up some bull-pucky excuse. "Uh...I'm fasting. Religious thing, inner peace and whatnot." [Goddesses, sometimes I'm so clever I scare myself!]

Dominic nodded sagely. "Ah, yes. Okay. All that cult worship you people do..." He looked pensive for a minute. "Where are you headed off to?"

Relaxing slightly, Sheik replied, "Up the mountain." [Duh...]

"To do...?"

[Goddesses, get a life...] "Oh, you know. Fasting, meditation...other ...spiritual...thingies...like that..."

Dominic quirked an eyebrow. "O...kay. You do that." He went back to eating his apple. Sheik stifled a sigh of relief and began walking again.

"And let's keep the blood sacrifices to a minimum, all right?" the hylian called after him. Without turning, Sheik waved a hand in the affirmative. [Sacrifices indeed...Stupid hylian...]

*grumblemutter*

Dodging tektites and the occasional falling rock, Sheik worked his way up the twisting path. He had never actually climbed the mountain; when Impa had brought him to Kakariko seven years ago, they had taken a detour around Death Mountain on the left side. The farthest he'd ever been was to a funny looking wall-thing an hour away from Dodongo's Cavern when he was twelve, and he'd caught Dark Realm for it, too, when Impa found him. He was rather surprised to note that there was no vegetation growing on the slopes except a few low, bulbous little bush whatchamacallits. [Must be bomb flowers. Kinda homely plants...]

After a two-hour hike, the ground leveled off as a steppe. A tall pole with a strip of ragged red cloth tied on top marked where the path diverged. One path sloped up pretty steeply, and sections of the trail had crumbled away. The other rose gradually, turning to disappear around the side of the mountain. A signpost nearby labeled them as 'Death Mountain Summit' and 'Goron City', respectively. Gazing around for a minute or two, Sheik memorized the pole and signpost, just in case he had to come back quickly, or wanted to save himself a climb.

Tired out, he sat on the dusty ground, leaned back against a boulder, and let the breeze cool him. [Which way...] He sighed, closed his eyes, and picked out some notes on his harp absently. Somehow, the notes turned into 'Exa of Thirty-One.' [Curse that Dominic...!] Letting his hand fall to his lap, he sighed again. [Where to start looking? The ground's too hard for tracks, there's no grass or leaves to leave marks in... If I was a goron, where would I go?] He couldn't think up any sort of answer to that, and he was just starting to get a doozy of a headache, when a voice accosted him.

"Hoo hoot! Hoo! What are you looking for, sheikah?"

"AAGH!" Leaping from the ground and spinning to face the noise, Sheik brandished his whip, the links making a crackling *snap!* Perched atop the boulder was an enormous, terrifying, heinous, razor-taloned...owl? "Guh?"

The owl ruffled his feathers indignantly. Clacking its beak once, it spoke, "Well, I say! A fellow makes an innocent query, and he's threatened with violence. How rude! Why, back when *I* was an owlet, people had manners, and didn't go about-"

"Excuse me!" Sheik cut in, while simultaneously trying to get his brain around the fact that he was talking to a giant OWL of all things. "But *I* think it's pretty rude to sneak up on some poor, unsuspecting soul and nearly give him an aneurysm!" He began rewinding his whip, keeping a weather eye on the curiously large bird of prey, who stared right back.

The bird blinked a few times, then chuckled (or an owl's equivalent of chuckling). "Oh...Well...Yes, I suppose...that may have been a bit...improper." That seeming to serve as an apology, the owl began talking again at once, as though nothing had happened. "I'm Kaepora Gaebora. Hooo might you be?" he said, stretching his neck out forward and twisting his head upside down. It looked a little disturbing.

"Sheik," Sheik answered, tentatively shaking the Kappybarra...Koroba Golloppa...Kabobo...the owl's proffered talon. [I'm shaking hands with an owl. I wonder if there are hallucinogenic gases near volcanoes...]

"Why are you looking at me so strangely, Sheik?" the owl asked, still spinning it's head around.

[That doesn't look natural...] "I could say the same to you."

The owl clacked its beak. "It's not often anyone comes up here, especially sheikahs. What are you looking for?"

"There you go again. What makes you think I'm looking for anything?" Sheik said, a little too defensively.

The owl was unperturbed. "You wouldn't make a climb like this for nothing."

Sheik saw that he wasn't going to get rid of the owl unless he made an answer. Besides, maybe he had seen the kid. "I'm looking for the Big Mother's son. I've never been here before, so I don't really know where to begin looking."

The owl appeared to nod, and closed his eyes in concentration. He didn't move for five minutes; when he suddenly spoke, Sheik jumped slightly. "The little one is very young; I doubt he'd be outside the city. Therefore, the city would be the most logical place to begin." He looked very pleased with himself, spinning his head first one way, then the other.

"Thank you very much," Sheik said, and, giving the owl a small, polite bow, he started up the path to the goron city.

With a soft rustle of wings, the owl was airborne, swooping over Sheik's head as he called, "You're most welcome, Sheik! Hoo, hoo, hoot!" He flew very quickly for a bird his size, and was soon a small speck in the sky.

Sheik shook his head in confused amazement. "What a weird bird..."

Within the hour, he found himself at a big tunnel entrance decorated with banners and lettering he couldn't decipher. A hylian signpost to the side read: "Goron City." [Gee, interesting name.] Walking in, he emerged in a huge cavern lit by torches. The size of the place was staggering. Walking to the edge of the walkway, Sheik could see that the place had at least three levels, with doorways carved out of the solid rock leading to who-knows-where. He walked slowly around the circular street, looking for signs of life. The city was silent; it appeared deserted. [Did the whole blasted town run off to fight that dragon?] Cupping his hands around his covered mouth, he started calling to try and get the attention of whoever might be left. "Helloooooo! Anyone here?" he yelled. Only his echo answered. This continued for a good half hour. Sheik had checked through the entire third story; at least, as far as he could see. This was frustrating. Why couldn't kids stay where they were put? [As if I ever did, but still...] "I said, is anyone he-OOF!"

*WHUMP!*

Out of nowhere, something had just barreled into the back of his legs and sent him flying through the air, unfortunately, over the ledge. Twisting himself around, he made a grab for the edge, but missed by a few inches. That would have been the untimely end of him, if the next street hadn't been a measly nine feet below to break his fall.

*THUD!*

Sheik landed flat on his back, knocking the wind out of him as he gazed up, bewildered, at the spinning cavern ceiling. After a few seconds he got his breath back, and sat up veeery slowly. Everything hurt. His head hurt, his back hurt, his arms and legs hurt, his butt hurt, and his stomach and chest hurt. He hadn't even landed on those last two, either... "Ouch..."

A smallish boulder rolled up to him and stopped. [Well, this day just keeps getting stranger...] Upon uncurling, though, it turned out to be a goron child. His black eyes sparkled in righteous anger, and he wore a scowl that would have been intimidating, had he not been so tiny. "That's right, and there's plenty more where that came from, you dirty spy!"

Sheik stared blankly. "Spy?"

The pint-sized goron continued his tirade. "The gorons will never pay tribute to any slimy gerudo! You can go tell Ganondorf that yourself if you can get past me! Here my name and tremble! I am Link, Hero of the Gorons!"

Sheik blinked twice. "Are you done?"

The goron nodded. "Yep. Whadda'ya say to THAT, punk?"

Rolling his eyes, Sheik picked himself up off the ground to tower over the little goron, which was pretty neat, considering he was too short to tower over most people. "I say: I'm Sheik, a warrior of the sheikah, and I don't take too kindly to ruffians who think they can just plow into whoever they want." He narrowed his eyes for effect, giving the child a withering glare.

It worked like a charm. Actually, it worked a little too well, for the kid screamed and curled up in a ball. "Waaaaahhh! Don't eat me!"

That exclamation almost knocked Sheik back a couple steps. "Eat you? Where did you get that idea?"

The goron kept wailing. "I don't WANNA be a lampshade!"

[Was this kid dropped on his head, or something?] "Lampshade? Where are you getting this stuff, kid?"

The child uncurled a bit to look up at the sheikah, big tears in his eyes. "My momma said sheikahs eat bad kids and make lampshades out of them. And you're a SHEIKAH and now I've made you MAD, and...and...and I don't WANNA be a LAMPSHADE!" He went back to sobbing.

[Oh, great...] Sheik didn't deem himself good with children. He liked kids...at a safe distance. He desperately tried to think of how Zelda would handle this situation. Not that any child would ever be in mortal terror of her, but... [That whole 'talking gently' approach might work...] "Hey now, kid...I'm not really going to do anything..." The goron sniffled and looked up again, uncurling himself. [Sweet...] "There you go. Just shut up for a second, kiddo." Sheik knelt down to Link's height. "Sheikah's don't eat and/or make lampshades out of kids, bad or otherwise. In fact, we consider even smacking a child to be a crime. Ease up. You mother was probably just exasperated with you, or something like that."

Link fidgeted a bit. "You're not gonna eat me?"

Sheik shook his head. "Or make you into a lampshade."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"...Okay." The child stared at Sheik closely for a few moments. "Do you work for Ganondorf?"

"No."

"Oh. What are you doing here, then? The city's empty. Everyone's either eaten, hiding, or fighting the dragon with Daddy."

"I'm looking for a lost child. Do you know the Big Mother?"

The child perked up and started dancing around. "Momma! Momma! You know where Momma is?! I've been looking for her all day! I thought she'd gotten eaten!"

Sheik heaved a sigh. At least he wouldn't have to search the entire mountain. "I take it you're the one I'm looking for."

The kind nodded. "I'm the Little Brother! Where's Momma?"

"She's in Kakariko; I'm to bring you to her."

"Yay! Let's go, let's go!"

[Well, that was easier than I thought it would be...] "All right, then. Come on." Sheik headed towards the nearest staircase, Link ambling along beside him. Outside, it was nearing sunset; Sheik reminded himself to keep an eye out for any potentially hostile animals. Soon enough, a steady torrent of words were tumbling out of his youngster companion.

"What's that?"

Sheik sighed again. "It's a chain whip."

"Is it hard to use?"

"It's tricky."

"Did you ever hit yourself?"

"Now and then."

"Where?"

*sigh* "In the face, mostly. Walk, Link."

"How come your eyes are red?"

"They just are. Why are you eyes black?"

"How come your ears are so long and skinny?"

"They just ARE, Link."

"You're not a very good answerer... ...How come your face is covered up?"

Sheik simply sighed.

"Do you have a big, icky scar?"

"No."

"Can I see it?"

"There's no scar, Link!" Sheik pulled down the mask for a moment. "See? Nothing. Stop asking me about it."

Link kept quiet. After about two seconds, he said, "You're kinda' grumpy, Mister Sheikah."

"Sheik."

Link kept going, more to himself than to Sheik. "I like you, though. You're nice, even though you're grumpy."

Sheik didn't answer. Quite honestly, he was beginning to tune out the kid's constant jabbering.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Even with the mask, one could make out a grimace of sheer pain on Sheik's countenance. "No."

"How come?"

"Because."

"'Because' isn't a reason; Momma says so."

Sheik noticed that he had begun to grind his teeth and tried to relax, in spite of this miniature Inquisition. [He's not going to understand, but...if it'll get him to clam up for a minute...] "I don't have a girlfriend because I'm submissively soulbound. There. Happy?"

Link crinkled his brow in deepest concentration for at least five seconds. "What's 'surbissimally solebownd' mean?"

"It means there's been a psychic bond made between me and a woman I'm supposed to protect, and I'm the less powerful of us two."

"Is she like your wife?"

[Will the pain never stop?!] "No. In fact, part of the binding spell makes it so that I..." Sheik blushed and stumbled for words. "It kinda...it...prevents anything untoward from happening between us, and keeps me loyal by making sure I can't get...distracted...by someone else...and WHY in HYRULE am I discussing the gory details of my personal life with a six-year-old?!"

Link cocked his head to the side, rather lost.

*sigh* "It basically just makes me asexual, okay?" Sheik hoped that would end it.

Link's eyes widened in shock. "You said s-e-x!" This sent him into a fit of laughter, which, fortunately, kept him from asking any more prying questions while he was thus preoccupied. Sheik blessed the reprieve, and they walked on for ten minutes without inturruption. He also realized that he didn't feel that great. He hadn't eaten anything all day, after all... [I want this day to be over...]

"Mister Sheikah?" came a small, plaintive voice.

[I'm never having kids...] "What?" Sheik asked (a bit snappishly), as he turned around.

"My feet hurt."

Well...the kid wasn't that big, so... [@#$%!] "Okay..."

*five minutes later*

Trying to piggy-back a goron, even a small one, when he was already exhausted had proved to be a bad idea, indeed. Sheik lay sprawled out on the ground on his back, taking big, shaky gulps of air and wincing at the spasm-inducing pain shooting up and down his back. [Who knew gorons were so HEAVY! My goddesses, I'm paralyzed!] Link sat on a rock nearby keeping vigil over his rescuer, who now lay writhing in agony, with the attention children pay to all such spectacles. He felt sympathy for the sheikah, of course, but it was also very interesting, like watching flipped-over tektites trying to get back on their feet...only, Sheik really wasn't making any attempt at moving at all, he just groaned now and then.

"Gee, are you okay, Mister Sheikah?"

[I'm dying!] "Just give me...a minute kid...I'm fine..."

"You made a real funny noise just before you fell down."

"...I'll bet..."

"Me and Daddy found a dodongo makin' noises like that once. I was just lying there, like you. Daddy said it should be put out of its misery and then he hit it on the head real hard with his hammer."

Sheik tried to glare at the goron without having to turn his neck. "How lovely."

"After you get up, how much farther is it?"

Sheik briefly considered stopping for the night. Looking up (which was pretty much all he could do at the moment) he could see that the moon had risen. However, it was slightly chilly tonight, and considering that they had passed the crossroads half an hour ago... He figured they weren't more than an hour or so from the bottom, since descending was always faster than climbing. "Not too much farther." He eased himself into a sitting position.

Link sighed. "I'm tired. Your legs are lots longer than mine; I can't keep up..." He looked at the ground.

"Hmmm, I think we've verified that I can't carry you..." While he was thinking of a way to get the child moving again, his stomach choose that lull in the conversation to make itself heard, quite assertively. [Eek.]

Link's jaw dropped in astonishment. "Wow! Even Daddy's tummy doesn't growl THAT loud!"

Sheik shrugged and said, "Well, I haven't eaten anything today..."

"Nothing ALL DAY?!" Link couldn't fathom it. "How?!"

"I'm...a little absentminded."

Link took a scolding tone. "How can you forget to EAT?"

"I just did, I guess." Sheik retrieved his near-lost train of thought. "Hey, could you roll down the path?" It seemed a tad mean, but he couldn't think of anything else, and it would be fast.

Link considered this. "Could you give me a push? Gettin' started's the hardest."

Sheik thought this was fair, so after he managed to stand and move fairly well, Link curled himself up. Sheik braced his hands against the goron's hide, planted his feet, and gave a mighty shove. After about three such attempts, the animate boulder was moving, bouncing merrily along and accelerating down the path, leaving a thoroughly bushed sheikah wishing he could do the same without sustaining a fatal head injury.

Sheik gasped, resting his hands on his knees and trying desperately not to keel over from dizziness. [Need sleep, food. ...And a deep-tissue massage. Sleep, food, massage...] He forced himself to stagger along down the trail, keeping the goron in sight.

When Sheik had dragged his poor, abused carcass down the mountain, he found Link sitting on the ground near the entrance to Dodongo's Cavern.

"You look kinda bad, Mister Sheikah." Sweet kid.

Sheik panted for a while before answering. "I'm fine...just...fine...it's all right...Wait here for a minute, Link." Sheik started walking slowly down the path. He called back over his shoulder, "And I mean it: don't move."

He was really hoping that Dominic wasn't there. He didn't remember when shift changes were, but he prayed that no one had been able to replace him when the irritating captain went off-duty. It wasn't Dominic, but unfortunately, there was someone there, and he wasn't sleeping. Making sure he wasn't seen or heard, Sheik made his way back to the cavern, running as fast as he could without his lungs bursting.

Upon reaching Link, he slid to a stop and blurted out, "Hey, Link, wanna see me do a trick?" Earlier, he had tried to talk the goron child into teleporting with him, but Link had adamantly refused, saying it was too scary. Sheik was too tired to walk anymore. He could also be crafty as a keaton when he was so inclined.

Link took the bait. "What?"

Sheik grinned. [Yes!] "Grab my hand." The child obliged. "Now, close your eyes, and don't open them until I tell you to." Link squeezed his eyes shut.

Rallying his strength, Sheik pictured the klivingchen at home, he and his cargo melting into the void, rematerializing in record time. Sheik gratefully dropped to the floorboards, tears of utter rapture welling in his eyes. "Okay, open your eyes."

Zelda and Diamondi were sitting with their backs facing the newly arrived pair, but upon Link's shout of "Momma!" they spun and leapt from their seats. Diamondi's was probably permanently bowed, the poor thing.

"Link!" The Big Mother wept as she scooped up her son, weeping and scolding him. "Don't you ever wander off like that again, you hear me? Lava and sulfur, if you ever scare me like that again...You just wait 'till your father gets home! Oh! Thank Din you're safe!" The little goron squeaked out something like "Air..."

Zelda knelt down by Sheik, and they both watched the enthusiastic reunion. [Do you think we should remind her that she was the one who 'wandered off?'] Sheik thought, absolutely NOT going to let Zelda's sentimentality seep into him and reduce him to a sniffling puddle of goo.

Zelda sighed as though she was long-suffering. {Whatever. Don't ruin the moment, Sheik.} Then she gave him a congratulatory hug and peck on the cheek. "Good job, Sheik. I thought you'd find him."

[Just 'thought?' You weren't certain?]

{...I was fairly sure.}

[Nice...Real nice...]

They had forgotten the presence of the Big Mother, who swept them both into a goron hug amid startled yelps. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're both just GEMS, absolute gems! I was so worried, you know, so worried!"

Zelda's eyes bugged out. "Air!" Her plea was unrecognizably muffled.

[Not so hilarious now, is it?]

Finally, Diamondi released them, Zelda trying to catch her breath as daintily as possible, Sheik just trying to stay upright. "If there's anything either of you ever need from us gorons, don't you be too proud to ask; it's the least we can do, after all." She stood up tall, looking both slightly intimidating and ingratiated.

"Of course. It's been an honor to help you, Big Mother," said Zelda, bobbing a curtsy. "Sheik agrees."

Sheik managed a wan smile. He wanted to go to bed.

{We still have to get them home.}

*sigh* [I know...]

{Listen. I know you're tired, so how about I lend you some of my power. Then you can teleport them back into the city.}

[Sure, sounds okay...]

Sheik made an attempt at cheerfulness. "Hey, Link, want to see the trick again?" Link had been very rapidly telling his Mother how Sheik had 'made everything cold, and then...POOF!' as he put it. Sheik held out one hand for each of the gorons. "Close your eyes again, or it won't work." As he said this, he sent a knowing wink in Diamondi's direction, who nodded in understanding, quite excited herself and hoping that the 'trick' was the one she thought it was.

Sheik envisioned the place in the Goron city where he had somewhat violently met Link, and slipped into the void. Zelda's aide was wonderful; he doubted he could have taken two extra people on his own. The reentry, however, was a little rough on him, seeing as he wasn't really physically up to teleportation at the moment, helped or otherwise.

"Ha!" The goron woman had, apparently enjoyed her first trip through the gap between dimensions, and she danced around happily with her son for a while. Then, espying Sheik, she crushed him in another hug. "Regardless of being the first, you, young 'un, are the most gemmy sheikah I ever met! Thank you so much for all your trouble!" With that, she planted a big ol' kiss on his cheek, and set him down before he expired from lack of oxygen. "Oh! You look like a dodongo with the measles! You get home and go to bed!" She laughed, gathered up her son, and began trundling off for home.

[That's an excellent idea.]

Sighing and gathering himself a final time, he envisioned his bedroom, and, with Zelda's help, teleported fairly quickly. The reentry nearly made him retch. Lack of food really wasn't a great thing for sheikahs; they tended to be energy guzzlers. Sheik dragged himself across the room and flopped onto his bed, not bothering to change, and too tired to sleep right away.

Zelda had seen his destination, and came upstairs, carrying a bowl of the thin soup she'd made for her and Diamondi's dinner. "All right, sit up. You made me eat." She grinned mischievously at Sheik's sidelong glance.

"You've poisoned it, haven't you?"

Zelda giggled, careful not to spill. "No. Who'd do the menial labor around here if I did that?" She handed the bowl to Sheik, who slurped it down alarmingly quickly. Zelda raised her eyebrows incredulously. "Nayru, Sheik, don't choke! That's the fastest I've ever seen you eat my cooking. You MUST be hungry..." She watched him drain the bowl in wonderment.

Sheik grinned sheepishly. "I...kinda forgot to take food with me." Deftly changing the subject, so as to avoid the 'if your head wasn't screwed on' lecture, he looked into his empty bowl. "I take it it's time to rustle up some grub if dinner was cucco broth and old celery."

Zelda nodded. "It's time to 'rustle up' some rent money as well. The first of the month is in a week."

Sheik sighed. "Great. Well, I'll see what I can do, okay?"

Zelda gave him another little hug. "Please do. Princesses shouldn't sleep in boxes in the ally." Sheik chuckled half-heartedly. He'd hate to see it come to that. "Get some sleep, Sheik. It's late." Sheik nodded, lying down and dozing off almost instantly now that his stomach was full.



Zelda watched him sleep for a few minutes. {He looks like a child when he's asleep.} She thought back to when they were children, at the beginning of Ganondorf's reign, before everything had changed too much. He hadn't seemed very promising then, just a short little boy who got beat up a lot, didn't like mud fights, and was scared of spiders (so, of course, Zelda used to pick them up and chase him with them, cackling madly). He really hadn't changed much since then; he had matured, but he'd somehow retained the light-heartedness that had deserted his bonded soul, something for which Zelda was very grateful.

He was tough; she just hoped he wouldn't get too weighed-down, now that Link's quest had restarted. She knew what was going to happen to poor Link. She would hate to see her protector as jaded and cold as she and Link would be by the time this was all over.

{It's not fair. It's too much for so few people.}

She headed downstairs, walking quietly so as not to wake Sheik, and got herself ready for bed, trying to think of people who might be willing to take on an assistant. She couldn't ease his burden as far as the Sages and Link were concerned, but she could at least help out with the ever-present issue of money.

{I hope nothing happens tomorrow. He doesn't get enough rest. I hope he doesn't get sick...}