I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache.
"Navy?" Someone asked.
"Mmhmm?" I groaned, massaging my throbbing head.
"You okay?"
"Uh, sure." I stood to get up but lost my balance. Whoever I'd been talking to caught me. "Er, thanks ... Mr. Kloppman?"
"Yeah. Listen, you don't look so good. You can stay here today."
"I-I can't. I've gotta sell!" I said feeling antsy. "I'll be fine."
Instead of replying, Kloppman put a hand on my forehead. He nodded wisely and said "You need a couple of days off. Lay down."
"Bu-"
"Stop it. You're just as stubborn as your father was."
"Bu-"
"Naves, listen to 'im." Skittery said.
"Where'd you come from?" I asked.
"Downstairs." He stood by the stairs, rubbing the back of his head.
I turned my attention back to Kloppman. "This doesn't make any sense! I just fell in the water, I shouldn't be sick!" I pounded my fists on the mattress. Oh yes, very mature.
"Were you okay before you fell in?"
"I was really cold and no one else was." I said unsure if if was important.
"Then you probably just caught the flu and falling in triggered it."
"Oh. Alright." I said casually. "When will I be better?"
"Two days, three tops."
"Okay." I was too tired to care much. Kloppman left and it was just me and Skittery in the attic.
"I'm real sorry. This is my fault." Skitts said, angry with himself.
"Uhm, didn't you hear Kloppman? He said I was already sick." I teased.
"Bu-"
"Shut up." I laughed.
"Do you need anything?"
"Naw."
"Sure?"
"Yes."
"Positive?"
"Skittery!"
"All right already." He laughed. "I'll come see you between editions."
"You don't have to. I'll probably be asleep anyways."
He just shrugged and left.
Over the next few hours I found out just how boring laying in bed by yourself is. I wrote a letter back the Captain and eventually wandered downstairs. I was tired but I refused to stay in bed all day. I started looking through the old newspapers lying around.
"You know we can sell them back to the Distribution offices now." I heard someone say from behind me. "Those ones are all pretty old."
I turned around and when I saw who it was there was an eruption of butterflies in my stomach. "Jesus Christ Skittery! You scared the hell outta me."
"Sorry." He shrugged and sack down on the couch next to me.
"I didn't know you could sell 'em back." I gestured to the stack papers in front of me.
"Yeah, that's what happened with the strike."
"I thought they lowered the price."
"Naw, they never lowered it. The compromise was we can sell them back instead of eatin' what we didn't sell."
"You ate newspapers?" I asked astonished.
"Er, it's a figure of speech." He said. I laughed at my own mistake.
"That wasn't my brightest moment."
"No, it really, really wasn't." He laughed. "Listen, I gotta go sell some papers. I'll be back later."
"Alright. See ya." I said, my voice revealing a little more of me disappointment than I meant it to. I was so bored and having someone, especially Skitts, to talk to was nice. He got up and left anyways and once I heard the door close I slumped down on the couch and fell asleep.
A knock on the door woke me up. "What the hell? Who knocks on a lodging house door?" my first thought. I got up slowly and walked over. In all honesty, I wasn't feeling that sick now, just lazy.
The door was right in front of the side of the staircase and there wasn't much room between it and the door when it was opened. I opened the door without any hesitation. When I saw who stood in front of me I backed into the wall behind me, shaking my head 'no.'
Sorry I was fantastically slow with this. It's pretty short too. Please read the stuff at the bottom when your done.