In January 1966, when Charles Finster was in third grade, he had a bout with the killer flu. Lying there in bed with a fever, runny nose, coughing, wheezing, aches all over his body, and complete mental and physical fatigue, poor Chas was completely miserable. But just how did he get that flu? Well, it's a long story.

Let's go back to the day before, at Third Street School. During recess, it was gonna be the usual thing: Drew trying to pick on Stu, Betty, and Didi, and Chas talking him out on it.

At least, that's what Chas thought would happen during recess. But once he, Drew, and the other third graders got out into the playground, they noticed that something wasn't right.

"It's quiet," said Chas to Drew.

"Yeah, too quiet," said Drew.

"Where is everybody?"

Presently, Betty, then a first grader missing her two front teeth, came in their presence.

"Hey, guyth," she said, but her tone of voice was not as energetic as it would usually be.

"Betty," asked Chas with more than a hint of concern. "What happened to you?"

Betty replied, "My ma eckthpothed me to the flu again, because she told me that thith year'th flu'th gonna be a killer. It'th only 10 AM, and I already feel warm. I may need to go to the nurthe'th offithe before I… I… I… A-CHOO!"

And she sneezed onto Drew's shirt.

"EW! Dumb first grader germs!" cried Drew. "I wouldn't be surprised if I got si… I need to go to the nurse's office too. Come on, Giselle."

And Betty and Drew tried to go to the nurse's office, only to bump into each other.

"Get off me, Drew," groaned Betty.

"I can't, Giselle," groaned Drew. "I feel too weak."

Seeing that Drew also had the flu, Chas was terrified, and, backing up, soon stumbled into the jungle gym, where four other kids approached him. Fearing they also had the flu, he let out a scream. But the four children—Stu, Didi, Charlotte, and Howard by name—looked just fine.

Stu, then a first grader, said to the others, "He looks okay, but we'd better check him just to be safe."

Howard the second grader placed a thermometer in Chas' mouth and saw the liquid inside it reach the normal body temperature. "98.6 degrees," he said. "He's good. Let him go."

"So, what's going on?" asked Chas.

"Didn't you hear?" asked Didi the kindergartner. "This school has become overtaken with the flu."

Now Chas was so scared he almost freaked out. In a school like Third Street School, when a kid gets sick, he really gets sick! It wasn't just the flu; it was the killer flu!

Finally, Chas asked the others, "Would it be all right if you harbored me from the flu?"

Charlotte the other second grader said to Stu, Didi, and Howard, "We are not sheltering this fashion reject!"

But Stu, Didi, and Howard said to Chas, "We'll shelter you."

And Charlotte groaned to herself, "I can't believe we are sheltering this fashion reject!"

Stu then said, "You know, Chas, since you, me, Didi, Howard, and Charlotte have survived this flu outbreak, we gotta find a safe haven in this playground where we and all the other survivors can play without fear of being infected."

"But don't you think we should care for the sick?" asked Didi. "I mean, Betty's our friend."

"It's too late for her," said Charlotte, "but not for us."

"Then, let's move!" cried Stu.

And so, Stu, Didi, Charlotte, Howard, and Chas all emerged from the jungle gym, only to find that many of the kids had gotten infected, while all those healthy kids who weren't already there were trying to flee for the safe haven.

"We gotta go fast," said Stu. "There's no telling if we're gonna stay healthy."

Howard added, "Yeah, there's not telling who's gonna live or die."

After a brief moment, Stu asked Chas, "Is it even possible for kids like us to die?"

"I don't think so," Chas replied.

Then, Didi saw Betty lying there like a slug, very sick with the flu. Didi approached her tomboyish friend and, holding a Kleenex in her hand, said to her, "There, there, Betty. Want a tissue?"

But after Didi had handed Betty the tissue, Stu rammed her out of the way just as Betty was blowing her nose.

"Didi, where's your brain?" asked Stu.

"Stu, where's your heart?" asked Didi.

"Didi does have a point there," said Chas. "Maybe we should care for the sick and…"

"WE'RE TRYING TO STAY ALIVE HERE!" cried Howard and Charlotte.

Presently, Drew approached Charlotte and sneezed all over her.

"Ugh! Drew! What is wrong with you?" cried Charlotte. And soon, she also fell sick with the flu. "Go on without me," she groaned to Chas, Stu, Didi, and Howard.

Didi replied, "You need a cough drop, Charlotte."

"That would be nice," sighed Charlotte as Didi tossed a cough drop into her mouth.

But Stu said to Didi, "Deed, I know you're only a kindergartner, but you're putting the squad into jeopardy, and I won't have it!" Then, he said to the others, "Come on!"

And Chas, Howard, and Didi followed Stu to the safe haven where all the other survivors were playing.

As Didi looked around and saw all the sick children, she said, "Oh, those poor kids. They don't look so well. Maybe they need a hug."

Irritated, Stu asked, "What is wrong with you, Deed?"

"Stu, these kids may look sick, but you're acting sick!"

"Well, I'm trying to save your hide!"

"QUIET!" cried Chas. "If you two will stop bickering, we gotta go quick. I don't think Howard can hold out much longer."

Indeed, one of the fifth graders who was also sick with the flu sneezed on Howard, causing him to catch the flu himself.

Chas, Stu, and Didi were scared for their lives.

"Now, now, don't panic. There's gotta be some way we can reach the safe haven," cried Stu.

But soon, Howard sneezed on Stu, who quickly contracted the flu.

"Oh, great," groaned Stu as he collapsed to the ground. "Don't look now."

"Stu!" cried Didi in a panic.

"This doesn't look good, Didi," said Chas. "The safe haven is only a few feet away, but the flu-infected kids are about to make us sick too!"

Didi looked at Chas and said, "You go. I'm gonna stay here and take care of the sick."

"But, Didi…"

"Go, save yourself."

And so, as Drew, Stu, Betty, Howard, and Charlotte approached Didi, she held up what looked like a thermos. Presently, Chas could see Drew let out a sneeze, which prompted Chas to push Didi out of the way and catch the flu himself, instead of letting Didi catch it.

Didi looked down to see Chas suffering from the flu. "Charles, you saved me. But why?"

Chas replied, "You've got a good heart, Didi. May it follow you all your life. By the way, what's in the container?"

Didi answered, "Chicken soup. My mom and dad packed it for my lunch, but you guys will need it more than me."

And before she ran into the safe haven of the playground, Didi fed Chas some chicken soup.

And that's how Chas Finster got sick with the flu when he was in third grade. So ill that he sometimes slept the whole day, he would be fed chicken soup by his mother and a glass of orange juice by his father.

As for Didi, not only did she not get the killer flu, she was the only kid in Third Street School who didn't, and she was only a kindergartner! To this day, her parents, especially her father, would credit her survival to chicken soup, an old Jewish remedy for a cold or the flu.

And Didi, wearing a face mask and rubber gloves, made sure to visit Stu, Drew, Betty, Howard, and Charlotte to feed them some chicken soup as well until they were all better.

"You know, Stu, this chicken soup is to die for," said Didi. But as soon as she heard Stu groan with pain, she chuckled nervously, "Oops! Poor choice of words."