As Hop Sing predicted, Joe was indeed late to school, arriving a few minuets after the teacher had rung the school bell for the start class. Standing in the doorway of the school, Mrs. Rachel saw Joe riding up, almost at a galloped.

"Tend to your horse and then hurry in Joseph," she called kindly. She knew that the elder members of the Cartwright family were leaving that day and could excuse Joe's tardiness, this time.

Joe did as he was told and soon found himself seated in the one room school house, even if his mind was somewhere else. Several times Mrs. Rachel had to shake Joe awake. At first she thought that his lack of concentration was due to his families' absence, but when she felt the heat radiating from the boy she started to wonder.

Some of the children from the ranch and farm families had been out of school and the doctor had been busy lately. She knew that the cattle had been sick and she also knew that the ranch and farm families often ate some of their own stock. She wondered if this had anything to do with the absents.

When she dismissed the children for lunch, she asked Joe to remain behind. Some of his friends snickered, thinking that he was going to get a lecture for sleeping in class, and a few of them patted his back as the left. Joe, cautiously, made his way up to Mrs. Rachel's desk and as innocently as he could asked, "Yes ma'am?"

Rachel smiled good heartedly, instantly relaxing the boy, "You have done nothing wrong Joseph. I just want to know how you are feeling? You seem a little under the weather today."

Joe shrugged, "I'm ok I guess." It was a lie though, his head and stomach hurt something fierce and he was so tired, but he was too stubborn to admit it.

Mrs. Rachel studied him, knowing very well how stubborn all the Cartwrights were, and she knew for a fact that Joe was most often the stubbornness. "Well, then if that is the case, could you please stay awake? I know that math is not an entertaining subject, but you are expected to learn it."

Joe blushed and shrunk a little, "Yes ma'am."

"Very well, go ahead and eat."

Dismissed, Joe had to force himself not to run out of the class room. Grabbing his lunch pail, he trotted his way out. His best friend, Mitch, was waiting by the door, a grin spreading on his face when he saw Joe.

"Everything alright?" he asked.

Joe gave Mitch a weary smile, "Yeah."

The two boys fell into a pleasant silence as the walked stride for stride to their usual spot under a big oak by the stables. They took a seat and both began to rummage in through their lunch pales. While Mitch nearly devoured the entirety of his lunch in two bites, just looking at food made Joe feel sicker.

"You alright?" Mitch asked curiously, he knew Joe wasn't a big eater, but he never really had a complete lack of appetite.

"Yeah, I guess," Joe sighed as he shut his pale.

Mitch watched as Joe just picked through his meal for awhile before he rolled his eyes and demanded, "What's wrong?"

Joe sighed and looked past his friend for a moment before talking. "I don't feel good," he finally admitted.

Mitch face broke into a silly grin and he looked at Joe lopsided, "'Course you don't, it's Monday." The grin subsided a bit when he noticed that Joe didn't seem to get the joke.

"I don't know Mitch….I don't feel good and pa ain't home…" Joe continued, finally looking at his friend.

"Got cha, I know how that feels. Like when I'm hurt and Ma's in town or something…that'll make anyone blue," Mitch said, understanding completely.

The two sat in silence for awhile and Joe manage to eat most of his lunch before the bell rang.

"Think you got a cold?" Mitch asked out of the blue as the two made their way back to the school house.

"What?" Joe responded, confused.

"You said you weren't feeling good, you think you got a cold? I mean look around, everyone else does."

It was true, Joe noted, that a lot of the kids seemed to be missing. It had been that way for about a month, and Joe had heard his father and brothers talking about the 'illness' for awhile now. For a moment a peg of fear struck Joe as he thought about what Mitch asked, but he forced himself to relax and say, "No, I'm probably just tired."

"Dang, and here I was hoping I could catch it before Thursday spelling test."