C is for Comfort Soup
After two days of stuffy nose and a full blown cold, Don finally had to go home to his father for some TLC after some 'gentle' persuasion by his team especially Megan.
"Ahhhh-choo!"
"Don!" yelled Megan as she quickly backed away from him.
"Sorry!' Don said, after he nearly blasted Megan full of germs.
"I think you better call it a day. You've been sneezing non stop for the past hour," Megan told Don gently.
Don was feeling sick all over. He shivered all through the night, and in the early morning, he gulped down two Tylenol. He felt a bit better, but the sneezing didn't stop. Instead, it got worse throughout the day.
He went to the break room, and his co-workers slowly backed off and went away. They didn't want to catch the germs Don was spreading.
"Hey, com'on guys. I'm not the plague!" Don looked around at the disappearing backs.
"You're contagious!"
"Don't need your germs, thank you."
"Eppes go home!" came the various replies.
Don shook his head and started to sneeze again.
After another two hours, not only could his team not stand it, he himself was getting sick of it too. He picked up the phone and dialed the number automatically.
"Hello? Dad?"
"Donny? Is that you? What's the matter?" Alan was surprised. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 4pm. He wondered why Don was calling at this time.
"Dad…..can I come over?"
"Donny, anytime you can come over. You don't need to call and ask for permission. What's the matter? Are you sick?"
"Ah….choo…"came the reply.
"Yes, you are sick. You've got the flu?" Alan waited for his reply.
"Er.. no..yes, not that I cannot take care of myself, it's just that the maintenance people are painting the apartments, and I cannot stand the stench of the paint even though I have this stuffy nose, so I was thinking that I bunk over at Charlie's for a day or two. Charlie's not home, I know so…."
"So you decided to ask the lodger?"
"Well… you're…ahhhh ahhh choo!"
"Bless you! I'm not the achoo, but Donny, stop talking, and come over straight away!"
"Right, dad, thanks. I need to get some things together. I'll see you in an hour, ok?"
"No, Donny, you come straight here. No need to bring anything. Everything you need is here. You get comfortable, and go straight to bed. I may still be in the store when you get here. You got all that?"
Don kept quiet. He was thinking maybe it's not too wise to go to Charlie's. He really hated all the mothering from his dad. He's a grown man, for goodness sake. He was jerked out of his inner thoughts when he heard his dad calling him in his ear.
"Donny, Donny, you're there? I need to go to the store now to get all the ingredients for the soup."
"Soup? Comfort soup?"
"Is that what you call it? Comfort soup? Right, you want it with pasta or bread."
"Pasta please dad . er… those bow ties pasta? and thanks. No It was Charlie who named it comfort soup"
Alan put down the phone with a smile on his face. 'comfort soup, indeed.'
'Well, I need to get some ingredients for the comfort soup.' He thought to himself, caught the jacket from the back of the chair and took his keys. After looking around a bit, he made sure his wallet was in his back pocket, and he went out .
Meanwhile at the FBI office, his team had big grins on their faces. Don stared at them and said, "Satisfied?"
"Yea, boss. That's good. Be thankful that we didn't blow the whistle on you that you were sick for the past two days. Now you can take two days off to recuperate under Alan's special care. Hey, that comfort soup with bow ties pasta must be something. I must ask Alan for the recipe." Megan smiled.
"Don, tell you what. We will come and visit you tonight. Maybe we could try some of those bow ties you're talking about." Colby said, grinning at a smiling David.
"Yea, yea, and who gave me the cold?" Don stared at Megan.
"Not Me! It was Mr. Macho here who sneezed all over you." Megan started back at Don, daring him to say otherwise.
David very innocently said, "Who me? Nah… I didn't sneeze a tad, oh…. the other Mr. Macho." He grinned at Colby.
Megan and Don were still at it, "Well then who got sick first?"
"OK, but I stayed away. I was very obedient to the doctor and stayed home for two days, so it was not me. You men are all the same. Don't want to admit that you're sick until you're almost dead on your feet. Want to behave like macho men who can't or won't be beaten by teeny weeny bugs. Then you want to have all the attention you can get, like a baby!"
That got David and Colby sniggering.
"OK, Ok, I got your point. Don't have to go into details, cheech.. lucky you're not my mother!"
This got Megan mad. She went and punched Don on his arm and walked back to her place glaring at Colby and David.
"Ow, sorry Megan, and I am not that sick!" Don insisted again after apologizing to Megan.
"Yes! You are!" all three of them said at once, and Don quickly turned away as a series of Ah-choos erupted from him. His team quickly covered their mouths and back off further.
"Go home, Don!" Megan called out as she backed up to her table.
"Going !" he called out, 'mother hen' ." He muttered under his breath and started to collect his things together.
"I heard that!"
"No you did not."
"Hey, children stop quarrelling." Colby said, and David was heard sniggling.