"Inventing the Future"

"Chapter 23: Confusion"

When Jaming had promised Meredith that he would spend the day in bed, he had sent her back to the shop boat, assuring her that he would be perfectly fine. And, not wanting to irritate him by fussing over him too much, she had left him there in his bed in the corner of his garage against her better judgment. He had told her that he didn't want her to catch it, and that there was little that could be done for the flu, other than resting and remembering to stay hydrated.

Still, as Meredith mended the clasp of a bracelet, she couldn't help thinking that she wished she had stayed there with him. She hadn't had a single customer all day, because everyone in Veniccio was busy cleaning up after the storm. And, since much of her stock of seashell jewelry had ended up back in the drink, she didn't have much left over that was worth selling. She could just as easily work on these things back at the garage!

More importantly, she knew how stubborn he was. She wouldn't put it past him to change his mind and get out of bed. Maybe she should go and check, just to be sure. 'No...I refuse to treat him the way my mother treats me. He's an adult. I'll check on him soon enough.'

All the same, her eyes kept straying inland to where she knew he was supposedly resting and recuperating.

During one of those times, she saw Pau jogging in her direction. She didn't think anything of it, because the little fellow frequently ran from place to place, almost as if he feared he was missing something. When he waved urgently to get her attention, though, she was on her feet in a second.

"Meredith! I think you better go see Jaming!"

"Why? What's wrong?" She was already half-way down the gangplank.

Pau braced his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath, and answered in between pants, "He's just not acting right. He keeps pacing around his garage. I don't think he knows where he is."

"Okay...I'm gonna stop by my house for my thermometer and something to bring the fever down. Do you think you can watch the...ehh, just leave it, never mind. I don't have anything worth taking just now, so if someone wants a puka shell necklace that badly they can have it." Meredith jogged up the pier, dodging around the occasional person who looked at her like she had slipped a few gears.

"Hey, wait for me!" Pau zipped after her, still out of breath. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing too serious, I don't think, but that fever needs to come down."

Meredith found Jaming standing in front of an empty cabinet, his hair messier than usual. He had emptied out the cabinet, carefully stacking its contents on the floor beside him, and he seemed extremely confused. When he turned to look at her, his confusion turned into anxiety, and he shook his head before peering into the cabinet once more, as if willing the thing he was looking for to appear out of thin air. Meredith came over, laid a gentle hand on his arm, and asked in a casually upbeat voice, "Hey, Jaming. What are you doing?"

"I can't find it..." He allowed himself to be led over to the bed, but he stopped just short of sitting down. "I have to find it."

"What do you have to find, sweetie?"

He reached up and clutched his head, tugging lightly at his hair in frustration as he gave a soft growl. "I need to find the fire extinguisher!"

"Oh," Meredith nodded, taking his arm again and turning him slightly, pointing at the wall. "There it is, it's right there. See?"

Jaming shook his head impatiently. "It's the wrong color. It's supposed to be green." He half-staggered over to the cabinet, then pointed at it as if it had offended him in some way. "Who took everything out of there?"

"You did, Jaming. Remember?" Meredith exchanged a look with Pau.

"See what I mean? He's gone all loopy!"

Jaming looked over at Pau, did a double-take, then backed into Meredith as he whispered, "Emperor Griffon...What is he doing here?"

"Honey, that's Pau. You remember Pau, don't you?"

But Jaming already seemed to have forgotten about Pau, and with single-minded intensity he began to carefully put the cabinet's contents back where they belonged. "This is a fire hazard! Who put this here?"

Meredith let him put his things away, taking the opportunity to get the thermometer from her first aid kit. "Jaming, I'm going to take your temperature, okay?"

He shook his head 'no', rifling through drawers and cabinets as he grew more and more agitated. "I can fix this...I have to fix it so it won't burn down!"

"Jaming."

Jaming turned to look at her, almost as if he hadn't noticed her before. His eyes were wide and full of hurt as he pleaded, "Don't yell at me..."

Meredith calmly approached him, trying to appear non-threatening. She felt as if she'd just kicked a puppy! "I'm sorry. I was just trying to get your attention. Here, put this in your mouth. Under your tongue, please."

He took the thermometer and did as he was told, but his eyes kept darting around the room as if he was seeing things that weren't really there. When the thermometer beeped, he took it out of his mouth and squinted at the tiny window. "One hundred and three point seven. Am I burning up?"

She almost said 'in a manner of speaking', but realizing that he would probably take her literally in his fever-addled state, she kept it to herself. "Your fever's pretty high, Jaming. That's why you're a little confused right now."

"Ohhh," he nodded slowly. "My fever's...pretty high?" he blinked, and then he came out with something that, at the time, he thought sounded very clever. "You're pretty. Hi!"

"Oh, brother..." Pau covered his face with a paw and shook his head as if to shield himself from the lameness.

Meredith chuckled a bit, and rolled her eyes. "All right. Come on, you. Back to bed."

"Okay...Um...Meredith?" He halted after taking two steps, and he was beginning to get a rather funny look on his face.

"Hm?"

"Do you love me?"

"Of course I do."

Jaming swallowed, "No matter what?"

Meredith nodded without hesitation. "No matter what."

"That's good..." he sighed, his normally blue cheeks turning an unhealthy green. "Because I think I'm about to vomit."

Pau turned and dashed out the door, nearly tripping in his haste to escape. "I'm outta here!"

After Meredith was finally able to get Jaming to lie down in bed and to stop apologizing profusely, she rinsed out the sink and got a Mighty Healing out of the first aid kit. It was more for poison and the other strange physical effects that monsters could inflict, but it could also act as a fever reducer. And, since Jaming seemed uncertain when she asked him if he thought he could keep pills down, she decided that this was the way to go.

Her own stomach churned uncertainly as she approached Jaming with the syringe. She could definitely understand why Pau had bolted, because if it had been anyone else she would have fled the room herself!

"That was...incredibly embarrassing," mumbled Jaming, lying on his side and looking like he wanted to disappear into the mattress.

"Hey, you couldn't help it..." Meredith sat down on the chair by the bed and opened an alcohol pad. "Hold out your arm, please."

Jaming listlessly did as he was told, and he didn't react to either the cold alcohol wipe or the pinch of the needle. He seemed to be trying to remember something as he fought to stay awake, and he muttered as he pointed at the red canister that hung on the wall, "Check the fire extinguisher...make sure it's still good..."

It probably didn't matter either way, but Meredith got up and checked the fire extinguisher anyway. Yep. The pressure gauge read 'operable', and the tamper seal was intact. She shrugged and went back to sit with him, wondering exactly why he was suddenly obsessed with fire extinguishers. It was the fever, of course, but he had seemed pretty determined. "It's fine. In fact, it looks new."

"Yes...I remember buying it now. Of course there's nothing wrong with it..."

Meredith thought that the shot she gave him must have begun to help, because he seemed a bit more lucid already. She took a small wash rag from one of the cabinets, rinsed it with very cold water, then wrung it out and laid it on his forehead. "Why were you so worried about the garage burning down?"

"Mm...some silly dream I had. I'd like to go to sleep now."

"Okay," Meredith nodded, getting up to retrieve her purse and look for her book of crossword puzzles, but he misunderstood and seized her by the hand. "What..."

"Don't leave..."

"I'm not. I'm must getting something to work on, okay?"

Jaming nodded, still battling to keep his eyes open. By the time Meredith had gotten her purse and come back, he was already asleep.