That night, Cal knocked shyly on Mrs Beauchamp's bedroom door.
Miss Freeman hastily pulled on her panties and hid in the en-suite bathroom.
"Come in, Cal."
"Please Mrs Beauchamp, does Lebsion Magic still work?"
"As long as you don't tell on us, Cal. Want some for Ethan?"
Cal nodded vigorously.
"Well I'll come down and make you a nice hot drink and you can play The Lion King DVD before your tea. Then Miss Freeman and I will see what we can do for Ethan. We'll be visiting him tomorrow if they say he's up for visitors."
Cal beamed, and scuttled downstairs for his favourite DVD and a drink.
When his footsteps died away Miss Freeman came out of the ensuite waving her panties and singing "Hakuna Matata".
"Freeman, you and Cal's imagination will be the death of me between you."
Several teachers and pupils thanked the pull of the call of was given a nice heated pad for his gut, but was still worried and weepy.
The doctors had said he would soon be better, and assured him that he'd be out of hospital well before his trip, but he felt small, scared and lonely.
"We're very busy today", the doctor told him, more to make conversation than make the little boy feel pressured, "A lot of people have food poisoning from a dodgy quiche in Sainsrose."
Ethan went very red.
Miss Honey was still worried and upset for Ethan. The other kids tried to tell her it couldn't have been her seafood Carby Nora; they'd all had a plateful. True, after what happened to Ethan, they'd not exactly finished their plates, but they'd had some of it before Ethan was ill.
Then Mr Keogh came in with the local paper:
"It's not you, Miss Honey, it's Sainsrose's quiche."
"I thought it might have been that extra workout I gave him", sighed Ms Dixon in relief.
"I wondered if I'd pressurised him that morning, telling him to stop looking out of the window and to finish his drawing."
Poor Ms Chao looked relieved too.
"The little monkey must have sneaked some quiche while we were… er… looking for some fresh fruit." Miss Freeman volunteered.
Mr Keogh gave them a sly wink.
The next morning, a delegation arrived at the hospital. Normal rules only allowed two visitors at a time, but as Ethan had a private room, the whole delegation were admitted. Ethan looked up from a snooze and saw Zax and the whole class along with Miss Honey, Ms Chao, Mr Keogh and the saucy Lion King Ladies. They had a big parcel.
The doctor had allowed them to bring it to the little boy, who was well on the road to recovery.
Ethan cheered up at once and opened his parcel gleefully.
"Oh! It's a special autograph book… and that T shirt I liked."
"Just the thing for your holiday. The doctor says you'll be out in three days, Ethan, so how good is that?"
Miss Honey came forward and gave Ethan a little kiss.
"I'm missing you, Tiger."
"I need somebody to pick on", Cal shrugged, always loath to show his feelings.
"Zax is sad not to have your company", announced Zax themselves.
"You've got the wrong name on that T Shirt", Mrs Beauchamp said, trying to sound severe.
"But it's my name."
"I know. It should say Quiche Bandit", replied his Headmistres, giving him a shrewd look.
Ethan groaned and everybody laughed.
Ethan thought it was almost worth being ill for. But not quite.
Cal thought "Hooray for Lebsion Magic."
And Miss Freeman seriously wondered if any cubicles were free, and received an even more shrewd look from Miss Beauchamp.