Micah's Cough
Out of all of our kids, none had been as sick as thirteen year old Micah. It had started as a stuffy nose that had led to his voice being lost. I wasn't worried it would cause him any damage, especially since he did not run a fever, but after what had happened to Asher it was hard on Ila to see any of her children sick. She was four months along with our last child, hopefully, and spent every minute of every day tending to Micah. I knew he loved his mother dearly but the poor boy was tired of her. All he wanted to do was run around with his younger brothers and sisters but Ila did not let him out of the house. She did not want any of the other children getting sick either so she made him stay in his room. I had tried to talk some sense into her but it was no use, as long as he had a cough he had to stay inside.
It had been almost a month and a half since he first got sick and Micah's cough still had not gone away. Mother, who had been staying with us since Father died, had tried a few herbal remedies to stop it but nothing worked.
"He is not coughing up blood nor does he have a fever." She said. "It is nothing but a cold."
"But it has been weeks. If it is nothing serious then why has it not gone away?" Ila asked.
"I am not sure." Mother replied.
"Ila, love, he feels fine and it does not seem contagious, maybe some fresh air will do him well." I said to my wife.
She contemplated my request for a few minutes before reluctantly agreeing. Micah was so excited that he did not even wait to change out of his night clothes before running outside to join Dinah, Miriam, Levi, and Tobias in a game of tag.
Ila stared daggers at me as we brought tea to our youngest daughters and son. They too had begun sniffling and coughing a mere week after we let Micah play with them. Ironically, his cold had gone away. Levi was the only lucky one not to have contracted the cold.
"I told you letting him outside was a bad idea." She told me.
"I know, I know." I replied
AN- I based this chapter off of an experience I had recently where I had a cold for almost two months that actually ended up being allergies, but obviously they would not have known about allergies then. I had the other kids get sick though because I like making Ila right ;)