Snow Days and More

Chapter 6
Part Six

I awoke on Sunday morning, sick to my stomach, feeling like I was going to throw up. I was still in Mom’s bed, and still had Mr. Wumpus cradled under my arm. To my surprise, my thumb wasn’t in my mouth, like when I awoke in the middle of the night. A pacifier was. I spit it out and looked at it curiously, trying to figure out how that had happened. A wave of nausea flowed over me then, and I bolted off the bed, hurrying to Mom’s attached bathroom, making it just in time.

Mom must have heard me throwing up, because when I stood back up, she was in the doorway to the bathroom, looking very worried and concerned.

"Hey Mom," I said weakly.

"Nick, honey, are you alright?"

"I guess so. I just puked though. I don’t feel so hot."

"Come here, honey," she said, and placed her hand on my forehead. "Yes, you do too feel hot. Real hot. Let me take your temp, doober." I stood next to the sink as she got the ear thermometer out, and put the cover thing on it. She pressed it into my ear, an act that always made me giggle a little. Three seconds later, the device beeped.

"Well, I can assure you of one thing, doober. You aren’t going anywhere today, even if you weren’t grounded. 102.5?."

"Wow. I feel cold all over, Mom. Am I really that hot?"

"According to this here you are. Come on, why don’t you crawl into your bed and you can watch TV if you want, or read. You’ll pretty much be in bed all day. I guess we’re going to have to skip Sunday Brunch this week."

That was kind of disappointing. Every Sunday, Mom and I went to this place in town that served brunch, good food too. It was kind of like a ’Mom and Son Date’. I could see her point, though. No way did I want food. I didn’t even want to get dressed. I wanted to just collapse and sleep forever.

First, I had something to take care of. The GoodNites was wet, and I grabbed a pair of boxers from my drawer, and started for my bathroom to change.

"Nick, why don’t you wear another pair of GoodNites, honey. The way you feel, I think you might be sleeping a lot today."

"I guess so, Mom," was my answer, and so I grabbed them instead. In the bathroom, I told myself that I wasn’t a baby, I was a big kid. It made me feel somewhat better about wearing GoodNites during the day again. I had worn them sledding, sure, but that was because of the bulky snowsuit. Wearing one when I had a bathroom fifteen feet away, and nothing more than pajamas to take off to use the bathroom was a little shameful.

Back in my room, I crawled into my bed, and Mom said she’d bring me juice and crackers, if I wanted. I turned on my TV, and was watching Cops when she got back.

"Mom, can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot, doober."

"Well, when I woke up, I had one of my old pacifiers in my mouth. Why? I’m not a baby."

"No, you’re not. But last night, after you crawled into bed with me, you refused to take your thumb out of your mouth. I mean, I’d pull it out, and without waking up, you stuck it right back in. When I held your hand down, so you couldn’t put it back in, you just popped your other thumb in. So I found the old pacifier, cleaned it up, and gave you that instead. It’s a little bit better for your teeth that way, buddy."

"Oh," was all I could manage. Mom told me that if I needed her, to yell for her or call her cell phone (remember, I have a phone in my room) if I didn’t feel like yelling, and she went to her office to work. I sipped at the juice, nibbled on some of the crackers, and just thought. I didn’t really watch the TV, it was merely on for background noise. Something was happening to me, and I didn’t know what. I had gone from bedwetting to day wetting to again sleeping with Mr. Wumpus, and even demanding something to suck on while I slept. Was I a baby? I didn’t feel like one, but I was sure acting like one.

I dozed on and off all day long, getting up a few times to use the bathroom, watching TV, and trying not to throw up all over the place. At about 3:00, I got a visitor. There was a knock on my door.

"Come in," I called. I figured it was Mom. I was way wrong.

"Hey Nick," my best friend Jay said, coming in. "Your Mom said you’re grounded and stuff, but I wanted to talk to you."

"Yea...come on in," I said. Jay didn’t seem mad, which was a relief. "What’s up?"

"Well, what happened yesterday? Like, my Mom was talking to your Mom, and then my Mom asks me if you had said you wanted to leave early to go to the bathroom. Then she told me your Mom said you did say that. Why?"

"Long story, Jay. I’m sorry I used you to try and lie to Mom. I wasn’t thinking, it just kind of came out."

"Naw, it’s cool. I was a little mad at first, but dude, we’ve been friends since like preschool. I guess there had to be a good reason for you to do what you did. I hope you’re not mad at me for not backing you up."

"Why would I be, Jay? You told the truth. It was me who lied, and I’m so sorry I did. I mean, I got grounded for a month. And worst, my Mom says that I can’t leave the house at all, except for school. If she has to go out, she gets Tiffany Brown to ’watch’ me. Tiff was here yesterday actually."

"Wow, a month? Must have been some lie, bro. Anyway, I called earlier, and your Mom said you were sick. I just wanted to come make sure we’re still friends and to tell you I hope you feel better. And to ask you if you wanted to talk about whatever is was you lied about."

"Don’t take it wrong, Jay, but no. Not now I don’t. It’s kind of embarrassing, okay?"

"Yea, sure. Just, like, if you do, call me. Or whatever. I guess I’ll leave. I don’t want whatever it is you have, dude. I hate being sick."

"Yea, me too. See ya."

I thought to myself after Jay left Yea, you sure don’t want what I got. You don’t want to be a baby bedwetter.

I spent the rest of the day and evening in bed, Mom not letting me do much of anything, just telling me to rest. She did give me some foul-smelling and fouler-tasting tea junk to drink once. She said it would help my stomach feel better, and despite how nasty it tasted, it did what she said it would do. By 8:00, I was feeling almost normal again, if a little weak. Mom took my temp again, and smiled.

"99.7?, doober. Fever’s gone, mostly. You’ll be a hundred percent by morning." She put a DVD in for me then, one I hadn’t seen before, "Stardust". Mom even laid down on my bed with me and Mr. Wumpus, and cuddled with me as we watched the fantasy movie. I don’t remember the end, because I was fast asleep long before the halfway point of the film.

I woke at about midnight, to cold wet sheets. My thumb was planted in my mouth once more, which I hurriedly yanked out. I went to wipe it off on my blanket, and felt that I had wet all the way through the GoodNites. I crawled out of bed, afraid Mom was going to flip out on me. I crept around my room, trying to change my sheets as quietly as I could, and change my pajamas and GoodNites. My actions must not have been quiet enough, because Mom came to my room, and asked me what was going on.

"Nothing," I said softly, shyly. "I have to change my sheets is all."

"Oh honey, did the GoodNites leak?" She didn’t sound angry, just sad. I felt tears fill my eyes as I nodded to her. She came over to me, and knelt down, hugging me to her. "It’ll be okay, Nick. Let me help you get this bed back together and get you back to sleep."

In minutes, I was in clean GoodNites and pajamas, under clean sheets. Mom could tell I was really upset, and laid down with me again, humming softly as she rubbed my back. My last thought before I slipped back into sleep was that I was putting my thumb in my mouth again.

To Be Continued...