Little Sick Boy

Whenever our family goes out in public, we have to keep our fingers crossed. There is always a virus laying in wait for our poor unsuspecting children. This past week, four of us were laid low with the flu. For some odd reason, my husband and Caleb were happily saved from this. My other boys and myself included were not so lucky. My little imp was the first to come down with it and passed it on to me. I couldn't understand how we got sick when there was no apparent sickness going around where we were. As I'm hanging over the toilet wanting to die, I wanted to kill whoever had gone out in public with this virus. Anyway, the same night I received my gift, Justin proceeded to throw up on the couch and then the carpet before he made his way to the bathroom. The next day, as is usually the case, he was very stubborn and refused to sleep it off. By the time evening rolled around, Justin's eyes were bloodshot and droopy. In my flu-induced state, I told him to go to bed. He went downstairs to the basement instead. Since I was too ill to get up and enforce my word, I didn't realize what happened until later. My husband came upstairs to tell me that Justin had gotten his blanket, crawled into a toy bin that was bigger than him, pulled the lid over, and went to sleep. My husband lifted the lid to see a little boy curled up inside dead to the world. The next night, Justin fell asleep on the couch in the basement. Before I stumble to my bed upstairs, I reminded my husband not to forget about his son and carry him to bed before he makes his own trek up. Later that night, I hear the cries and screams of my son as he struggles up the stairs in the dark. I call to him and he climbs into bed with me. As I hold him and comfort him, he explains to me that daddy had turned out the lights with him in the basement before he collapsed on the couch in order to stay away from the sick people. The poor child went through a lot, but seems no worse for wear.