Ugh, I don’t know what happened. I woke up last night at some point, a strange woman, said she was a Dr. Kim, was smiling at me. She said I had been sick for a few days, and she was glad to see I was doing better. She gave me a shot and told me to rest. When I woke up this morning, the smallest child was sitting there staring at me. And when I asked what he was doing, he said his mom told him to watch me until she could get back. Smart aleck.
I was finally able to get into the tub and soak some of the grime off, the radio playing in the background, I still ache all over. I was weaker than I thought, but I managed to get out of the tub and back to the little café table in my kitchenette. Smart Aleck had made me a cup of tea before Sunny came in and chased him out for school. She asked if I was hungry, and I said yes, she said she’d take care of it for me. Then she went into my bedroom and changed the sheets, fed Spazzie, and made a phone call.
About 20 minutes later, The Man Himself knocked on the door and let himself in. I was surprised to see that he was carrying a very nice tray containing a very lavish breakfast. A little bit of everything, eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, toast, juice, coffee – he said he wasn’t sure what I would want to eat after being mostly out for over a week. It took a second for that to register in my weak and foggy brain. Like a few hours. I thanked him for the food, and told him I think I will call out again today, but I’ll be back ASAP. He waved it off, told me I have enough “credit hours” for decorating the top floors. He told me to take it easy for a few more days and do what the doctor told me to do, and that he had put me into Jarvis’ voice protocol so I could get in touch with anyone I needed to, including Sunny, Pepper, Dr. Kim, or himself. Then he told Sunny to make sure I was set before she came up to work.
She was great, fussed over me until I growled at her to get out, and got me situated in a new recliner with the remote for a flat screen TV on the wall above my DVD collection. And there I stayed, napping on and off until around noon, when there was a knock on the door. At my call, the door opened and in came Natasha with a big bag.
She went to the table and began unpacking my lunch. She said that some of the guys had wanted to bring it up, but she had insisted on coming. She wasn’t sure I would want anyone seeing me after being sick for so long. She brought a tray over to the recliner – totally yummy matzoh ball soup, and then some chicken fried rice on the side. She said there had been a huge discussion over what I should eat and what I would want on what was sure to be a tender stomach. The soup was a pretty clear choice, but she wanted to bring something a little more solid. And she sat down on the sofa and had some with me.
While we ate, she asked me what I remembered about the end of November. It’s fuzzy, I admit. I got the big tree downstairs done, and I got a few other things done for the top floors – the tree in the lounge, wreaths on everyone’s doors, some fake snow on windows and random swag – and I remember Sunny and kids finally making it back to New York. And the phone calls from my daughter.
Dr. Kim came in shortly after Tasha cleared away the dishes. She seemed pleased to see me out of bed, sitting up and having eaten some food. She did the usual checks and asked how I was feeling. I told her I still felt kind of weak and tired, she said that was expected. I had been pretty sick with some kind of virus, I had also been anemic and my blood pressure was really high. She instructed me to keep pumping fluids in me, eat light, and call her if I felt worse.
Tasha walked her out, asking if I wanted anything. I requested ginger ale, and some more soup for later. She nodded and told me to get some rest. I’m snuggled down in the recliner, Spazzie on my feet. I think I’ll take a little nap, and hope I don’t wake up with the Smart Aleck staring at me again. He’s cute and all, but it’s a bit unnerving.