Sick

6^th January 2012

Dear Cassi,

I’m sick. I hate being sick but who doesn’t? However, for the first time in my adult life I broke down and got flue medication because I was coughing so hard I had a headache and I have papers due.

       

You could say I’m being a crybaby, but I can’t read the school books if they’re all covered in snot. My nose is running like a fountain and I keep waking with stains on my sheets from its flow. That which comes from my nose is white or clear, that which comes from my mouth and deep coughing is green and nasty.

       

I knew this would happen because most of the folks at my work have been sick. Many of the residents as well have taken ill and been sent to the ER. The nature of humans in close contact is that we will all grow ill together. One person can get the nearly two hundred workers and residents ill. The good thing is that over time our immune systems should strengthen from constant assault.

       

I wish I could call off, but in fact I have been called in for overtime this week. If I call in sick they have no guard for the night, and I can’t do that to them. As they depend on me, I need to be dependable. Even now with my homework looming like a cloud overhead and my head pounding like a jackhammer.

       

Ah, the working world, what indifference it has to those human things that created its being and facets. The human in this world is little more than another part in the machine and we are treated as if we are so easy to replace. Let’s hope I don’t breakdown.

Stay safe, Cassi,

Richard Leland Neal