Cold Call

[The Sneezster]

Ninety-Eight point Six. How could my temperature be so normal when I felt so lousy - chilled, achy, very sore throat, headache, and an immense head cold that was planning to stage an invasion on my chest? For as rotten as I felt, I deserved a fever. I stuck the thermometer back under my tongue for another minute to see if it would think about rising, at least to 99. I took it out and checked. The stubborn thing insisted that my temperature was normal. Well, I didn't feel normal. I felt decidedly ill. Without a fever, though, I couldn't very well stay home from work and in bed where I belonged. If I did, I'd be the only one in the office - from the boss on down - who didn't tough it out and come in with this cold. All week long, I'd witnessed my co-workers, one by one, start with sniffles that blossomed over the course of the day into full-blown miserable colds. I had just finished the sneezy stage, and having seen its progression, I knew that by tomorrow afternoon, I'd be hoarse with a thick chesty cough. A couple of my co-workers had managed to carry it all the way through to a nasty feverish bronchitis, at which point they went home from work and to bed. Most likely, by the time they recovered enough to come back to the office, I'd be home in bed with my own fever and bronchitis.

It was the boss's wife, who comes in a couple times a week to help with the filing, who was the first to usher in the office plague. She'd been in a week ago sniffling and sucking cough drops in the morning, sneezing and blowing her nose by lunchtime, and with a full-blown head cold by quitting time. The following day, the boss and a couple of the secretaries were sneezing, and from there it snowballed, spreading from person to person. Four days ago only me and one other person were spared. Three days ago, inevitably, we began sneezing.

Of course, the boss insisted on coming in every day, sounding sicker each day that he did. Yesterday, he sent two feverish secretaries home to bed, but he stayed, racked with a deep rattling cough and looking feverish himself. "It's just a cold - tough it out," he'd rasp as we complained about how awful we felt. He did admit that his wife and kids were "really sick" at home.

Just about everyone at the office was further along with the cold and sicker than I was, so I couldn't very well lay at home while they covered my work. And if I could judge by the nasty-sounding coughs I heard yesterday, there would likely be a few more "really sick" at home today.

I was dreading the day ahead of me when the phone rang. "I'm closing the office today." It was the boss, in a barely audible rasp. "The answering service is taking the calls, but we have too many people out sick today to stay open. Go to bed and rest up - maybe we can open again by the end of the week if everyone gets healthy".

I was back in bed and snoring within ten minutes.

[James (ellamalaka)]

Sneezster,

You are a rising star in the cold/sneeze fiction world. I think that you are doing some fantastic writing and I have greatly enjoyed it all.

Thanks so much,

E

[Illiana]

Haha, I wish MY boss was that nice. XD She stays at home and I get to come in~ Woo~

Cool little ficlet! ^_^b

[And Beat Him When He Sneezes]

Mm, being called and told to go back to bed. That would be fun.

[countless]

Wow Sneezster, I really love this one. The descriptions, and the whole being ill thing.

You are talented. Thanks !

C

[KawaiiKitty]

If only all offices could be like that...

Thumbs up for the first person narrative! It really makes the story!

[Gallatea]

Awesome fic! Sneezster, you have a gift!

Is there any more???

-LGR

[The Sneezster]

More? I think I'm done with this story. Sorry. But I am working on another.

Teaser: A Lesbian Vamypre with an Allergy to Type B Blood. Look out for the upcoming title: "She's Not My Type".