Reader's Digest Asia Pacific

When Mothers Get the Bug

FEBRUARY 1967

- JOYCE LUBOLD

A soft bed awaits most sick people – but not mothers.

Have you ever had the 24-hour bug? You know, you have a fever, you ache and you have to stay in bed. Well, most people have had it sometime, and most people get over it in 24 hours. Most people, that is, except mothers. A mother can get over it in 12 hours or less! Mother has just taken her temperatur­e – and it’s over 38°C. She’s got the bug that’s going around.

It’s right after lunch. The older children are at school, and the baby is napping. There’s no reason why Mother cannot go to bed. But first she has a few things to do. Mix the meat loaf for dinner. Leave a note for the cleaners. Find someone to serve coffee for her at the meeting tonight. Put in the next load of washing. Carry out the garbage.

At last... she... sinks... into... bed.

Ah-h-h-h-! Her aching legs soak up comfort from the cool sheets. Her burning eyes close. She’s asleep!

Then, suddenly, the front door bangs open as the children burst home from school. “Mum! Mum! Where ARE you?” Mother tries to answer but their cries drown out her weak calls. Soon they find her – in bed.

“Didn’t you even get up yet?” cries the younger girl.

“How am I going to get to Bill’s?” asks the boy.

“What about dinner? We’ve got to eat,” says the older girl.

Mother understand­s. She knows that the children aren’t used to a mother in bed. “I’m sick,” she says. “I can’t do anything. I’ll just have to leave it all to you.” She sighs. “Cook the potatoes... take care of the baby... set the table.”

The children dash off like soldiers going into battle. For a time Mother is left to the quiet of her room and the ache in her pounding head.

Then Father comes home. He bounds into the bedroom, drops heavily on the side of the bed and reaches for her hand. He looks tired. Mother starts worrying about him. “It’s nothing, darling – just this bug that’s going around,” she says. “I can get up and do dinner and—”

Father shakes his head. “You stay right there. Don’t worry about a thing. The kids and I will take over. We’ll get along fine without you.”

Mother’s room is quiet again. But it’s also empty. Mother tosses and turns. The sheets are no longer cool. And they scratch. She lies still, listening for family sounds. She feels left out. She feels terrible! But everybody else seems to feel great. In fact, there seems to be some sort of party going on. There are giggles from the

children. And there are loud laughs from Father.

Suddenly there is a crash, followed by Father’s voice. “Get the baby out of the way before he cuts himself! Where’s the broom? Don’t disturb your mother! I said DON’T DISTURB YOUR MOTHER!”

Now the house grows quiet. It is clear to Mother that the family is eating dinner while she lies there sick and alone. No one had thought to bring dinner to her. They’ve forgot ten all about her. They’re doing without her. There’s no point in going on living.

Then there is another crash. The younger girl rushes in with the news. “They dropped your tray and the dog licked up all your dinner.”

She dashes of f. There is more noise until, f inally, the children appear, beaming. They are proud of what they bring. There’s a glass of water, spilled onto the tray. There’s a plate with three beans, a cold boiled potato, a tiny slice of burned meat loaf.

“Can we stay with you while you eat?” the children ask. “Dad’s kind of mad. And the kitchen is a mess. And nobody knows where the broom is. Is it all right if we stay with you?”

Suddenly Mother feels wonderful. As the children watch carefully, she eats her cold dinner. “Everything tastes so good,” she tells them. She notices, without surprise, that her aches and pains are gone.

The older girl speaks up. “Gee, Mum, I sure wish you’d get better. It’s just no fun when you’re sick.”

“Yeh,” says the boy, “I hope you feel better tomorrow. We miss you.”

Mother smiles. “I feel better already,” she says.

SO YOU SEE HOW IT IS with mothers. Other people have the 24-hour bug for 24 hours. But not a mother. If she feels needed enough, she can get over it in 12 hours or less!

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