The Flu

Everyone's got the flu. Half of the kids stayed home (and yet it appears the economy hasn't collapsed!!..), the other half were sent to school ill, wrapped up and drugged with Calpol (is THAT what saved the economy then???...)

Persistent group coughing drowned every sentence, I was regarded wearily by glazed eyes and a few kids fell asleep on their desks with a clunk. A child walked to my desk clutching his worksheet, to ask a question. 'Yes?' I said and he opened his mouth to speak. Instead, a deep, thorny cough shook him violently and sprayed everything from the second desk to the blackboard. At the end of it he stood dazed, having completely forgotten his question. 'Someone, please, someone march this poor chap home and put him to bed'. This I felt like shouting down the empty corridors.

Then there was the touching incident of Professora Margarida, who's got the strongest voice and character in the whole didactic army. I didn't hear her come in. I heard a banging of books on a desk. 'Who's making that noise' I asked and turned, to find her in the back of the class, hitting a desk with the Class Register to get my attention.

'Who's making that noise in my class?' I repeated as a joke and went to give her a hug and kiss, as usual. She opened her mouth and .... nothing. A strangled small squeak. Too ill to speak. Great. 'I've taken four pills', she gasped. 'How did you manage a WHOLE day of teaching in this state?' - a bit like holding to a frozen cliff for six hours in a blizzard, waiting for rescue, I thought and then I also thought 'I'm next'.

Well, the week is over. I took dozens of Vitamin Cs, and taught in a haze of headache and weariness on Thursday and Friday. That's all I hope.

'We should have shut the school down' - someone concluded on Friday. Photocopier talk. 'Give everyone a chance to get better'. Weekend now, this is our chance.