Flash

Feeling The Burn

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Friday Fictioneers where we are
encouraged to get creative by writing a story
of no more than 100 words using this photo
as our inspiration. Here is my 100 word story.

© Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

It was the summer of ’59 and I was going to spend July and August with my cousins at the shore. I’d been packing since my last day of school, finishing two days before taking off.

The following morning I awoke with fever, sore throat, bumpy tongue and a facial rash. Scarlet fever, the doctor said. The disease was highly contagious. I was prescribed antibiotics and my parents were warned to keep me home.

My summer plans were abruptly cancelled; I was dejected. All I could do was watch my friends playing, my nose pressed up against the window screen.

NAR©2024
100 Words

21 June 2024

This is “Fever” by Little Willie John

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

50 thoughts on “Feeling The Burn”

  1. Dear Nancy,

    Oh how well I know this feeling. I had the measles on the last day of kindergarten…the same year! 1959. I remember how disappointed I was. Then history repeated itself for my 50 year class reunion. I was on the planning committee and was really looking forward to it. Three days before it I came down with COVID. I “attended” on Zoom, but it wasn’t the same. 😦

    Good story.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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    1. It seems like this is something many people can relate to. It doesn’t matter how sick we really are; when we’re kids, it’s like the end of the world.

      What rotten timing for your 50th reunion, especially after working on the planning committee. I guess considering what other people lost, having to miss your reunion is a small price to pay.

      Thanks so much for your terrific comments.

      Shalom

      🕊️

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  4. Great take, I too have memories like this. Missed my first school day with all the goodies because of whooping cough. A year later it was the measles. No fun for a kid, and not without risk either.

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    1. Back then (at least for me) it definitely was not risk free. My parents were very concerned because Helen Keller suffered major side effects from scarlet fever, even if it was long before antibiotics were used. My mother was the type to dwell on things like that.

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    1. For sure! I remember starting to count the days until summer vacation on June 1, putting an X through every day on the calendar at bed time. So many hopes and dreams dashed in a dramatic diagnosis while my mother ran around tearing sheets and boiling water! 🙁

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      1. That’s the way you got vaccinated back in our day. They just started learning about the relationship between rubella and birth defects in the ’60’s (maybe earlier, I don’t know), and mothers would have their daughters spend time with a kid who had it so they’d catch it and develop immunity.

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  16. That’s a sad story. It’s hard to deal with disappointment like that when we’re kids. Hard enough when we’re adults, but by then we sort of expect disappointment to be part of life. Well told.

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    1. It’s unfortunate that we expect disappointment to come our way but that’s one of the inevitable truths in life. I’ve heard people say we should set the bar low so when our hopes fall short, we won’t be disappointed. I think that’s one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard.

      Thanks for your thoughts today, Margaret.

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      1. That idea of where we set the bar has got me thinking. It would be so sad to have that bar set permanently low, and I know people who do. Maybe it needs to be a movable bar, so that we could adjust it for each experience/area of life. I’m thinking the key is to remind ourselves that we’re in charge of that bar. Hopefully :-).

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