digital pen, digital paper.

Articles of Confession

Early Tuesday morning I receive a phone call while at work. It’s my roommate telling me that his girlfriend has a fever of 101. He is leaving for work and asking if it would be okay for her to stay in my house until she feels a bit better, later in the day, to drive home. With full sympathy, I give the okay and fully anticipate that she will likely be there all day and not make it home.

Sure enough, when I return home from work, with her car still parked outside, the coughing coming from my roommate’s room indicates her condition has not improved to the point that she would want to go home. It is questionable whether or not she could have made the drive, and even if I were a doctor, she is hidden away from diagnosis. A short amount of time later, my roommate returns from work and disappears as well.

The following morning, as I am about to leave for work, my roommate catches me and though he has not yet checked on how she is feeling, would it be okay… I cut him short and again convey there would be no problem if she is too ill to leave. And, as anticipated, she is still present in my home at the end of the second work day. I knock, and through the closed door ask if there is anything I can get her from the drug store. I happen to be going anyway. She says no thank you. I see my roommate briefly, later in the evening, but never his girlfriend.

Thursday morning I can hear her coughing as I leave for work. Is she really so sick that she cannot drive home? Shouldn’t she be at her home if she is sick? If I were sick, I would want to be in my own bed.

Still there thursday night. Still coughing. Still no sight of her, but I hear her coughing every so often. I do see my roommate after he makes a run to publix for food to bring her. I question if she has seen a doctor. No, but he is going to suggest it to her if she is not better by Friday morning. He says he feels fine, and asks if I feel like I may come down with something. I remind him I do not get sick, and he does not mention an opinion to suggest she should be in her own bed.

Friday morning and the work day come and go. Both are in my roommate’s room and I have yet to see either one. I do not imagine she will be leaving before the weekend is over.

My home is filling with germs and there is the ever-present sound of World of Warcraft.

Sickness be damned, there are ogres to slay and a week of spring break to do it.