I don't remember having a temperature more than 38C myself, so when my 3 year old son had 40 C I panicked. He was all blazing hot, eyes rolling, head drooping. And giving in to a bit of raving..'I am miserable. I don't love you' Poor little boy. I rushed him to the doctor's and heard from her- on medical examination- it was just a viral infection. Nothing serious, but she gave me a warning: stay alert and watch out for the realy serious symptoms. Eyes senstitivity , drowsiness, stiff neck. Oh, and -very important- those purple spots that when you rub them would not blanche, ie. go white. And, pour as much fluids into him as possible. Also give him some ligh food to eat . Food and Fluids: that may be difficult- I thought to myself. This boy just survives on air and all the invisible or visible particles floating in it. Anything served on something as suspicious as a plate or glass is dismissed after two bites or gulps. But anyway I took him home, full of hope he would be all right. Just before we reached the house, we popped to our local shop and got a big rasperry icecream. 'That's smart'I thought smugly of my tactic to trick trickle some liquid down the young patient's throat. My son tucked in, with a little help from the hot sun. Actually half of the icecream melted and poured down his arm by the time we reached home, but worry not. Soap and water did the trick, and as for the light blue shirt so messed with the apparently indelible fruity stains, well stains -I had developed a kind of a blind spot for them quite a long time ago. Around the time when I was putting my son on solids for the first time..
Back at home, I stayed alert. As the day went by, and the bottle of calpol got emptier, my little boy seemed better. Less hot, less tired. I felt less panicky. The atmosphere was peaceful and cosy until around 6 pm, when my boy almost collapsed on my lap and said he wanted to go to bed. Such volunteering happens very rarely. Was he becoming unarousably drowsy? I felt suspcious, but decided to stay clam. As I stroked his head, and his arms, I saw THIS and jumped up. In fright. In panick. In almost paralysing fear. There, around his elbow, were two big purple patches. I rubbed them, they would not blanche. With my heart pounding its way out of my chest, I grabbed my mobile phone and dialled 999. 'I need an ambulance, my son is got meningitis.' There was a questions asking voice on the other side of the line, but the furious rush of blood through my head drowned everything out. 'I know.. I know for sure, he had a high fever since yesterday, and has just deteriorated, please me address....' I forced myslef to calm down a bit, when the voice refused to take my address before I answered some questions.
'Yes, he has..no he hasn't....yes they are purple, yes big..on his arms, no, they would not go white...I am rubbing them right now..Yes, RUBBING. And they are not going white..no...Hold on a sec..they seem to be going. No, no, not white, they just seem to be going, I mean going completely away..Disappearing, vanishing...Gosh I think it's false alarm..I am sorry to bother you. I truly am sorry.
I put the receiver down, and tasted his arm. The purple spot tasted of rasperry.