After his bout with swine flu, Malcolm was hoping to get back to school and go on a field trip to Colonial Philadelphia yesterday. This was to tie in with the book the 7th graders are currently reading, all about the yellow fever outbreak. Malcolm is a bit of an expert on plagues.
He laid out his outfit the night before. He has new shoes. Remember how great it is, the first day you wear new shoes to school? He’s still waiting for that day, although he’s shown everyone his new “shewz” on FaceBook.
But he was unable to get up. He was clearly still weak and needing lots more shut-eye. So began Day Four of staying at home.
As the hours ticked by, he perked up considerably. A highlight was opening a jar of wild grape jelly, sent by my dear childhood friend Lisa in Missouri, who collected the grapes and made the jelly herself and sent it off carefully, enclosing it with a long, hand-written letter that was very cheering to me. Malcolm was very keen to make toast and have it with Lisa’s grape jelly.
And it was delicious.
Bolstered by purple toast and green sneaks, we predict Malcolm will be back to school on Monday, returning in the pink of health. Which is the appropriate hue for a swine flu survivor.
Thank you all for your well wishes! Sneeze into your elbow, wash your hands often, and have a great weekend.
