Emily (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
iluvroadrunner6) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomweekly2023-02-23 09:22 am
iluvroadrunner6) wrote in fandomweekly2023-02-23 09:22 am
Entry tags:
[#169] You Can Read Me Anything (Original)
Theme Prompt: #169—Sick Day
Title: You Can Read Me Anything
Fandom: Original
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 713
Summary: Charlie catches a bad bug and has to stay home from school.
“Mom?”
Jessica feels the tingle in the back of her Mom BrainTM, the sense of a disturbance in the force. Or maybe it’s just knowing her kid well enough to know that the particular tone Charlie is using is never a good sign.
“Yeah, kiddo?”
“I don’t feel so good.”
She turns to face him, and he’s definitely looking a little green around the gills. One hand is draped over the stomach of his Captain America pajamas and the look on his face is utterly miserable. She doesn’t feel like she has to ask, but she does it all the same.
“How are you not feeling well, buddy?”
He swallows hard. “My tummy hurts.”
“Oh, no.” She ducks down under the sink and fishes out one of the plastic, easy to clean mixing bowls, motherly intuition kicking in. “That sounds rough.” She places the mixing bowl in his hands and keeps supporting the opposite end. “Why don’t we get you curled up on the couch and—”
Before she can even finish the sentence, Charlie makes a face and is promptly sick. But since they’re prepared, it goes right into the bowl, rather than all over the floor. Jessica sighs, before stroking his back.
“That’s it, kiddo. Let it all out.”
Today is going to be a long day.
* * * * *
One of the other moms had warned her that there was a stomach bug going around the school, but since becoming a mom, Jessica knows that the stomach flu is a tad inconsistent. It’s either going to hit you or it doesn’t. But she knows her husband used to complain that he got one every year when he was in grade school, so she should have assumed that it was only a matter of time before her son’s immune system would give way.
So much for hoping he’d take after her.
But Charlie isn’t so bad on a sick day. He’s always been a quiet kid—leave him with a book or a video game and he’ll entertain himself for a couple of hours if she needs to get some cleaning or work done. When he’s sick, that’s even easier—they can just put on the TV and watch his favorite shows and in between he’ll sleep it off.
It’s only punctured by the occasional: “Mom? I threw up again.”
Towards the end of the day, however, the throwing up is less, and he’s able to keep down some dry toast and water, which is a step in the right direction. She swings back around to the living room where he’s working through the latest episode of his favorite TV show.
“How we doing, bud?”
“Better, I think,” Charlie curls up onto his side. “Does that mean I have to go to school tomorrow?”
Jessica shakes her head. “I don’t want to send you back and have you throwing up. We’ll make sure you can eat and keep everything down tomorrow, and we’ll see about the day after, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You sound disappointed. Most kids would be happy for a free day off.”
He shrugs. “I like school. My teacher is really nice and I can read in the corner when I’m done with my work.”
“You can read here too, kiddo, if you’re feeling better.”
“Mrs. Henderson has better books than you do, Mom.”
Jessica moves a hand over her heart, as though she’s been wounded. “Ouch. That was harsh.”
Charlie shrugs. “I tell it like it is.”
She laughs. “Well, how about we grab my phone and you can tell me about the kinds of books that Mrs. Henderson has, and we see if we can get some for you at home.”
“Will they be here by tomorrow?”
“Probably not until late. But they’ll be ready for the next time you’re sick, okay?”
“Okay. And maybe I can read some of them on the weekends!”
“That too.”
Jessica doesn’t know how she, someone who struggled through every English class she’s ever taken, and her husband, who can do statistical math for fantasy football in his head, but can’t tell you the name of classic authors, wound up with a bookworm for a child.
But you know what? She will not look a gift horse in the mouth.
Title: You Can Read Me Anything
Fandom: Original
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 713
Summary: Charlie catches a bad bug and has to stay home from school.
“Mom?”
Jessica feels the tingle in the back of her Mom BrainTM, the sense of a disturbance in the force. Or maybe it’s just knowing her kid well enough to know that the particular tone Charlie is using is never a good sign.
“Yeah, kiddo?”
“I don’t feel so good.”
She turns to face him, and he’s definitely looking a little green around the gills. One hand is draped over the stomach of his Captain America pajamas and the look on his face is utterly miserable. She doesn’t feel like she has to ask, but she does it all the same.
“How are you not feeling well, buddy?”
He swallows hard. “My tummy hurts.”
“Oh, no.” She ducks down under the sink and fishes out one of the plastic, easy to clean mixing bowls, motherly intuition kicking in. “That sounds rough.” She places the mixing bowl in his hands and keeps supporting the opposite end. “Why don’t we get you curled up on the couch and—”
Before she can even finish the sentence, Charlie makes a face and is promptly sick. But since they’re prepared, it goes right into the bowl, rather than all over the floor. Jessica sighs, before stroking his back.
“That’s it, kiddo. Let it all out.”
Today is going to be a long day.
One of the other moms had warned her that there was a stomach bug going around the school, but since becoming a mom, Jessica knows that the stomach flu is a tad inconsistent. It’s either going to hit you or it doesn’t. But she knows her husband used to complain that he got one every year when he was in grade school, so she should have assumed that it was only a matter of time before her son’s immune system would give way.
So much for hoping he’d take after her.
But Charlie isn’t so bad on a sick day. He’s always been a quiet kid—leave him with a book or a video game and he’ll entertain himself for a couple of hours if she needs to get some cleaning or work done. When he’s sick, that’s even easier—they can just put on the TV and watch his favorite shows and in between he’ll sleep it off.
It’s only punctured by the occasional: “Mom? I threw up again.”
Towards the end of the day, however, the throwing up is less, and he’s able to keep down some dry toast and water, which is a step in the right direction. She swings back around to the living room where he’s working through the latest episode of his favorite TV show.
“How we doing, bud?”
“Better, I think,” Charlie curls up onto his side. “Does that mean I have to go to school tomorrow?”
Jessica shakes her head. “I don’t want to send you back and have you throwing up. We’ll make sure you can eat and keep everything down tomorrow, and we’ll see about the day after, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You sound disappointed. Most kids would be happy for a free day off.”
He shrugs. “I like school. My teacher is really nice and I can read in the corner when I’m done with my work.”
“You can read here too, kiddo, if you’re feeling better.”
“Mrs. Henderson has better books than you do, Mom.”
Jessica moves a hand over her heart, as though she’s been wounded. “Ouch. That was harsh.”
Charlie shrugs. “I tell it like it is.”
She laughs. “Well, how about we grab my phone and you can tell me about the kinds of books that Mrs. Henderson has, and we see if we can get some for you at home.”
“Will they be here by tomorrow?”
“Probably not until late. But they’ll be ready for the next time you’re sick, okay?”
“Okay. And maybe I can read some of them on the weekends!”
“That too.”
Jessica doesn’t know how she, someone who struggled through every English class she’s ever taken, and her husband, who can do statistical math for fantasy football in his head, but can’t tell you the name of classic authors, wound up with a bookworm for a child.
But you know what? She will not look a gift horse in the mouth.