Little House on the Prairie: The Sickness Part #2

(Sorry, I know this was VERY long awaited)....

The girls eventually fell asleep, sicker than ever - much sicker.

Just then, the worst thing happened, Baby Carrie came up to check on her sisters while Ma was out feeding the animals and milking the cows.

"Hi Mary and Laura," Carrie spoke with delight, she was happy to see her sisters. "Why are you up here?"

"Cause we're sick, Carrie," Laura answered, awaking from her sleep. Mary, who was actually much sicker than Laura, was awake now too, but didn't have the strength to talk.

"Can I get in bed with you?" Carried asked, almost getting ready to climb into the bed with them.   

Mary suddenly realized that if she and Laura were really sick, that Carrie wouldn't be able to fight it off like the older girls could. She closed her eyes tightly and spoke very slowly, but firmly. "Carrie, you must go downstairs right now. You must. NOW!" Mary got a bit loud at the last word, which sent Carrie bounding down the loft ladder.

"She's gone," Mary told Laura. Laura just nodded and turned away to sleep. The girls were just so sick.

Within the next half hour, Ma came to check on the girls. Neither of them opened their eyes, but both of them could tell that Ma was seriously worried and that she was almost in tears with every word she spoke. She spoke firmly though. "Mary, Laura, you girls must sit up for a bit. You need to - it's the doctor's orders. Please. Sit up."

Mary and Laura slowly sat up, both feeling extremely weak.

The girls were so hot that the girls' bangs stuck to their foreheads with sweat because they had such terrible fevers. Neither girl could sit up very long, but unlike Laura, Mary understood that listening and following every instruction the doctor gave was important, so after Laura lay back down, Mary tried to stay up some more.

Mary started to feel faint though, so Ma gave her a bucket in case she needed to throw up. Mary did, and instead of making her feel better, she began to feel worse - much worse.

"Do you need to throw up some more?" Ma asked worriedly.

"No, Ma," Mary replied. The pain in her body was terrible and the achy feeling she had made it almost impossible to breathe.

Suddenly, she realized that it was getting extremely hard to breathe - very hard. "Ma!" Mary cried out. She didn't want to startle anyone, but she was scared.

"Ma, Oh Ma, I can't breathe that well!" Mary gasped.

"Oh!" Ma cried, dropping the bucket that held the throw up on the ground and rushing down the loft stairs, her skirts swishing.

She had to alert Dr. Baker. Luckily he was just passing by to visit another house, so he quickly rushed in. Even Dr. Baker was extremely worried, but being a doctor, he was very sensible with his patients. Either they made it or they didn't and he did his best to make sure they did make it.

"Mary, what do you feel?" Dr. Baker asked.

"It's just real hard to breathe - I can barely do it."

"Okay, we need to get you to the makeshift hospital in the church. You will be able to be better cared for there. Here, let's get you loaded into the wagon."

"Dr. Baker? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Ma asked hesitantly.

"Of course, what is it?" Dr. Baker asked as they went downstairs, leaving Mary to try and gather up some strength.

"I can't have my child go away from me! I really can't. I need her. I need to watch over her - she needs her mother," Ma was crying by now. "Suppose she...she doesn't make it. I want to be with her! Oh Dr. Baker, please! How bad is she right now?"

"Caroline, she's getting worse. She's approaching the worst stage of the sickness. At this point, it's going to be a real wonder that she even makes it. If she does, she might never be the same. Laura is doing okay right now, she has a greater chance of making it. Now she is going to the hospital at the church and that's that! Let me go get her."

He lifted her out of bed, and down the two of them went into the wagon. Laura feared she would never see her sister the same again.

 

Stay tuned for the next episode (I have to finish the Annabelle episode first though, so it may be a few weeks).