The Stomach Ache

Winter break is over, but I didn't work last week, so this week's posts are from before the break.

"My stomach hurts." Russell said this while munching on a bag of Hot Cheetos.

"Those aren't going to help," I said.

Mitchell chimed in, "You don't know that. He could be hungry."

"But when you're hungry, you say you're hungry. Hunger is a specific kind of stomach pain. If you say your stomach hurts..."

They weren't listening. Both argued over me. Russell didn't care. His argument had something to do with him having the snack meant he had to eat the snack. And Mitchell seemed to think that pain = hunger.

Russell asked to return to the health office. He had been there the prior period, but as his grandmother wouldn't come and pick him up, they sent him back to class.

There's a procedure to these things. For general malaise, the health clerk lets the student lie down for twenty minutes. Depending on the severity of the ailment, the clerk may call the student's parent(s) to pick the kiddo up. If the student feels better after the twenty minutes, they go back to class. Or, if someone won't pick the kiddo up. If a parent will pick the kiddo up, they are released for the day.

As Russell headed to the health office, he had switched to eating Funyuns. (He had finished the bag of Hot Cheetos.)

About a half hour later, Russell returned. His father wouldn't come to pick him up.

He admitted the Funyuns might not have been a good idea... as he continued to consume them.

On the bright side, he did not vomit in class. But, alas, he didn't grasp the concept that eating junk wasn't going to help the situation, especially as he was going to have to finish the school day.

(He said his mother lived at least an hour away, so he was out of options as to having someone pick him up. And students can't be released from school on their own. So, unless things got serious enough to call an ambulance, he was going to remain at school until the final dismissal bell.)