Same class today as yesterday. We're still reading Animal Farm.
It was 3rd period. One girl had a wad of tissue on her desk. She was coughing and she looked miserable. She had been absent yesterday. She probably should have stayed home today.
I don't remember why I said it. I'm sure something prompted it. I asked if she was sure she didn't have the flu.
The class was rather loud. Everyone was talking. So, I was surprised when the room went silent after I said it.
A couple students glanced sideways at her. I saw a boy go for the hand sanitizer (every class has a bottle of the stuff now). No one got too close.
Well, I guess we're all being careful. Even the teenagers.
I'm trying to recall why exactly we were so flu paranoid then. Was this when the flu vaccine was in short supply? Or was there a particularly virulent outbreak? Or both? I'm not sure where to look this up, so help me out, please. This was the fall/winter of 2009. Why were we so worried?
