Flu Season

Ah, jeez. I hope none of that came my way.

"Ms. Jordan?" called the nurse, and a portly young woman who looked like she hadn't slept for a month got up to go through the door to see the doctor. Of course, she was not the person who sneezed. That was a sticky kid who was running around touching everything while sneezing and coughing his germs all over the waiting room. His mother was sitting at the other end of the room, reading a magazine and doing nothing to control her infected child. Nobody else seemed to mind, either. Idiots.

I shifted in my seat, and adjusted the mask that I was wearing to protect myself from the latest strain of nasty influenza that was laying the world low. Of course, the news reports claimed there were several strains, with the usual seasonal flu in the mix, as well. I wasn't feeling so great, either. I was pretty sure I had a fever, and my head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. There had been reports of particularly virulent swine flu in the local schools, and although I take all normal precautions to not spread my own cooties, people like the mother of the mobile germ factory take their infested children with them, everywhere without even considering public health.

"Achoo! Achoo!" Blech, the little creep is blowing phlegm all over the place. Hello! Earth to lazy mother! Tissues, handwashing and masks! The rest of us have some manners and respect for others. I actually felt a little sorry for the boy, but I was disgusted with his mom.

An elderly man said, "Bless you, son."

The child's mother looked up and said, "Anthony! What do you say?"

He wiped his face with his hand, smiled and said, "Fanks." Then his mother just went back to reading her magazine. I stared at her in disbelief. I looked hopefully at the receptionists, but they were safe and happy behind their glass partition, and they did not seem to notice the scuzzmeister.

There were a lot of other people coming and going through the front door to the clinic, and the waiting area was pretty full, but most people were minding their own business. There were other children, but their parents were more attentive, and these children were not running around with snot dripping onto their upper lips. I'm not a germaphobe, but that kid was grossing me out.

A girl who could not have been more than fourteen years old came out of the back, and she headed to the snotster's mother. When she caught sight of him, she said, "Mom! Anthony's face is covered with yuck!" To Anthony, she said, "Come here, son", and took him to the bathroom. They emerged a few minutes later, and he was whining, "But, Mommy, Meemaw didn't make me blow my nose! I don't like to!"

Well, the inattentiveness of "Meemaw" would explain why her teenaged daughter was the mother of small child. The actual Mommy was a child, but she was a better mother than her own. It's amazing what you'll see in the waiting room of your local medical clinics, these days. Finally, I heard my name called and headed back to take my turn.