The Number Field

Elena slept peacefully through the night last night, which was not the case at this time last week. She has always been exceptionally healthy, and I didn't realize what a blessing that was until she got sick last week. She must have picked up a bug somewhere, because she went through a pretty hard time last weekend, starting on Thursday.

Throughout the ordeal Elena tried her best to be a good sport. She needed some extra cuddling, and didn't fuss too much. We quickly discovered that she gave no advance notice before throwing up. Somehow, Jenny managed to save Elena's favorite blanket from the ill effects several times. I didn't, and every time the blanket became soiled (even in the middle of the night), we had to wash and dry the blanket before we could put Elena back to sleep--she wouldn't go down without it.

By Friday evening, we had a stretch without any incidents and we thought we were through the worst of it when we put Elena to bed. Just when we were about to go to sleep, she awoke with a cry and we had to go rescue her, then watch Pete's Dragon while we did the laundry. That wasn't even the low point of the evening, because Jenny was the next to fall prey to the virus.

After an exhausting night for Jenny, she didn't have much energy the next day, so I was on nurse duty for both her and Elena. Luckily, the bug didn't strike Jenny as hard as it had Elena, and they were both feeling better on Saturday evening. They continued to improve through the weekend, although Elena did have one more incident on Saturday night, just when we thought she was all done.

I managed to escape the worst effects of the illness, although it did strike a glancing blow and I felt pretty puny for a couple of days during the week. But that inspired an April Fool's prank. I was due to teach on April 1, so I recruited a student from each of my classes to be a compatriot. At the beginning of each class, I talked about Elena and Jenny had been sick, and acted not well until I suddenly ran out of the room mid-problem. At that point the chosen student was supposed to get up and take my place in the problem, doing their best impersonation of me.

In two of the classes, the prank worked very well. In the third, the students caught on in advance and double crossed me by leaving the classroom immediately after I did, although they did come back a few minutes later. I think that everyone had a good time. The students did express concern for Elena's help--they were happy to hear that although she had been sick, she was better now.