Free Moonlight on Butternut Lake by Mary McNear

“I’m sure your mother loves you very much. But she can’t be in two places at one time, can she?”
    â€œNo,” Mila whispered gratefully.
    â€œDoes your throat hurt?” Heather asked then, probing Mila’s neck with her cool fingers.
    Mila shook her head.
    But Heather looked at her throat anyway, gently pushing down Mila’s tongue with a tongue depressor and shining a little light into the back of her mouth.
    â€œYour throat looks fine,” she murmured, then used the same light to look in both of Mila’s ears. “So do your ears. What about your stomach? Does that hurt?”
    Mila shook her head again. “Just my head,” she said. And the rest of my body too . A chill came over her then and she felt her teeth start to chatter. She clenched her jaw to make them stop.
    â€œPoor thing,” Heather said, helping Mila off the examining table and leading her over to a daybed in a corner of the office. “Why don’t you lie down here for a minute, okay? I’m going to check your file and see if I can give you some medicine to help you feel better.”
    Mila lay down and Heather put a blanket over her. In a minute,she was back. “You don’t have any allergies to medication,” she said cheerfully, sitting down on the edge of the daybed. “So I’m going to give you some children’s Tylenol, all right? It’ll bring your fever down and help with the achiness.”
    Mila nodded and sat up.
    â€œCan you chew these?” Heather asked. She was holding a Dixie cup with two bright purple tablets in it.
    Mila nodded, taking the cup from her, and chewing and swallowing the tablets in spite of her funny-feeling tongue. “Good job,” Heather said, favoring Mila with one of her warm smiles. “Now, why don’t you rest here for a little while, okay? I’m going to call your mom. But don’t worry if she can’t pick you up right away. I can stay here with you for as long as necessary.”
    Mila wanted to thank her, but she was suddenly too tired to. So instead she closed her eyes and rested, just like Heather had told her to. And she must have fallen asleep, too, because when she opened her eyes, she knew immediately from the dusky winter light outside the office’s windows that it was late afternoon. Her heart sank. Her mother still wasn’t there. But Heather was there, sitting at a nearby desk, typing on a computer.
    She must have sensed Mila looking at her, though, because she looked up and smiled at her. “You’re awake,” she said, getting up and coming over to the daybed. She sat down on the edge and felt Mila’s forehead with her cool hand.
    â€œMuch better,” she said approvingly, going to get the thermometer. And when she took Mila’s temperature again, she was doubly pleased. “Ninety-nine,” she said. “Almost normal. Are you feeling better, too?”
    Mila nodded. She was. Her chills were gone, and her head only hurt a little now.
    â€œI think, Mila, that what you have is the flu,” Heather said,tucking the blanket around her again. “The plain old flu. And with lots of fluids, and lots of rest, you’ll be back to your old self in a few days.”
    â€œThat’s good,” Mila said unconvincingly. But that wasn’t good. If she had to stay home for a few days, that would be a problem for her mother. Heather, though, seemed to read her mind.
    â€œAnd don’t worry about your mom missing work,” she said. “I already spoke to her and she was able to trade shifts with one of her coworkers. She’s going to be able to stay home with you tomorrow, and the next day, too, if you need her to. So the only thing you’ll be responsible for, Mila, is getting better.”
    Mila felt relieved. Ordinarily, she was responsible for so many things. She had to walk herself to and from school every day, no matter what the weather was. She