Daddy's sick

On Tuesday morning the Daddy didn’t get out of bed. Well, he did, but then he went right back and crawled under the covers, even though it was warm. LT went in to investigate since he’d expected him to come out and feed him breakfast. He walked around so that he could see the Daddy’s face, and found that he couldn’t quite find it. Hmm, LT thought, he must be sleeping in the middle of the bed.

LT jumped up on the bed and walked over to the Daddy’s face. He opened his eyes, looked at LT and said, “I’m not feeling too well today guys. I’ll get up in a little bit and feed you, but I don’t feel up to it right now.” He then coughed in LT’s face. LT backed up a bit, but didn’t jump off the bed. The Daddy was almost never sick! This was not a good thing to happen when the Mommy was gone. Who would take care of him? Who would feed him, and give him medicine if he needed it? The Daddy forgot about eating sometimes even when he was okay – who knows what would happen if he was sick.

LT settled down near the Daddy’s feet and purred loudly. He wanted Daddy to know that he was here to take care of him, but he didn’t want to risk getting any germs. He wasn’t sure if cats could catch people colds, but in case they could, LT was taking no chances. Daddy shifted a bit and LT snuggled up closer to his feet.

Later in the morning, Peep came to investigate. She was hungry, and there was no fresh food, either squishy or crunchy. This was not normal. She found the Daddy in bed with LT asleep at his feet. She jumped up on the bed to investigate. LT woke up and explained that the Daddy was sick and that he was worried about him. “Peep, will you stay with him for a while? I need to go outside for a few minutes, but I’ll be back.”

“Of course I’ll stay with him,” Peep answered. She walked gently up to his head and looked at him carefully. His face was red and he was radiating heat. This was not good. He definitely was sick. As Peep watched him, the Daddy woke up.

“Peep, were you worried about me or are you just hungry?” The Daddy looked at the clock and saw that it was almost lunch time. “I need to get up and feed you guys and take some aspirin. My head is splitting.” The Daddy carefully got out of bed and went into the bathroom. Peep kept watch to make sure that he was all right.

The Daddy walked into the kitchen and put out squishy food and crunchy food. He didn’t even squish the food around, like he usually did. Peep figured he must be feeling pretty bad, because he always smushed it up to make it easier for them to share if two cats wanted to eat at the same time. He then got himself a glass of water and slowly made his way back to bed. He crawled under the covers again and said, “Peep, I need to sleep some more. Watch the house for me, okay?”

Peep took her instructions seriously. She didn’t want to leave the Daddy until LT came back so she sat at the end of the bed where she could see out the bedroom door. A few minutes later, LT returned with Miss Rudy. They both jumped up on the bed to check out the Daddy.

“How has he been, Peep? I saw that he put food out, so he must be feeling well enough to get up at least.” LT examined the Daddy’s face and like Peep saw that it was red and that he was hot. “He doesn’t look too good.”

“He took some aspirin and just dumped the food and came back to bed. I think he’s really sick. He told me to keep an eye on the house for him. Will you stay with him while I check things out?” Peep was quite serious. LT had to suppress a smile, thinking that if anything happened Peep would run instead of fighting. Well, at least she could warn them if there was a problem.

“Okay by me, Peep. We’ll stay with him for a while.” LT settled down by the Daddy’s feet again and Rudy arranged herself on the Mommy’s pillow. It was the most comfortable place on the bed and she quickly dozed off.

The Daddy woke later in the afternoon to find that he had all three cats with him. LT was by his feet, Rudy was on the pillow and Peep was sitting on the little table next to the bed with the mini quilt on it. “You guys are really taking care of me, aren’t you? It makes me feel better just to have you here.” He reached out and smoothed Rudy’s and Peep’s fur. They purred at their loudest levels, trying to project comfort to the Daddy.

“I’m just going to have to take it easy and hope this goes away on its own. If I feel worse tomorrow I might go to the doctor. I’ll wait and see.” He took more aspirin, refilled his water and came back to bed. “Thanks for staying with me.”

The Daddy drifted back to sleep, surrounded by cats. Whatever came up, they would handle.