I find it happening again, 'though I'm guilty of trying to ignore it.

For the first time during his five-day illness, I am carrying him everywhere. Upstairs, downstairs, to the car. The car, that necessary evil of driving, especially on Tuesdays.

It was different last spring ... and yet similar. I mean, different symptoms but same result: a lifeless kid.

The schoolmarm mentioned the "B" word to me this morning, bronchitis, which I thought only plagued middle-aged female smokers like my sister.

Hah, I don't believe it. I don't believe it's bronchitis. The symptoms don't match up. Schoolmarms often overreact. They mistake the common cold for some fancy disease.

However, if it is bronchitis, then must be some sick smoker teacher should have stayed home rather than report to work and infect her students. That's what I think. And I know which teachers smoke ... yes I do. Endangering the welfare of a child ...