Monday morning, I wake up and my head is hot while the rest of my body is cold. I just want to get the day over with so I get out of bed and put on the outfit I laid out the night before. I stack my luggage by the door. I have to decide now whether I’ll have time after work to come home and collect my things before taking a cab to the train station or if I should bring my things to work with me in case they make me stay ‘til 4. I take the risk and leave it all at home; I decide that I am leaving the shop at 2:30 no matter what. I grab my almost full carton of orange juice from the fridge and set off toward work. I pass the taxi depot on my way and book a cab for 3:50. One of the cab drivers looks at me and looks at the orange juice and says “You didn’t drink all of that, did you?” I say, “Not yet!” And by the time I get to work I drank it all.

I walk into the shop, say hi to the girls working (although, I wonder if I shouldn’t ignore them to convey that I am still sick). I get upstairs and bump straight into my boss. He says, “Oh, didn’t you get my message?” He says, “I called you about 30 minutes after we got off the phone.” I tell him I don’t have any credit on my phone and didn’t know he called. He quickly says, “Well, that’s not my fault.” I’m sure why he said that, so I just look at him. Then he tells me that he sorted out the shifts and that I can go home. I mumble “oh” and “thank you.” All the while wondering if he suddenly believes me, or had a change of heart, or just remembered there was someone that could work. I didn’t ask. But when I walk away I start to cry a little again, of course.

I think it’s a mixture of fatigue, relief, and still slight anger for making me go through it all for no reason. I almost say, “Well, I’m here now,” but I am too disoriented. I just walk back downstairs kind of hazy, say goodbye to the girls and leave.

When I get home all my housemates are there. They are all surprised to see me, saying “You’re still here?” and “Get on a plane, already!” I get to say goodbye to the ones I had missed the night before and I say ‘bye and hi and ‘bye again to a couple, as well.

Finally at 3:50, I walk down the road, in the rain, to get into the cab that will start my Christmas vacation.