Sick or Playing

About two days a year, Cowgrit is on call with the hospital, and rarely does the call come in. But this time, she got the call, and she went in to work for the day, on a week day. It’s a change in our schedule, but not a big deal. She goes on to the hospital, I drop the boys off at school, her mom picks them up from school, and I pick them up from her mom.

Since this was an unusual day anyway, I decided to take the boys to McDonald’s for breakfast before dropping them off at school. They both got an order of hotcakes, and ate them like they hadn’t eaten in a week. When we were all finished with breakfast, and about to get up to go on to school, Calfgrit9 told me he didn’t feel well. His throat hurt, and his stomach felt weird. “Actually, it’s kind of my whole body feels weird,” he elaborated.

Hmmm. I was a bit doubtful. For one thing, I just saw him put away three pancakes without complaint. But then again, pancakes are relatively soft, so maybe they wouldn’t aggravate a sore throat.

I was still suspicious. I suspected he was thinking he could trick me into letting him stay home, maybe to watch TV or play with his toys. Did he think I was a sucker compared to his mom?

I asked him was he serious, and I explained to him that if he didn’t go to school he would just have to go to my office with me while I get some work done — I had stuff to finish for a deadline in a couple of days. We wouldn’t just be going home. He said he was serious, and he understood that I had to go to work.

Calfgrit5 had been sick, with a sore throat, the week before, and this fact made me think that Calfgrit9 might have picked up the bug and was just now getting the symptoms. I considered taking him to school anyway and just letting him call me if he got worse. But if he was really sick, and needed me to pick him up immediately from school, well, my office is 45 minutes away.

I weighed all the ideas in my head to determine whether he was truly sick or if he was just playing me to get out of school for the day. I decided to err on the side of maybe he was actually ill. The potential logistics problems of taking him to work with me were less complicated than sending him to school and then having to come back for him.

So we dropped Calfgrit5 off at school for kindergarten. Calfgrit9 had a book to read, and his school backpack, and he came on to my office with me.

At my office, Calfgrit9 sat in the chair across from my desk. He read some of his book. He got down my action figures from my bookshelf and played with them. I gave him an old PC Gamer magazine to look through and read. And I had him do some school work.

In the few hours we were there, I got my work to a good stopping point, and then we left for home. He didn’t once complain about being bored, but he also didn’t seem ill. I was fully believing that he was simply playing me. I got played by a 9 year old.

After leaving my office, we ran some errands to various stores. At home, he played in his room while I got some minor chores done around the house. That afternoon, we picked up Calfgrit5 from school. Calfgrit9 still showed no real signs of being sick.

Yep, I was convinced that I had been duped. Dammit. Not only do I hate being tricked by a 9 year old, but I have to figure out a way to explain to him that lying to get out of school is bad, and will not be tolerated. It’s one thing to just tell a kid that, but then trying to explain how it’s a bad thing even though it just worked perfectly for him . . . well, it ain’t a straight-forward conversation.

But then, about an hour after we got home with his little brother, I found Calfgrit9 in his bed, under his covers. Whoa. A 9 year old putting himself to bed before 5 o’clock in the afternoon?

“I don’t feel good,” he explained when I found him. “I just want to rest.”

I felt of his head and face, but detected no fever. He fell asleep.

That night, after getting Calgrit5 in bed, and when his mother was home, we checked on him. He said his throat hurt very bad. We did the usual care and medications to help him through the night. The next morning, his throat hurt so bad he couldn’t talk.

I went on to work as normal, and Cowgrit handled things at home as normal. She took Calfgrit9 to the doctor and found out he had a virus of some sort. He ended up missing another day of school. Then he got better after another day.

So, he hadn’t been faking illness just to get out of school. He truly must have felt bad, or “weird” as he put it, and he wasn’t playing me as I suspected. I swear, I can’t rely on fatherly instincts one way or another. I’m sad he got sick, but I’m glad I trusted him against what I thought was evidence against trust.

Bullgrit