Chapter 8 - Sick

Shimaki immediately ran toward Amy and Joe to help.

“Sakra, Pensa, Konso!” Shimaki yelled for his friends.

When Shimaki yelled their names, Pensa turned back into a lizard and came on land. Kristie and Tom also looked around. Kristie looked worried and ran towards everyone else when she saw Amy. Tom just looked over his shoulder and had a look on his face that was saying, “stop trying to bring so much attention to yourself.”

When Joe saw the look on Tom’s face, he was furious.

“Tom,” Joe said, “don’t look like that. She is not faking this. Trust me.

“She told me she hadn’t gotten any more than four hours of sleep within the past week. Not to mention, she has a fever. That is why she fainted. She is sick.”

“Don’t worry, Joe,” Konso said. “We will find a place to take her. Just put her on Shimaki’s back then climb on yourself. Kristie and Tom, get on my back. Sakra and Pensa will keep on the look-out around us.”

Everyone did as they were told. And as soon as Joe carried Amy onto Shimaki’s back with Sakra’s help and climbed on himself, they were off.

It didn’t take too long before Shimaki and Konso found some shelter that they could use to take care of Amy.

“Do I really have to come here as well,” Tom asked, sounding annoyed. “I do not want to take care of a bratty, faking Princess. I'm going to go help Sakra and Pensa.”

“No, Tom,” Konso said. “It is dangerous to be out there on your own.”

Joe was really furious.

“She is not faking it!” Joe yelled so loud he was surprised the shelter didn’t collapse. “And she isn’t bratty! You’re the one who’s bratty!”

“Joe, please calm down,” Shimaki said. “Tom is the only one that thinks she is faking. The rest of us know she isn’t.”

Joe still didn’t want to take much nonsense from Tom. Why would he know if she was faking or not? Amy wouldn’t do that! Not at all! And the only way he could be absolutely sure anyway, is if he was stalking her or eavesdropping. Does Tom think he is the smartest kid in the world and is never wrong? If he did, he better think again!

Joe tried really hard to contain himself. Why was he getting so angry over this? It should really bother him that Tom is saying something like that, but he was getting a little too angry. He felt like punching Tom, but he knew that he couldn’t and he didn’t want to. If he punched Tom, he would start acting a little like his father.

Joe finally calmed down some and started to focus on how to get Amy’s fever down.

“How can we tell how high her fever is,” Joe asked.

Shimaki felt her head with his paw.

“I would say it is about one-hundred-three degrees Fahrenheit,” Shimaki said.

“We definitely need to bring it down before it gets any higher.”

“And how do we do that?” Kristie asked.

“Ah, ignorance,” Tom said. “I remember when I was like that. Oh, wait. I never was.” Tom chuckled to himself. “We find a special herb, liquefy it, and give it to her, idiot.”

Kristie became sad by Tom’s rude words.

“Hey, Tom,” Joe said, “lay off her will you? That is rude. Just because you are 'smart' doesn’t give you the right to make fun of her. Especially since she is the youngest one here, no offense to you, Kristie.”

Kristie looked surprised. “None taken,” she said. No one had ever stuck up for her before. She was teased tons of times and no one ever even wanted to help her out. Now someone did. Had she made a friend besides Konso?

“And, Tom was right,” Konso said. “I am going to search for the herb called Tivanthem. It will bring her fever down. And after she is no longer unconscious, we have to let her sleep. She definitely needs her rest. We should let her sleep for at least five hours.”

Konso flew off and everything was quiet.

“And I definitely don’t want to stay in here with a stupid eight-year-old, an unconscious ‘princess’, and her stupid servant,” Tom said. “I have enough to worry about. Now I need to be the smart one for all three of you and make sure you do nothing else stupid.”

“Tom,” Shimaki said. “That’s enough. I know I am not your parent, but you should stop before you get too cocky.”

“Yeah,” Joe said. “We all already know you are smart, so you don’t need to keep up your bratty attitude. You insulted Kristie, are saying that Amy isn’t a real princess and saying that I’m her stupid servant. One, Kristie is a nice girl who you shouldn’t be making fun of because of her age. Two, Amy doesn’t lie, and three, I am smart and not her servant. I am her friend. I may not be extremely smart, but I am still smart enough to know a liar and a snotty, spoiled, bratty know-it-all when I see one.

“You may be intelligent, but you know nothing about manners and being polite. That is where you lack a lot of intelligence, so you are really not all that smart.”

“Fine, whatever,” Tom said. “Say what you will. It doesn’t make it true. And, I might as well add this in while I can. If you are not Amy’s servant, then you must have a crush on her. I mean, come on. Look at the way you got angry when I suggested anything against what she says.”

Joe blushed. “No, I do not. I met her yesterday, so how can I have a crush on her already?”

“Things work in weird ways. And, if you met her yesterday, how could you be her friend already, anyway?”

“I am. Me and her talked enough to get along and become friends.”

“Mmhm, sure.”

Tom laughed.

“Why are you being friendly all of a sudden,” Joe asked.

“I’m not. I’m making fun of you. Can’t you tell the difference? If you can’t tell the difference, then how do you know that girl is your friend?”

“Just the way you were talking seemed like you were being friendly.”

“Wrong again.”

Tom laughed again.

He must be a troubled child, Joe thought. That is probably the result of what happens at his house.



To Amy, it seemed like she came back to her senses right after she became unconscious. But it had actually been a few hours.

She looked around and saw first Joe, who was right beside her, then Shimaki, Kristie, Konso, then Tom in a dark corner of the shelter.

“Nice to have you back,” Konso said. “Now, you should get sleep. You need it. We don’t want the same thing happen to you twice.”

“Where are Sakra and Pensa,” Amy asked.

“They are just watching around outside,” Shimaki said. “Don’t worry. Just get your rest.”

“But . . . hey, Joe? Did you tell them,” Amy asked.

“Yes,” Joe said. “I told you that if anything happened to you then I would tell them what was going on.”

“No, not that. That I know you told them. Did you tell them about . . . my dream i had last night?” Amy asked, lowering her voice to a soft whisper so only Joe could hear.”

“Oh, no. I didn’t think you would want me to tell anybody that. Oh, and Tom kept going on and on about how he thought you were faking that whole thing, but after about an hour, I finally persuaded him that you were really unconscious. I just thought you might want to know that”

“It’s all right,” Amy said. “Anybody can believe whatever they want. It doesn’t bother me.”

“It seems like he has a crush on you, you know,” Tom said to Amy. “The way he was sticking up for you. He really got in my face. It was really funny.”

“It wasn’t funny,” Kristie said. “He made fun of all of us.”

“Oh, is that so,” Amy said. “Tom, you shouldn’t make fun of people no matter who it is. It is wrong and I just despise how people make fun of other people. Will you please not do that from now on, Tom?”

“Whatever,” Tom answered back.

“That means he didn’t hear a word you said,” Joe whispered in Amy’s ear. “He may be smart, but he knows nothing about manners and being polite.”

“I realized that,” Amy whispered back.

Konso had heard Joe and Amy's conversation and told them, “He can be kind of rude, but please do not think low of him. Deep down, he is a really good person. Looking at Tom, you can see one of the worst results of someone who has been forced to do something he does not want to do but was lead to believe it was the best thing to do. Don’t worry; I’m sure he’ll turn around in time.”
Konso gave Amy the liquefied herb he had made for her.

Amy slowly drifted off to sleep. Obviously the herb that she had been given also lets you fall asleep easily. She was very tired when she had become conscious again, so she was happy when she was able to fall asleep.

After a few hours, Amy woke up. Konso felt her head and told her that her fever was gone. Amy was very happy to hear that; now they won’t have to worry so much about her anymore. She just hoped that she won't get sick again.

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