Shaurice H.

October 8,2010

English 10- Period 4

Autobiographical Narrative

Final Draft

                        Worst Feeling

Statistics show that in the United States, on average 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from seasonal flu-related complications. During the time I lived in Encanto, I learned an important lesson no to joke around with sick people.

             I was about 10 years old when I first caught the flu. It first started with my  grandmother ; I knew something was wrong  because I realized that I hadn’t heard my grandmother yelling “Come inside and clean the kitchen.” This was something my grandmother would constantly say.  As I made my way into her bedroom to see if she was okay, She was crying and in pain because she wasn't feeling well. She had come down with the flu. My cousin December and I decided to hang out with grandmother to keep her company in case she needed help.  

                My cousin December laid down with my grandma until she fell asleep. Soon after, December was feeling sick and nauseated. She rushed to the the bathroom and ran after her to make sure she was fine. I then noticed she had probably come down with the same illness as grandmother. The flu virus was spreading through our household and we knew something needed to be done to take care of it. "Be sure to clean and wash up after everything you touch.” December said with a hoarse voice. I grabbed rubber gloves and decided to wipe and clean up everything that December or my grandmother had touched.  

                At this point in time I’m the only one not sick. I had the whole house to myself because everyone was in their own rooms resting. I start running and jumping all over the house because I was the only feeling well. Shortly after December decided to join my in the living room I thought to myself  " this is the perfect time to get revenge on December for all the times she punched me when grandmother wasn't looking." Since December was feeling weak but a little better I decided to jump on top of her and get her back. She coughed on me, and I didn't think anything of it.

            Later that evening I started feeling nauseous and weak. I was now ill and had gotten the flu.  My grandma heard me starting to cough and complain so she struggled out of her bed to go make my bed comfy so that I could rest and get some sleep. She made me some soup and had me drink sprite, but I couldn't keep anything down. She called my dad over to come and help out so she could start cooking dinner. As she was on the phone she asked my dad what I could use to make me feel better and he also didn’t know.

            When my dad showed u,  he told me he talked to my mom and she told him to make me drink Gatorade. My dad came and had brought over some Gatorade. After drinking gatorade my stomach settled down. Gatorade was the only thing I could hold down. While lying in my bed thinking to myself how much I regretted messing with my cousin, I could smell the fried chicken that my grandma was cooking. About 15 minutes later dinner was done and my grandma called everyone to the table. I couldn’t eat but I tried anyways because I love my grandmother's fried chicken but I couldn't hold it down.

                At first I didn’t think that such a small cough could affect me in such a major way that it would make me that sick. Afterwards I realized that I should not take anyone with any illness or the flu as a joke, because it is more serious than I took it.