Myalic Fever

Sam watched the mosquito pierce his skin and fill its gut before he
slapped it. He flicked it off his arm and went back to work chaining
the downed tree to the winch.

It was hot in the mountain forest and Sam's shirt was soaked with
sweat. He pulled his rag out of a back pocket with one hand, while
signaling with the other to the chain puller. The big motor revved and
slowly, the chain pulled tight and dragged the huge log over the
ground, sending loud cracks and snaps through the air.

Sam noticed his ears begin to ring and he felt light-headed. He thought
it might be the heat getting to him and he wiped his face again as he
walked over to the tree, sitting down next to the gallon jug he'd
brought. He picked up the jug and poured water over his face before
taking half of it down in one long drink, all the while keeping the
chain puller in his view.

"Hey, Sam! Get off your butt, we need another one!" his boss called. He
sat for another moment before responding, suddenly feeling weak. "Sam!"
the crew boss called again.

As he tried to stand and respond to the crew boss, he lost his balance
and his head started to reel, his vision spun out of focus, and he
fell. His face smacked against the tree he'd been leaning on and he hit
the ground. As pain stabbed at his face, he almost didn't have the
strength to lift his head or open his watering eyes, and see the blood
pouring from his nose before he passed out.

Sam opened his eyes, waking in what looked like a hospital room; dim
light coming in through the cracks of the closed drapes, bare
mauve-colored walls with cupboards on one side, and a door opposite the
window. It was very quiet as Sam tried to remember what had happened to
him, and he inspected his body for injuries, finding none. The memory
of seeing his blood on the ground flashed through his mind and he
reached up to gingerly touch his sore nose, realizing that a broken
nose wasn't a reason for hospitalization. Confused, he closed his eyes
trying to remember what had happened.

Sam noticed a sweet floral scent drifting over him, and he opened his
eyes again. There was a beautiful woman that seemed to float over the
end of his bed, and she smiled sweetly, her hair was as a waist-length
golden shawl over the soft light that clothed her, and a gentle breeze
that Sam couldn't feel seemed to be blowing on her. Neither Sam nor the
woman spoke; they just smiled in silence at each other, and her crystal
blue eyes seemed to shine light right through him, making him feel
warm. Sam wondered if he was dead and if she might be an angel. She
reached out to him, holding her hand in the air toward him, and Sam
responded in kind, holding his hand up to hers.

The instant his finger tips touched hers, she disappeared in a flash of
blinding white light that turned into four small balls of blue-white
light that hung in the air for a moment before shooting to the corners
of the wall in front of Sam's bed, where they disappeared. Another
bright flash, and the remaining glow of her left the room in the same
manner, leaving him alone in the dull mauve room again.

"Whoa," Sam uttered, surprised at the sight before him, and not knowing
what to make of it. He closed his eyes to think. He'd hardly had time
to have a clear thought when he felt cold on his arm and again opened
his eyes to see what was touching him. He saw the mauve wall next to
him, and his elbow touched the cold ceiling. He looked down at the bed
and saw his body, eyes closed, looking as though he were sleeping
peacefully below him.

Suddenly the thought of his death raced through him like the blood that
coursed through his veins, making him feel as though he were vibrating
with fear. He rushed back to lay down on his body and try to get back
inside it.

"I must be dead," he cried out loud to himself. "What happened? Is this
Heaven?"

He heard the door to his room open and he turned to see the woman who
entered; she had a familiar face, but Sam couldn't place where he'd
known her from. He tried to sit up but found he couldn't. He tried to
move his arms, then his legs, but nothing worked; he seemed to be
paralyzed, after having reached out to touch the angel moments before.
Sam tried to speak, but no voice would come out of his mouth, though
he'd just spoken out loud moments before, too. He looked at the woman
in his room, hoping she would help him.

Smiling, the short, round-faced woman walked hurriedly over to Sam's
bedside without a word. She reached into Sam's mouth and quickly and
painlessly plucked out one of Sam's teeth, looking around to make sure
nobody else saw her as she put the tooth in her apron pocket. Sam's
mind raced, trying to make sense of all this. He couldn't move or make
a sound, couldn't defend himself, and he couldn't believe someone was
stealing his teeth!

Hearing the door open again, both of them turned to see who was now
entering Sam's room. Upon seeing an old man come in, the woman quickly
plucked one more tooth from Sam before she backed away from his
bed.

"Sally!" the old man greeted her, smiling a tooth-less grin, but Sally
only smiled in response. He walked over to Sam, rubbing his hands
together as he studied Sam's mouth. Sam knew this man wanted his teeth,
too, and he tried to clench his jaws as tight as he could, when he
realized he couldn't even feel his mouth, and didn't know if it was
open or shut. He tried to clench tighter anyway.

The old man had no trouble reaching in Sam's mouth and plucking out
another of his teeth, and he held it up to the light to look at it, as
if it were a fine gem stone. He looked up at the woman he'd called
Sally as she stood looking in awe at the fine specimen. He let out a
chuckle as he stuffed the tooth in his pocket and left the room,
without another word.

By now Sam was outraged, and struggled like a man trapped in a body
cast, feeling all the movements he made, but not actually moving at
all. Sally moved back to his bedside and Sam stared at her with what
felt to him like wide-eyed terror.

"Open your eyes," she told him softly. Sam knew his eyes were open
because he was staring at her. He stopped fighting inside himself for a
moment and looked at her, wondering if she would next want to take his
eyes. He thought surely he must be dead; people took his teeth, he
couldn't move or speak, and an angel had come and then disappeared; he
kept going over it in his mind, trying to make some kind of sense of
the happenings around him.

Sally didn't seem to notice Sam's frustration as she took the sheet
over him and slowly drew it down toward his feet. Sam watched in silent
horror and wondered what she was going to do next. She turned and left
the room momentarily, returning with the old man and a wheel chair.
Together the two strangers picked Sam up and sat him in the chair,
covering his lap with a blanket. Unable to react, Sam didn't try to
struggle against them.

The two strangers wheeled Sam down a long white hall that was lined
with barred doors, except for a few. The floor was shiny and Sam could
hear the clicks of Sally's heels on the linoleum as they pushed him
along, eventually turning through one of the doors without bars across
it, and into a large room filled with people. As Sally 'parked' Sam, a
different man approached, looking curiously at him.

"What's wrong with him, Sally?" the man asked.

"Nothing, Burt, he just won't open his eyes," Sally responded. "I
thought I'd bring him here hoping he'd want to see something and open
them." Burt nodded in understanding, but then Sam's eyes snapped shut
and he really couldn't open them. He tried as hard as he could, but
only managed a fluttering blink of his eyelids.

"Look!" Burt shouted. "He's trying to open them now!"

Sam could hear footsteps and muttering voices gather around him, and he
imagined he was in the center of a crowd of people. After all that had
already happened, Sam wasn't surprised that he couldn't open his eyes
but it frustrated him no less, and he kept trying. He felt as if he
wanted to thrash about, hit someone, or just move his body at
all.

"Come now, Sam," Sally's voice interrupted. "It's time for your body
and mind to be one again, time to go to the love-making room. This will
open your eyes, for sure!" Sam felt the wheelchair being pushed again,
but not for very long this time. "Look, Sam! There's Naked Alice, and
she's waiting for you!"

Suddenly Sam's eyes popped open and he saw a beautiful young woman,
naked as Sally had said. She was voluptuous and pretty; her slender
fingers played gracefully with the ends of her long dark hair, and her
blood red fingernails were striking against her bare white breast. Sam
couldn't help but stare at her for a moment, mouth opened and
speechless.

Sam knew he didn't want to make love to her; at least, not there, not
in front of everyone like that. The others stood around looking at him,
making him feel on display, their faces expectantly waiting to see what
he'd do. He mustered up all the force he could find in himself and, as
much a surprise to him as everyone else, he jumped out of the wheel
chair.

"Sam!" Sally yelled. "Get back in the chair, you can't be wandering
around like that!" The old man who'd taken his tooth earlier tried to
force Sam back into the chair, pushing on his shoulders while Sam
stared angrily at him. He didn't often take abuse from others without
giving some back, and Sam had always been a good fighter. He stood fast
and doubled his fist in case this old man tried to force him to sit
down again, which he did.

Sam pulled his arm back and swung at the old man as hard as he could,
but his fist had no impact on the old man's face. It barely nudged him,
making Sam all the more determined to try again. He pulled his fist
back and tried to wham him a good one squarely in the face, but still,
no impact. It was like hitting in slow motion, and each time his fist
softly touched the old man. The old man seemed to have no reaction and
he stood patiently waiting while Sam struck again and again; nobody
else in the room made any efforts to stop him, and nobody spoke. Sam
got furious and grabbed his hair in frustration, screaming out that he
must be crazy instead of dead. Suddenly Sam's voice boomed out in the
room, surprising only him when he heard it.

"I'm not having sex with anyone!"

"Then you'll have to have the loose-leaf enema," It was Alice's soft
voice that explained to Sam now. "You can't masturbate, so you'll have
to have the enema to prevent it from happening."

"A loose-leaf enema?" Sam was again confused, having never heard of
such a thing. "What's a loose-leaf enema?"

"You are one of the few men here who doesn't have sex," Alice began,
while everyone seemed to be listening. "So you probably masturbate.
It's against the law here, masturbation is, so you'll have to have a
loose-leaf enema to prevent you from getting the urge." She held out
one hand to Sam. "Come now, you'll have to get in line."

"What makes you think I'm masturbating?" Sam couldn't believe the
nonsense going on, and thought he'd really lost his marbles. "I haven't
been here long enough to get to know anyone well enough to have sex
with them, and I have no need or inclination to masturbate! And, I'm
not having ANY enema!" He turned to leave the room, but found he was
suddenly in the hall at the end of a line of men waiting at a door. All
the men were in their underwear, and Sam looked down to find he was
also in his briefs. The guy in front of Sam turned and smiled at
him.

"Do you have to have the enema, too?" the man asked.

"I guess, but I'm not taking it!" Sam shouted, folding his bulky strong
arms across his muscular chest.

"You have to have it; it's the law. They won't let you skip it," the
man informed Sam, matter-of-factly.

"Who won't allow me to skip it?" Sam demanded to know.

"They won't. You know, them," the man said, nodding toward the closed
door and looking around as if someone might hear what he was
saying.

"What will they do to me if I don't take it?"

"I don't know," the man said, looking confused. "I don't think anyone's
ever refused it before. They just tell us when it's time, and we wait
our turn for it."

"So, someone told you that you need an enema to prevent masturbation,
and you just take it? Just like that?" Sam couldn't believe this; it
was all so unreal.

"Yes, of course."

"Why?" Sam protested further. "What's wrong with a little healthy
masturbation? Sure, it's embarrassing if you get caught doing it, but
what's so terribly wrong with it? It's not like you'll go blind or
something!" Sam smiled as he said this, thinking the whole thing was
ridiculous as he turned to look at the others in the room.

"Look who's talking, the guy who couldn't even open his eyes a few
minutes ago is telling me I won't go blind from masturbation!" Everyone
in the room cracked up laughing at Sam while the man in front of him
turned around to his place in line. Sam began trying to explain himself
in his confusion.

"No, it wasn't from masturbation, it was.... I don't know what it was,
but I wasn't blind, I just couldn't open my eyes!" Nobody seemed to be
listening to him, so he looked around the room for an escape; he didn't
want to stand in this line any longer, and he didn't want to have an
enema, either. He turned to find a way to leave, but was stopped short
by two men in white coats. One was holding a giant enema bag while the
other held the long tube that looked like it had a battery tester on
the end of it. These men were looking at Sam, smiling.

"It's your turn, Sam," one of the men said, and Sam spun around to run,
only to see he was now inside the room behind the door the others
waited at. He let out an anguished scream and grabbed the knob, ripping
the door open to run out. The two men gave chase past the line of
waiting men, and down the long white hallway. Sam's bare feet made
slapping sounds on the floor as he ran, frantically looking for another
escape. A doorway without bars appeared and Sam headed for it just as
the door opened, and a man stumbled into the hall, falling to the floor
as if he were escaping, too. Sam looked behind him, and saw the two
enema men had given up the chase, so he stopped to help this other man
off the floor.

"What happened to you?" Sam asked.

"Don't go in there!" the man warned while Sam helped him to his feet.
"They just hit me in the pie with a face!" Sam stopped cold for a
moment and looked at the man.

"You mean they hit you in the face with a pie?"he corrected.

"No, I mean they hit me in the pie with a face!" the man snapped. He
brushed himself off and walked away from Sam, shaking his head as if he
were disgusted with Sam's ignorance. In this world where nothing made
sense, Sam had to check it out. He opened the door and peeked inside;
it was another room, smaller than the others he'd been in, but also all
white. There were two uniformed men who seemed to be guards in the
room, and one of them held Naked Alice by her arms while the other one
pulled a rubbery face out of a wheel barrow and threw it at her. It hit
her in the stomach and bit her, and she cried out in pain. There were
faces all over the floor around her, and they were all crying and
screaming.

"Stop that!" Sam yelled, jarring the attention of the two guards and
Naked Alice. The faces all got quiet as they looked at him, too. Sam
entered the room while everyone stared at him, and he looked in the
wheel barrow full of rubbery faces; they were crying and laughing,
licking and biting each other, and one of them spit in Sam's face. He
backed away, wiping the spit off.

"Sam, help me!" Naked Alice screamed, struggling to get out of the
guard's grip. Sam tried to run to her, but fell after he took a step
toward her. He got up to try again, but it felt like running in water
and his legs felt like rubber, and he fell after a couple of steps
more. One of the guards began giving chase. Sam got up again, but he
fell every time he tried to run, and the guard caught him easily,
grabbing him by his tee-shirt that was now on him.

The guard muscled Sam over to the window that appeared in the room and
shoved Sam into the frame, stunning him for a moment. He let out a cry
of fear as the guard pushed him out the window.

As Sam fell, he knew he would be hurt, falling what seemed like several
stories down. It frightened him and he closed his eyes and screamed all
the way to the ground. It surprised him when he didn't feel impact; but
rather, he bounced upon hitting the ground. His stomach flipped inside
him as he bounced high into the air, and began the fall back down
again, only this time he kept his eyes open and watched the ground
speed up on him. He positioned his feet squarely underneath him and hit
the ground only to bounce again, going even higher this time. His speed
increased with each successive bounce, scaring him a little.

He saw the power lines above him, and though he tried to avoid them, he
had no control over the bounce and went right into them. Expecting a
horrendous shock, he braced himself with arms over his face, but was
quite surprised to find he wasn't electrocuted; he was merely tangled
in the wires. He was afraid to move, knowing these wires typically
carried strong currents of electricity through them, but he couldn't
just hang there, either. Slowly and carefully he unwrapped the wires
from his arms and legs and dropped back to the ground, just to bounce
right back into the wires again.

This time, Sam untangled himself and then hung on the wires by his
hands and swung his body back and forth, so he could bounce away,
instead of straight back up again. The swinging increased his speed and
he went so fast that it made him slightly dizzy, and he naturally put
his arms out for balance. Holding his arms out gave him unexpected
control of the bounce, and he floated slowly to the ground, landing
firmly on his feet again.

He looked at his surroundings, noticing that now everything looked as
if he were in a war zone; there were dead hospital patients lying all
over the ground, and an ammunitions truck parked in front of him, its
occupants jumping out and running somewhere. Sam saw other men walking
around with high-powered rifles and weapons, so he took cover under the
truck in front of him, watching as several pairs of feet walked toward
the truck. He waited motionless in silence, while the men gathered
around the truck, talking casually, as if it were an every day
occurrence to trash a hospital and all its occupants. One of them set
down his rifle, and Sam waited for just the right moment before he
quietly and carefully pulled the weapon underneath the truck with him,
unseen by the soldiers, if that's what they were. Sam checked it, and
the gun had was fully loaded.

Sam wasn't sure what he should do; he hadn't heard any shots but here
was all this destruction around him. He didn't know if it was real, or
even if he could die, not knowing for sure if he was dead already. No
matter what, he had to escape the area.

All the men had gathered around the front end of the truck, so Sam
quietly slipped out from under it near the rear of the vehicle. He
looked around the area and saw no way to escape unseen, so he knew he'd
have to make a stand. He jumped up to his feet and yelled, startling
the men as they all turned in surprise. One man reached for his gun and
Sam took it as an invitation to shoot, and he fired until all the men
had been gunned down. Every one of them were now laying on the ground,
but it didn't look right to Sam; there wasn't a drop of blood to be
seen. He shot at them, and they went down. The same was with the dead
patients laying all over; nobody had any blood on them at all. It was
quiet now, and he was the only person left standing.

He heard a door slam open in the building and when he turned, he saw
the group of people he'd seen in the first room come out and cross the
parking lot toward him.

"You're in trouble now," the old man who'd taken his tooth said.

"You shouldn't have done that," Naked Alice remarked. They all shook
their heads at Sam, totally confusing him.

"You can all leave now!" Sam started to explain. "Go to your homes,
you're free again!" Nobody reacted, they all stood looking around at
the bodies and shaking their heads. Sam jumped on the hood of the truck
and threw down his weapon. "I didn't kill all these people, the
soldiers did! What are you people waiting for? Get out of here, now!"
Still nobody reacted.

He jumped off the truck and bounced high into the air, only this time
when he put his hands out, he began flying any direction he wanted to
go in. Not as surprised as he'd been, he swooped down over the crowd of
weirdos looking at him, and then flew off, getting away from the
strange situation. The crowd below gasped loud enough for Sam to hear,
and as he looked back at them, he met the power lines again, only this
time he didn't tangle in them. He barely missed them, skimming down his
back and blue sparks shot from his fingertips and feet as he flew
away.

Sam quickly took to flying and began having fun once he was away from
the strange place he'd been in. He turned circles and flew low, then
high again as he spiraled fast at first, then slower, enjoying his
newfound freedom. The air temperature changed as he flew through
pockets of cooler air up high, and warmer air down lower to the ground,
the warm air blowing around him like a giant heater.

He saw a large pasture below him, green rolling hills speckled with
horses and large shade trees as far as he could see. The grass looked
cool and inviting, so he tried to land, but not easily. He landed
sideways and bounced himself on the ground that didn't feel as soft as
it looked. He laid on the cool grass and looked up at a cloudless sky,
finally taking time to think about all the weirdness that had been
going on, when he heard a horse whinny off in the distance. He sat up
and looked at the horses here and there, eating and lounging around the
big pasture, and decided he'd try to ride one of the animals.

The horses didn't seem to be wary of Sam as he approached them and he
picked out a shiny black one. He tried to hop on it like he'd seen in
cowboy movies, but the unsuspecting horse bucked him off without
hesitation upon feeling Sam's weight on its back. He tried to land on
his feet without bouncing and stepped in a divot in the grass and
sprained his ankle, and he rolled on the ground holding his foot and
swearing. When he was in control of the pain, he looked at his ankle
and watched it swell to twice its normal size, clear up to his calf,
and then the pain disappeared. It didn't hurt at all, so he stood and
put his weight on it, and it still didn't hurt. He walked in a circle
looking at his fat leg, and found this very strange, and though it
didn't hurt, he found the swelling uncomfortable.

Still determined to get a ride on a horse, he approached a white one
this time, and walked up to it and slung his swollen leg over the
animal's back while hoisting himself up as he held onto the horse's
mane. Prepared and expecting the horse to buck him off, he braced
himself for what didn't come; instead, the horse took off running with
Sam on its back. Sam found it hard to grasp a good hold on the running
animal with his swollen leg and he bounced around quite a bit, but he
managed to stay on and ride.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked to the side as
he rode, and almost lost his grip when he saw what it was: the horse's
rear half had come off and was catching up beside him! He looked behind
him, confirming the oddity when he saw the horse he was riding had come
apart, and both parts were running! He started to slip off the back of
the horse's front half, as there wasn't enough of the animal there to
keep Sam on, so he just let go rather than be dragged by the horse. He
fell on the grass and watched with disbelief as the two animal halves
kept running away; the halves were flat on the inside, as if the horse
were made of wood and had been sawn in two.

Sam looked at his arm, which was now swollen as big as his leg. He then
looked at his leg, which wasn't swollen any longer. It was like the
swelling had switched limbs, his arm was swollen up to his elbow, but
it didn't hurt. He got up and began walking, but the direction didn't
matter since he didn't know where he was or how he'd gotten
there.

He kept looking at his arm as he walked; it felt strange and he didn't
like it, especially confused by the oddity. He heard the buzzing sound
but didn't pay attention to it before he'd walked into a swarm of
bumble bees angrily flying in a tight wad in the air. He started to run
as they buzzed his ears and got in his hair and he batted at them with
his hands, swinging wildly with both arms until one of the bees stuck
in his fat arm. Sam shook his arm trying to loose the bee while he
still flailed about with his other arm, when he noticed the furry bee
had two heads, and he stopped moving to get a better look.

"A two-headed bumble bee?" he said out loud to himself, and the sound
of his voice seemed to scare the bee swarm away from him. Something
seemed familiar about the happening; Sam was sure he'd seen the whole
scene before, somewhere. He watched as the bee stung him, and then
slapped it off his arm even though he'd felt no pain from it. The bee
flung to the ground, and two other bees that were still flitting about
grabbed the one that Sam flung off, and carried it away. He heard a
quiet hissing sound as his arm seemed to be losing air from the
puncture of the bee sting. He watched his arm shrink until it was again
normal size, and the sting hole disappeared into his skin. Things were
beginning to be less surprising to Sam, and he checked his body over to
make sure another appendage hadn't swollen in his arm's place.

Finding everything the correct size, he heard voices in the distance
and looked up to see a boy playing under a tree. He thought he
recognized the boy and looked harder, then rubbed his eyes in confusion
again. He walked closer to the boy, confirming Sam's recognition of
him; it was his brother Jeff, only as a child of about ten years old.
Sam knew Jeff was an adult now, but nothing was real any longer so he
easily went with it, and walked over to the boy. As he approached, a
little girl came out from behind the tree, and the sight of her stopped
Sam in his tracks; this little girl looked exactly like his deceased
sister, Sandy. Sam wondered again if he was dead as he stood staring at
the children; Sandy had died of Polio when Sam was only a boy. He
continued closer when he noticed the children looking at him.

"Hi," Sam said upon reaching them.

"Hi," said both kids at the same time.

"What are your names?" Sam asked.

"Oh, Sam!" the girl giggled. "You're so funny!" Both children cracked
up laughing as Sam stood staring at them, surprised that they knew
him.

"Hey, Sam, wanna play a good trick on Mom with us?" asked the boy who
seemed to be Jeff. Sam didn't respond immediately, but quickly decided
to go along.

"Sure, what do you want to do?" Sam got down on one knee as he
asked.

"Let's get up in the middle of the night and change all the furniture
around," Jeff said. Sandy was giggling with delight and Jeff was
beaming with joy as he revealed his plan. "So, when she gets up in the
morning everything will be different and she'll be surprised! Want to,
Sam?"

Sam was still reeling from the presence of his little sister, and could
only smile in response. He loved his sister and had missed her sorely
over the years, especially while he was still a boy. He couldn't resist
the urge and walked over to her and hugged her tight and held her long,
tears welling up in his eyes. Then he let go of her and turned to
Jeff.

"Sam, do you love us?" Jeff asked playfully.

"Of course I do, more than you'll ever know."

"Well then, keep it to yourself, you weirdo!" Jeff and Sandy both
laughed, and Sandy stood up and brushed off her shorts.

"Let's go get a snack," she said.

"You know Mom's cooking dinner, Sandy," Jeff chided. "It hasn't been
very long since last time we asked, and she'll get mad again! It's a
good thing you're home, Sam! Mom's been looking for you. Where were
you, anyway?"

"I was, uh, riding horses." Sam replied.

"Oh, you'd better not tell Mom! She just washed those clothes!" Sandy
said, pointing at Sam's dirty logger's clothing.

"Yeah, she'll make you wear your Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes for
dinner!" Jeff added.

"Well, I won't tell if you won't!" Sam joked.

"Shoot, Sam! She's gonna smell it on you, anyway!" Jeff said, holding
his nose as he looked up and down at Sam's clothes. Just then, they
heard the dinner bell clanging, and Jeff jumped up to join them in the
walk to the house.

Sam's mom had a picnic table in the yard beside the water wheel on the
side of the large house. She had always loved it there, with all her
flowers growing in beds and pots around the area. They all took their
place at the picnic table and Sam's mother didn't seem to notice his
grown-up size, and Sam was again in awe, staring this time at his
mother. His father interrupted Sam's gaze when he joined them at the
table, and each plate was dished up and passed out by his mother. She
suddenly stopped and sniffed the air momentarily, then returned to
dishing up the plates.

"What's that smell?" Sam's mother asked nobody in particular.

"What smell is that?" Sam's father asked, sniffing the air, too. Jeff
and Sandy giggled, knowing the smell was coming from Sam, and he gave
them a sharp look, which his mother caught.

"Sam, do you know what stinks?" she asked him suspiciously, without
looking up from what she was doing, like mothers do.

"Limburger cheese stinks, Ma," Sam answered. Both kids and their father
broke into laughter and Sam smiled. His mother didn't think it was
funny, and tried once more.

"Sam, what smells so awful, like farm animals?" Sam couldn't resist the
urge for another joke; it seemed like old times.

"All I smell is your home cooking', Ma!" he said, smiling smartly. His
father busted up laughing loudly again, but this time Jeff and Sandy
knew better and didn't make a sound. They watched their mother and
waited for her reaction.

Sam's mother got furious about Sam's smart crack and turned all red,
puffing up larger than she was. She turned into a ghost-looking
creature that was mostly an angry head, and she started flying around
Sam, dive-bombing him like a frightened mother swallow would. The sight
of her scared Sam and he stood up from the table, almost instinctively
batting her away as she dove near him. He took off running to get away
from her and she followed closely behind him, dodging his flailing arms
as he ran.

"Dad!" screamed Sam. "Dad! Help me! A-a-a-augh!" He kept running around
the yard and this angered his father, who yelled at him that he
shouldn't disrespect his mother like that. But, Sam kept running, out
of the yard and down the dirt road past the orchard. His mother gave up
at the yard's edge and disappeared. Out of breath and exhausted, he
stopped to rest under a tree.

Catching his breath, he again thought of the strange events of the day
and was consumed with confusion. He couldn't understand why all this
weird stuff was happening, or if he was even alive, still. He'd seen
people that he'd known were dead, but he'd also seen people that he
knew were still alive. He remembered back to when his little sister had
become ill, and he went over the death and grief again in his mind.
Somehow, seeing her like that brought it all fresh with renewed
strength, and the tears filled and overflowed his eyes. The familiar
pain hurt like it had happened again, so he got to his feet to busy
himself; it was how Sam dealt with pain; work until it goes away. He
began walking down the dirt road, not knowing where he was going at
all.

It began to get dark as he walked, and once again Sam heard voices
coming over the pasture. He couldn't see anyone, but he could hear them
and figured whoever it was must be in the forest at the pasture's edge.
He climbed over the rail fence and headed toward the voices, hoping he
could find somebody, somewhere that would know how to get him home. As
he got closer he could see firelight flickering through the trees, and
there seemed to be several people out there. He crept closer to see
what was going on and hid behind a big rock, peeking around the
side.

He saw a group of uniformed cheerleaders in the center of a large group
of people, crying and yelling at them to let them go. They were saying
they'd been tricked and they didn't want to die. The group of people
around them didn't seem to listen, they shifted around the fire and
chanted without hearing the girls' cries. They formed two groups, each
opposite of each other with the cheerleaders in the center. Sam could
now see that the girls weren't bound, and he wondered why they didn't
just run away.

Next, several men wearing black hooded robes came into the center
between the two groups and in front of the cheerleaders. One of them
held a staff raised to the sky and chanted words of a language Sam
didn't recognize. Not wanting any part of whatever was going on, Sam
turned to leave but smacked into a wall that was now behind him. He
turned back to look and found himself inside a cave, adding to the
illogic of his day. Sam checked out his surroundings to find that the
only way out was right past everyone around the fire! The cheerleader's
cries for help rang through his ears, and he thought 'what the hell',
and devised a plan to get the cheerleaders out while he himself
escaped.

Down the wall was an opening, so Sam ducked into it, finding a small
rock room with a torch held on the wall by a wooden brace. He looked
for a way to use it as a weapon and kicked something on the floor; a
metal pan filled with wax. It didn't seem stranger than anything else
he'd experienced or found, so he picked it up and held it over the
flame to melt the wax. Some of the hot wax sloshed out of the pan onto
his chest, causing him to say, "Ow!" Suddenly he heard someone speak,
someone closer than he'd known.

"Someone's in there," the male voice said, making Sam stiffen.

Suddenly, a bright light filled the entire area, so brightly that Sam
couldn't see anything. He blinked and tried to shade his eyes with his
hands.

"So, you're back with us?" a familiar voice said. "It's about time you
rejoined us again," the voice continued. It was a cheerful sounding
voice but Sam still couldn't see, and struggled to focus in the light.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot your eyes would still be sensitive to light.
How do you feel?" She turned the lights down and Sam could make out who
it was; Alice, fully clothed.

"Oh, no! I'm back here again!" Sam tried to sit up but Alice pushed his
shoulders to keep him lying down on the hospital bed.

"Calm down, Sam. You need to stay down for a while longer. You'll only
be here for a couple of days if everything keeps going well." Sam
watched her check his chart and go about her duties, like a real nurse
would. "Are you hungry at all?" she asked, stopping to look him in the
eye and wait for his response. Sam hadn't thought about food for some
time, even though he didn't get to eat at his mom's house,
earlier.

"No, aren't you Alice?" he asked, still confused. He was noticing how
real Alice looked in her nurse uniform, and remembering seeing her
stark naked earlier in the day.

"Why yes, I am. I knew people in comas could hear us talking, that must
be how you know my name," she said, taking his pulse and smiling. A
woman who looked like a housekeeper came in the door, pushing her
cartful of supplies in first as she entered. "Not now, Sally. He just
woke up, could you come back later?" Alice asked her sweetly. The
cleaning woman smiled a tooth-less grin at Sam before backing her cart
out the door without a word. Sam put his hand up to his mouth and felt
his teeth, and they seemed to be all there, but he kept his mouth shut
after that, just in case Sally got any more wild ideas.

The door opened again, this time it was the old man who'd stolen a
tooth from Sam who entered. Sam laid motionless and didn't take his
eyes off the old man.

"Well, well," the man said, walking over to Sam and taking a small
pen-light out of his pocket. He shone the light in Sam's eyes one at a
time, then returned it to the front pocket of his white linen coat.
"How are you feeling, Sam?" Sam didn't respond, he kept his mouth shut
and stared wide-eyed at the old man, wondering if he was a real doctor.
"You've been through a pretty rough patch, young man. We almost thought
we'd lost you for a while there." The old man picked up Sam's chart and
gave it a quick look before putting it back. "I'm Dr. Burt Ellison, but
everyone calls me Dr. Burt. You were brought here with Myalic Fever,
and a pretty bad case, too. When you guys work out in the forest like
that, I can't stress enough how important it is to use bug repellent
and get your yearly shots; you got yourself a pretty hefty bite there.
You're lucky your crew boss got you here in time."

Sam didn't know whether to believe him or not. This was too real, but
so was everything else that had happened to him that day. He still
didn't open his mouth, and he watched every move the doctor made.

"You sure are quiet now!" Alice laughed. "You've been talking up a
storm for the last three days! We nick-named you Chatterbox." Alice was
smiling at Sam, having finished her work. "Can I get you something to
drink?"

Sam nodded to her and she left the room, and he returned his gaze to
the doctor, watching him closely again.

"I can tell by the look on your face that you're still a little dazed
and confused," the doctor offered. "That's normal for this infection
and for coming out of a coma. Your head will clear soon. Glad to see
you're going to make it, young man!" The old man gave Sam's foot a pat.
"I'll be back later to check on you, get some rest!" He turned and left
the room without Sam ever opening his mouth.

Sam looked around the room; it was the same one he'd been in earlier,
except now there were floral pictures framed in wood on the walls, and
other medical instruments in the room. He took everything in slowly,
trying to figure out what was going on, and if he was back in the real
world or not. He raised his hand to scratch his nose and was rudely
reminded that it was very sore, and he noticed the IV tubes coming from
his arm. It was bandaged and swollen, too.

Slowly, it all came back to him; the mosquito biting his arm, his
sudden thirst, the summer heat and smacking his nose on the tree as he
fell. The door to his room opened once again, only this time five
teenaged girls in candy-stripe uniforms came in. Sam remembered them as
the cheerleaders in the forest cave. They pushed a cart of books in,
and one girl spoke to him.

"Hi, Mr. Davis!" she said cheerily. "What would you like us to read to
you today?" Another of the girls put her hand on Sam's foot.

"How about something kind of like yesterday's "Escape From Devil's
Island" by Jeff Sandy?" The girls all looked at him and waited for an
answer, but Sam couldn't respond yet.

"How about a board game? Would you rather play a game today, Mr.
Davis?" another girl asked when Sam didn't respond. Sam closed his eyes
and laid his head back on his pillow.

"Get me a telephone," he said. "I need to call my parents and brother."
He was a big strong logger of a man, but a tear escaped the corner of
his eye and ran into his hair. "I really gotta remember to call and
visit them more often."