An Oscar worthy performance

You hear about this happening to other parents, but you never think it will happen to you.

I stayed at home with Abby today. Susan, Abby and I were up a good portion of the night. Abby began feeling awful Sunday when we traveled to Durham to Susan’s sister’s house to celebrate more than a half dozen birthdays in August and September in the family. Abby said her stomach felt terrible and by the frequency and cramping in between, we realized she was coming down with something.

She ate dinner and went to sleep without a problem. But by 2 a.m., she was up and so was breakfast, lunch and dinner. Just about every half hour after that she was up, and either Susan or I was up with her. Even Camille woke up once with a bad dream, but that was about it for her.

Susan took Camille to school and everything seemed to be okay. Then about 9:30, I got a call from Camille’s teacher. Camille told her her throat hurt and her tummy hurt. Note: Abby never said her throat hurt.

I didn’t want to take Abby out of the house, so I called Susan to pick Camille up. When they got home, Camille had the situational sad eyes, but as I pressed her about how she felt, I could see the smile hidden behind the frown.

Camille gets really jealous when Abby’s home and she’s not. It’s happened before. I firmly believe she thinks it’s fun time when someone’s home sick. Not today, though. Abby must have gone to the bathroom close to two dozen times during the day and things just don’t feel well down there when you go to the bathroom that much.

After Susan left, I wondered how long it would take for Camille to slip up. To her credit, it was at least an hour before I saw the girl behind the curtain. The first indication was the usual request for a snack. When we watched a movie, she was on the floor and not curled up on the couch. She whined when I turned the movie off to let Abby sleep. She begged for food. She jumped, skipped, played and did everything a sick little girl wouldn’t do. No sign of stomach discomfort. No sign of a sore throat.

I emailed Susan about her little actress. “That little faker!” she responded.

Yep. It was Academy Award potential, but the ruse couldn’t be sustained.

She’s in trouble all right. Susan said unless she produces liquid turdage, she’s on her way to school tomorrow. Despite her protests, she ate what a sick person eats: bread and water, a few crackers and chicken noodle soup and cheese toast. It’s pretty much all she wants to eat anyway, except for the sweets she’s partial to.

But she knows she’s done wrong. And I told her the story of the little girl who cried wolf. I’m walking her into school Tuesday to make sure she apologizes to her teacher for not being completely honest about how she felt.

And she knows she’s got a high threshold to meet before we fall for that again.

Abby, meanwhile, is on the mend. She’s managed to keep her food down today.

What a difference.