Hooked Up To a Hose

Andrew was absent from school for four days. I talked to his mother and she explained that he had a stomach virus that wouldn’t go away and kept getting worse, so she took him to the hospital and he was admitted for observation.

When he returned to class, I called him to my desk and asked him how he was feeling. He replied, “I was in the hospital. You see this spot on my arm here at the elbow? That is where they had me hooked up to a hose.”

I inquired, “A hose? A great big garden hose?”

“Yes, Mr. R. It was for stuff to go in.”

“Are you sure it was a hose? A big hose like you water your lawn or wash your car with?”

“Yeah, and I might get sick again so my Mom wanted to know if I got sick could you please send me to the nurse?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. But let’s get back to this hose thing. Are you sure it was a hose? Maybe it was just a little tube.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s what it was. It was a tube.”

“That’s what I thought, Andrew. I saw you hooked up to a garden hose and that sounded scary, like they turned on the faucet and were filling you up with water.”

Andrew didn’t laugh like he normally would have, so I kept an eye on him, and sure enough, two hours later, I sent him to the nurse and he went home. He has missed a lot of school at the end of the year. Poor Andrew is missing all the class parties. Bless his heart.