Nobody is saying the word but we all know. That is one of the symptoms of this Flu, Aunt said. Her face is all hollow and a dark colour. She is grey and her breath rasps and gurgles and wheezes. He sounded so like the doctor in Little Women, but this is not just a story. He did not finish but it was bad news, I could tell. The doctor told us he thought Fanny was nearing the crisis. Theo is not allowed even in the doorway of her room. Aunt still tried to argue with me but she is too tired to do battle. She seemed to quiet a bit while I held her hands in mine. They tried to order me out but Fanny cried out for me again. Oh, Jane, her pretty hands are like claws. Of course, I did not look like myself in the mask, but at last she knew my voice and gripped my hands with her thin fingers. She wears one every time she goes near Fan. I wanted to hug her but Aunt would not let me get close until I put on a mask. She stared at me with big glassy eyes and called out, 'Fee. The worst moment, almost, was when I came to her bedside and she did not know me. I marched right past Aunt, who was doing her best to stop me in my tracks.

They said I must not go in but Fanny fixed that by calling out my name in a hoarse voice. I pushed her out of the way, Jane, and rushed up to our room. 'I am sorry to have to tell you this, Fiona, but you need to be prepared,' she began. Next Fanny would start choking on phlegm and come down with pneumonia. Grandmother, who likes to make things sound as bad as possible, told me this and added that the doctor said fever was the first stage of the Flu. But Fanny got feverish a few days after she arrived home. She got brought home from Aunt Jessica's a week or so ago because their son George caught the Flu and was sent home from university.

If I Die Before I Wake by Jean Little