Spring Fever

All day long, I had shown numerous symptoms of a horrible fever.

Because of this illness, I slowly eased out of bed and treated myself to a steamy, cheesy, loaded omlet. I don't think the vitamins in a gallon of OJ could have cured me, but I tried anyway.

My friends must have heard that I was a victim of the disease, so they called with sympathetic conversation that took up most of my morning. Breakfast and friends were enjoyable, but nothing took the fever away.

I thought a shower would rinse away the side effects, so I took an extra long one and played with my hair using every product and gadget I own. All the fuss made me lose my appetite for lunch, but something burned within me, craving. Something deep tried to surface to fulfill a hunger pang. The desire pushed me outdoors.

Light. The glorious light. THIS was the cure! But I needed more of it. The light couldn't touch me through jeans and long sleeves. Panic, then urgency threw me into action. There was plenty of light. It just couldn't reach me! I needed more skin. So I bolted back inside and found last summer's bikini.

To suppress my overwhelming insecurities, I reminded myself that no one else was home, in my house or the neighbors'. The cure for my fever was within reach. On my second trip outdoors, I picked up The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and retreated to my backyard patio and onto Huck's raft, loaded with sails, oars, and boyish tidbits... I added a towel and a timer as I lay back on board. Huck and I had floated, two carefree and lonesome runaways, almost halfway down the Mississipi as the sun's rays performed magic tricks on our winter white skin. I felt better already.

In the silence after turning a page, I heard movement beside me and the thump of a landing. I sat straight up and scrambled for a towel. Thoughts of decent explanations for my partially-clothed presence on an early March day swirled in my head as I turned to face the disturbance.

My intruder was feline. Her name is Izzy.

"Annie Issabella! What in the world...!" I teasingly reprimanded her, realizing how quickly my heart was beating. I collapsed back onto the towel and covered my face with the open book in personal embarrassment until I felt her stretch out beside me in her own delight of the sun.

I wasn't the only one with Spring Fever, and we'd both found the cure.