Daycee Townsend
10-29-14
6th period
Simonson/First Draft “How has your husband been feeling lately?” The doctor asked in a tone that made it seem like he didn’t care. “Well...” my mother began, “He has had a fever and a headache for quite some time now. He gets feelings of weakness followed by aches in his upper leg as well. He has also seemed more confused than usual which I think is causing him to have slurred speech...” my mother went on and on. “My dad just got sick all of the sudden. One night he was perfectly fine and then in the morning he wasn’t acting the same and looked like he was in pain.” I told the doctor trying to sum up what my mom said. I guess I should explain... My name is Betty Winn. I am 16 years old and I have always wanted to be a writer. My father has been very ill for the past couple of days. He has had every ache and pain you could think of. And right now me and my mom are trying to explain to the doctor about what has been going on. “Is there anything you could do?” my mother asked trying not to get her hopes up. “I’m sorry but I don’t think that there is anything I could do.” The doctor replied. After what seemed like hours of talking to the doctor my mom and I left without help from the doctor. It was only two days later when my father passed away. My father wasn’t the only on that died from this illness; there were much more. People were dying left and right from this disease. People call it the Black Plague or the Black Death. “Are you okay?” I forced myself to ask my mother when we got home. “I would rather not talk about it,” she said almost too quiet. “Okay,” I said holding back my emotions. I didn’t want my mom to see how hard this was for me. My dad was my best friend. We did everything together. I missed everything about him. But, although it would be hard, I had to help my mom get through this because she needed my help more than anything right now. My mom got better each day. She still misses him, she always will, but for right now she doesn’t want to worry about it. Everything was going good the next week. My mom and I were doing just fine. But then out of nowhere my mother became ill. “Mom are you okay? What’s wrong?” I asked. “Oh I just have a little headache. It must be from worrying about your father.” She replied. “I think that you should lie down,” I replied. Then added, “Just to make sure.” She agreed and lied down. After what seemed like an hour I went to check on her to make sure that everything was alright. When I got into the room my mother was crying and holding her leg as if it was hurting really bad. "Mom is everything alright?" I asked as I rushed to her side to help her. "Well before my head was just hurting but now my leg is starting to hurt as well," she slurred. "Oh no" I thought this can't be happening. She is going through the same thing my father did when he was sick. I already lost my father to this; I can't lose my mother as well. I had to do something, anything to help. "Can you help my mother? She is ill and I don't know what to do." I asked a countless amount of people who were walking down the streets of England. Everybody was saying "no" or that they didn't know what to do to help. After awhile I went back to my house to check on my mom again. When I got there she wasn't crying anymore. "Mom are you feeling any better?" I asked when I got close enough to her that she could hear me. "Well, I think that my headache has gotten a little worse and I am starting to feel a little weak in my arms and legs. "Doesn't that sound like what dad went through?" I asked in a quiet voice. She looked shocked. The replied, "Yes, Yes it does doesn't it. "Mom I