“OLD: SANTA got me good. this year. .

About 6 p. m, on Christmas Day, [, started getting a tickle in my ‘craw. By the time | reached my

bed; -shortly before mid-

- night, the tickle had turned into -‘a..:raw:. wound, | as ‘though: a Syrian ; Black Slave -. torture - ‘prod ‘had been.. jammed into’. my throat.

For the next ‘three days:'I

was out of action. Mainly. °. laid..around, sucking loz- enges, popping megadoses .

of vitamin Cas. well..as every, kind: of:cough medi- _ cine I-could find, feeling so {weak I. could’ ‘barely lift.a mug of eggnog braced with

‘Tum t6, my. lips. There were, ‘the “chills, atid “the * runs, : plugged: nostrils, dizziness, .

the full catastrophe.. -

- 1 could ‘hardly:, croak ‘a's

word,’ ate ~It was great, ina way. “Tt: had-” been: an: "exe hausting. couple. of weeks,

more~ or. : tess ‘ pertecthy,: until the. very last if

was unwrapped,“ S.the:,

Bob Hunter

e strictly personal e

‘defence’ systems seem- to

give up, exactly as though they knew it didn't matter

any longer. -

It seems 1 am_ being

_ ALLOWED the luxury of : getting sick. ~ 1 have. noticed on ‘long.

voyages that the most dan-

gerous. part is the journey. home. People get, sloppy...

Their. reflexes aren't-.as

: keyed-up any: more,. They.

aren’t as alert as they were when - they were outward

bound.

It.is-a Variation on the "same ‘theme — mission ac- complished, ‘you can relax..

‘But in the relaxing, you let

your . guard: down, You’ “immediately become. vul- nerable to illness or (maybe the. same thing) accident. .

‘ prone., Still, here. is ‘something

‘salutary about some forms:

kness, Flu, I think, is th disease. ‘of:our- time because it is brought“ on, as ~much - as .

since. stressful too. |

* to yen Nonckat off: you . feet, forced to lie down. To’ : take a little holiday, as sit”

‘the tossing and turning and. “sweating: and. Shivering, I

tions. No need ie even’ ‘ren

a videotape.’ My. feveris br oo

whole tlevelss is - just a: ° “holographic dream in God’s”

' ttpbeat

; my own, I didn't know what to expect... But [ll tell you, [never felt: more at,ease...and eT cant even begin to tell you | the things I did. Infact, I cant think: ofa single minute of

oe Be met a really

inch: of peopl fiom New

~ York and we did absoiutely everything. I

even went windsurfing. Can you believe it?

And the food was just out of this world. You ..

remember. that old commercial...

“I cant be- .

eve f dite’ the. whole thing??: Well, there” _ were afew times I felt like that. Hard to be. * Heve,. but the last few days tat Iwas, there, : ~Tpust had:te take @' break. « - So Tlazed in the sun till I got my breath back. ‘I can't believe. was ever-nervous about going on: ; avacation myself. But Ihave to admit, ut would “be more fun ufyou: came along ‘next year.

Mage Mexico or the oh, West,

Club Med

Doing what comes Naturally:

anything; nee stress... You: can’t. conibat’ ‘stress very: well by. straining’

. against it, - “us

of: “drugs: | ‘about,all sorts ‘of parts 0 _your body you'd forgott

I was: tou’ feeble to take notes. I mean, there was one hallucination where I was talking man to man withthe Pope! 1 wish I could remember what we

were talking about. I'm

sure it was great stuff, There are: ‘certain’. ob- vious advantages to illness, at least in the.short term. Several sary. social ‘obligations are suddenly miraculously

wiped : from ‘the. calendar:. “‘He’s: got the flu.: Sorry.’ Nobody’ wants ‘a: leper. to,

come. visiting, do they? *. By. fai; nomy. ‘mind, ‘the ti

sick like’ that’ is not being: able to -answer, the’ phone.”

in your delirium, you can it. rit zing. Probably

passing: through town: vand

won't have ‘another chance

to. visit: for: 50 years. : a “But... you’re.: SICK, “you

see, and somebody answers:

and says:. “Sorry. He's wiped right out. Dying.”’

“It’s too bad that sickness.

HURTS. | .don’t like. the pain: part’ at all. “And: goes on for‘ more: than’ a

few days, it becomes a'tiv-: we - all

ing nightmare, ~ know. A'short hit of- being sick,

though: that'can be good’ |. for -you,, i’m convinced, °

Slows. you" “right down, it does. Lets: -you drift.;Makes it: ‘legal, to. do‘a whole ‘pile Reminds. yo

“And - when it’s 5 over: you

Cys

absolutely ‘fieces-"

Cough, ‘gap, hack, |. groan. Boy, what fun! a

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