Handcuffed

Who Was He Trying To Kill

At seven she dressed and did her usual morning ritual at the mirror before checking on Diana and Josephina. Diana was sleeping, but something was definitely wrong with Josephina. She was breathing heavily and her hands were shaking. As Shirley's eyes grew accustom to the darkness she saw her eyes were open and the pupils of her eyes had become dilated enormously.

Her first thought was to get Ms. Isadora, but Josephina was beckoning her. She was making a drinking motion. "Do you want a drink?" Shirley whispered.

Josephina shook her head. She fell back on the pillow and pointed weakly to a book on the shelf. Shirley held it up to the small nightlight near the bed. Josephina found the word "bad." She continued looking down the page and pointed to "drink."

"You drank something bad?" Shirley whispered, "Spoiled?"

Josephina motioned beneath her. Shirley pulled out an almost empty mug with a small note pasted on it. "Drink and Enjoy, you have never had anything like it."

Inside the cup was a dark purple liquid and then it hit her. "Deadly Nightshade," she shrieked as she turned on the light.

"Diana, wake up and get Ms. Isadora now," she yelled. Diana barely budged.

"Josephina's been poisoned, get Ms. Isadora and Ms. Barker now."

Rachel, the tenth grader, raced out of the room, shaking and pale. Jane, the eleventh grader, was sitting up in bed looking as bewildered as Diana. Groggy voices were heard in the hall asking each other what all that shouting was all about.

"I need mustard. Otherwise stay out, someone is really sick," Shirley yelled. She grabbed a cup and thrust it into Jane's hand. "Hurry and get a glass of water."

Diana was still sleeping. A bottle of mustard was thrown in, and a short time later Jane was back with the water. Shirley had already poured most of the full bottle of mustard into another cup and mixed with some of the water. She pushed Josephina into a sitting position and told her, "This is going to taste horrid and I don't know if it will do the trick, but it is worth a try," as she forced some of her concoction down her throat. Josephina tried very hard to keep it down and was surprisingly successful for about two minutes before it came up the way it went in with a purple tinge to it.

Shirley had been unsuccessful in placing the shopping bag perfectly, so everything in the immediate area got hit. They tried again which also lasted a few minutes before it came up as Ms. Isadora arrived looking hurriedly dressed. Ms. Barker was in tow looking strange in a robe thrown over her nightgown.

"Didn't I tell you to leave her alone and she would be fine in the morning, or do you suddenly have a flair for theatrics," yelled Ms. Isadora her eyes burning a hole right into Shirley. "Are you a doctor? Who gave you permission to diagnose and to prepare medication? I am the nurse, not Ms. Barker, there is no need to wake everyone up!" she seethed as she stormed over to the bed of the invalid. "You will be fine Josephina, you seemed to have caught a flu of some sort."

Shirley was shocked. She had never seen Ms. Isadora react like this before. When she recovered she grabbed the mug and handed it to Ms. Barker. "What is this?"

Ms. Barker peered in and put her finger in. She told Diana to lie back as she dropped a drip into Diana's left eye. It did not take long for her pupil to dilate.

"Isadora, Shirley is correct. This cup is full of Deadly Nightshade. She needs an emetic, a stomach pump and all else that goes along with it."

"Are you sure, Violet?"

"One hundred percent. Look at Diana's eyes. I dropped a bit into her left eye to test it. See how the left one is larger then the right."

"You used my Diana as a guinea pig," Ms. Isadora hissed!"