Someone, Somewhere

I guess the entire school district was going through an epidemic, Denise Lawson thought to herself, as she broke the word down in her head. Because while Denise liked a lot of things, she loved words! She was Santa Maria Academy's representative in the National Spelling Bee just last month, so she was still in the habit of spelling words that intrigued her. E-p-i-d-e-m-i-c was one.

The Flu Season was off to a roaring start in El Paso, and the whole city was buzzing. In fact, the KPEP NewsTeam had done a story on it last night. A "public health crisis" is how Mrs. Caramia, her fourth grade teacher, described this plague. And, according to the Health Department, the School Department and every other department there was only one thing that could stop this overwhelming march of attacking microbes who appeared to have nothing better to do than pick on the poor, well-meaning kids of Santa Maria.

What could this miracle cure be? Surely, some geeky scientist squirreled away in a dark and dreary underground laboratory had happened upon an ultra-complex formula of chemicals, herbs and insect body parts that magically transform into Ta-daaa! The divine answer that will forever keep kids from missing uncountable days of precious school !

Aaahhh, no! The miracle the teachers were talking about was...wait for it... Hand sanitizer. Wow, Denise whispered to her seatmate and best friend, Mimi DelaVega. "Why didn't I think of that? It's pure genius! Wash your hands and never have to worry about runny noses and throwing up again!!"

While smearing her favorite vanilla lip gloss delicately on her lips,Denise suddenly realized that Mrs. Caramia appeared alarmed. The teacher announced, "We used up all our hand sanitizers. We need a couple of volunteers to go get some more boxes so we can, hopefully, prevent the rest of you from getting sick."

Denise allowed herself a little daydream and imagined for a minute staying home for a few days. Wait, she thought, it might not be too bad to catch a few 'Phineas and Ferb' marathons, eat some S'mores Goldfish, rearrange my extensive hair bow collection and especially, read to my heart's content. There's nothing Denise liked more than sitting, lying or even standing, and reading chapter after chapter of a good book.

Denise suddenly remembered what happened last year when her little brother John Michael, AKA her mortal enemy and she had been stricken by the flu of LAST season. She did stay home for three days, but the misery of throwing up ... boy, did she hate throwing up...getting chills and then a fever brought her back to reality. Yeah, that experience was actually in the negative column.

She had noticed that about half the seats in the classroom were empty. Likewise, the cafeteria and schoolyard didn't seem the same without so many of her friends.

"Anyone? Anyone? Two people right after lunch" repeated Mrs. Caramia. Denise really liked Mrs. Caramia. She had helped her so much while she prepared for the spelling bee and she always encouraged her when Denise secretly told her about problems she was having with some of the other girls in class. When you come right down to it, Denise actually liked school. To top it off, it was Friday and she felt like a little mini-adventure might be a great way to start the weekend a little early.

Denise and Mimi exchanged glances from their seats. The friends had developed a way of communicating without having to say anything.

"Well yes, we will volunteer to bring back some hand sanitizer Mrs. Caramia" said Denise as she and Mimi waved their hands in the air. "Just point us in the right direction and we will single- handedly, or double-handedly save the school from this treacherous plague." In her head, Denise quickly spelled treacherous.

"Thanks, kids. I knew I could count on you two. Come back here right after lunch."

Almost immediately the bell rang and everyone went to the cafeteria for lunch. No sooner had Denise taken her seat beside Mimi when she felt as if someone was staring at her. She turned and who do you suppose was glaring at her with that evil eye? The one girl in the whole school that caused her drama. The one girl in the whole school that could ruin her day, make her stomach feel like it was full of hot coals. The one girl that could paralyze her and make her speechless with a mere look or comment. The girl she called her "arch-nemesis" - Amanda Lucas - Mandy!