At the Doctor's

Marco wakes up on Tuesday and feels terrible. His throat hurts, his head is heavy, and he is very cold, even under two blankets.

He takes his temperature: thirty-eight and a half degrees. “I have a fever,” he thinks. He calls the clinic and makes an appointment for ten o'clock.

In the waiting room, there are three other people. A baby is crying, and an old man is reading a magazine. Marco waits for twenty minutes.

Finally, the doctor calls his name. She is a tall woman with kind eyes. “Good morning, Marco. What's the matter?” she asks.

“My throat hurts, I have a fever and I feel very tired,” Marco explains. The doctor looks at his throat with a little light and listens to his chest.

“It's a throat infection. Nothing serious,” she says. She writes a prescription. “Take this medicine three times a day, after meals, for five days.”

“And drink a lot of water, and rest. No work until Friday,” she adds with a smile. Marco smiles too. It is the first good news of the day.

On the way home, he stops at the pharmacy and buys the medicine. Then he goes to bed with a cup of tea and sleeps for the whole afternoon.