Chapter 58

“Jacob, take something to break that fever.  It’s only getting worse”, Delilah pleaded as they walked into the house that evening.

He groaned.  “I’d rather do something a little more holistic.  I’ll take a luke warm bath after I eat some breakfast.”

“Mom, make his take some aspirin to break that fever?”

“Actually, his idea a much better, Delilah.  A tepid soak is better for him than aspirin”, Brie said from the kitchen table.

“Just because I shove pharmaceuticals down other people’s throats doesn’t mean that I want them shoved down mine, Lilah.”

Delilah laughed.  “You’re so damn stubborn, Jacob Micah.”

“Like my Mama and my Daddy”, he laughed as he pulled out a chair.  He looked at his mother.  “Mama, if you love me you’ll make me latkes.”

Brie laughed.  “If I love you, I’ll make you latkes.”  She looked at David.  “If I love him, I’ll make him latkes.”

David laughed.  “I’ve been trying for years to get her to make me challah and I’ve used that same line.  Look at where it’s gotten me and rethink that, Micah.”

“But, you share a bed with her, Dad, and I’m her ‘little boy’”, Jake responded.  He covered his mouth and coughed.  “Anyway, as I was saying.  I’m her little boy.  She’ll do whatever’s necessary to make me feel better.”

“You really think so, huh, Jacob Micah?”

He shook his head.  “Nope.  I know so.”

“How about I make you both what you want tomorrow because my back is killing me tonight?” she asked with a forced smile.  She was being sarcastic.

“Don’t worry about the challah, baby.  I’m a big boy.  I can do without.  Our 25 year old son, however, obviously can’t”, David said with a laugh.

Jake stuck his tongue out at his father before laying his head on the table.  He felt like shit.

“I’m not making latke’s right now or tomorrow for that matter.  I’m not doing a lot of heavy cooking until my back has healed.  I’m sure you’ll both understand.”

Jake groaned.  “But, MOM!”

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Jake was ordered by his parents to take his sick ass back to bed to get well.  “If you’re in this house in the morning, I’m going to risk having to go back in for surgery to kick you in your ass, Jacob Micah”, his mother threatened.  All he had to do was look her in the face to see that she wasn’t playing.

“Yes, ma’am”, he said.  He was stuffy and sounded like hell.  He dragged himself out to his little house and crashed, face down, in the bed he shared with his wife.  “DELILAH!”, he called, still face down.

She sat down on the bed and rubbed his back.  “Yes, my big, sick, baby?” she teased.

“Don’t go back in the house, please.  Stay here with me.”  He rolled so that he could look at her.

“Let me rub some Vicks on your chest and back.  It will help you breathe tonight.”

He nodded.  “Do we have any out here?”

“We have some that your mother concocted with her essential oils.  It’s not name brand, but it’s a home remedy like you like.”

“Do you know what Mom put in it?”

“She mixed the same stuff she put in that steam you did earlier with some Vaseline… instant chest rub”, she said with a snap of her fingers.

“Ok.”

She stood and went to the bathroom to get the rub that his mother had put together for them earlier that day.  When she got back to the bedroom, he was lying on his back.  “You ready?” she asked when she was standing over him.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you were trying to use my being sick as a way to take advantage of me”, he laughed nasally.

“Oh, yes, that’s precisely what my plan is.  I’m going to wait until you’re asleep to do it too”, she laughed as she dipped her fingers into the jar that held the rub.  She smeared it generously on his chest and watched him take a deep breath through his nose.  “Breathing better yet?”

“Yeah, ‘ish.  Breathing better- ish.”

“Sit up and let me get your back, baby.”

He pushed himself to sitting and she smeared the rub on his back.  He took a deep breath and gave a hacking cough.  She clapped him on his back until he stopped coughing.  “Ask my mother what it is that’s making me cough, please?”

She pulled out her phone and sent her mother in law a text.  It took no time to get a response.  “The eucalyptus, peppermint and spearmint are doing their job, is what she said.”

“Ask her what that means, please.”

Another text and another thirty seconds before the response.  “She says that they’re expectorants and they’re drawing that shit up out of your chest.  And if you’ll give them time, it will clear out your sinuses too because they’re also decongestants.”

He chuckled as he laid back down.  “Leave it to my mother.”  He looked at his wife.  “Lay down with me?”

She smiled.  “Can I change into my pajamas first?”  He nodded.  He wanted desperately to tease, but he wasn’t really feeling up to it.  He just laid in the bed and watched her changed before she climbed in next to him.  She settled in where she had piled up the pillows and he laid his head on her stomach.  She looked down at him and smiled.  “Just out of curiosity, why do you do that?”

He looked up at her.  “Do what?”

“Lay your head on my stomach like that?”

“It’s something I’ve always done”, he said with a shrug.  “It’s just comforting when I’m sick, I guess.  If Jordan and I would come down sick at the same time, you’d see us both curled up on the couch, my head on Mom stomach, Jordan’s in Dad’s lap.”

“That must have been something to see.”

“It was.”  He let out a yawn.  “I’m going to sleep now.”

She kissed her fingertips and laid them against his cheek.  “Ok.  Good night and sweet dreams, my love.”  She didn’t finish the sentence before he was snoring.

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The next morning, Jake stayed in bed and slept while Delilah went into the house and got him some breakfast and told their little girl hi for Daddy.  She hadn’t slept well that night.  She would be woke every so often by her husband’s incessant coughing.  She was glad that he was getting the crud out of his chest, but the sleeplessness sucked.  When she walked into the house, her mother in law looked to her.  “How’s he doing?”

“Sleeping, coughing up a storm, and acting just as helpless as Miri”, Delilah laughed.

“Miri’s not helpless.  She’s standing without support and she took two steps before flopping down on her bottom last night”, David said.

Delilah smiled.  “Well, ok, as helpless as she USED to be”, she laughed.  She looked at her daughter.  “Are you standing on your own now, big girl?” she asked her little girl.  The response was giggling and clapping.  “Maybe if Daddy’s feeling better later, he can come in and see it for himself.”

“ONLY if he’s feeling up to it”, Brie said as she flipped what she had in the skillet.

“What are you cooking, Mom?”

“What my son asked me to make him last night.  And I have the challah in the oven so that your father in law will shut up”, she said with a laugh.

“Just because it’s traditionally eaten on Shabbat doesn’t mean that it’s ONLY eaten on Shabbat”, he chuckled.

“Do you understand how much WORK goes in to braiding that… bread?”

“I sat here and watched you braid it like a pro.  Don’t give me that.”

“Because I’d been braiding challah since I was a kid.  Get one of our girls in here and let them give it a try.  They’d never get it.”

“You know”, Delilah said, interrupting the arguing her mother in law and father in law were doing,  “you two crack me up.  You’re just so funny.  So perfect for each other.  You’re so different you’re alike and so alike you’re different.”

They both laughed.  “Well, we do try”, they responded in unison.  Brie put the latkes on a plate and handed them to Delilah.  “Here you go, Lilah.  Your man’s breakfast.”

She smiled.  “Thanks Mom.”  On her way out the door, she stopped and did something she’d never done:  she gave her father in law a kiss on the cheek.

His eyes grew wide in surprised and he looked over at her.  “What the hell was THAT for?”

“You looked like you needed it.”

He laughed.  “Well, thank you, I suppose.” 

“No problem.  You two have fun.  We’ll try to be in a little later.  You two behave yourselves”, she laughed as she walked out to her little house in the back.

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The smell of potato pancakes woke him from a dead sleep.  He shot upright in the bed as his wife sat down on the edge.  “Mom made my latkes”, he said with a smile.

“Yep”, she picked one up and popped it in her mouth.  “By the way, you’re sounding a LOT better.”

He nodded.  “The congestion in my head is gone.  Now I need all of this shit to come up out of my lungs.”

“Give it time.  You’ll be over this shit before you know it.”  She leaned in and kissed his cheek.  “Are you feeling up to going inside to play with Miriam later.  Apparently, she’s trying to take steps all by herself.”

“How many has she taken?” he asked as he ate.

“Dad says she’s taken two, but of course there are more to come.”

“I’d like to see that.  I’m feeling a little better.  I’d really love to see it for myself.”

“Me too, honey, me too.”