Untouchable

I have been suffering from fever, cold, cough, and a bad sore throat for the past week, thanks to that goddamned respiratory infection. It has not been easy dragging myself along trust me. The cough explodes through my throat, burns my chest, and leaves a sharp pain in my ears! The sneeze is so violent that sometimes I check in the mirror if my nose is still intact. And you know how the fever is; there is a perennial sour taste in your mouth, food tastes awful. When you talk you sound like an old radio tuned to a bad station.
None of this bothered me. The dear wife was actually happy that I was ill. 'I have never spent so much time with you, on weekdays!' she said. What troubled me though was something totally different.
People, when they discover that I am unwell, suddenly go, 'Oh man, go away. Go home! You are going to give us your fever.' I tried hard to see if they wanted to offend me. No. It came natural to them. You say 'fever' they jump from the chair as if they were electrocuted in their butts. All natural. A couple of friends agreed to talk to me on the condition that I stayed at least four feet away during the conversation. You know, I know that they are justified in wanting to stay away from me... But I felt bad somewhere deep inside. And I thought of the lives of all the AIDs patients. Sigh!

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