Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

shivered.
    "I'll sleep a few moments, then I'll feel better," she said patting my hand. "Go downstairs, Matilda. Be useful."
    Something was desperately wrong. Mother was sleeping in the middle of the day. I wanted to stay and watch over her, but Eliza and Grandfather shooed me out of the room. There was no time to argue; a customer banged through the front door and called for something to drink.
    Nothing went right that afternoon. The coffee urn leaked. The biscuits burned in the oven. I dropped an entire drawer of tea leaves on the floor. The gentlemen were all quarrelsome and fractious. I snuck upstairs once, but Mother still slept. Eliza gave me what-for when she caught me.
    As I cleared the dirty mugs off the last table, Grandfather stood deep in conversation with Mr. Rowley. I motioned to Eliza.
    "Isn't he a doctor?" I asked.
    Eliza shook her head.
    "Not a proper physician, but he sees sick folk and prescribes medicines. All the real doctors are down on Water Street. It's been a terrible day there. They say bodies are piling up like firewood."
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    "I don't believe it."
    "Shush," said Eliza. "I heard it at the Society. If Reverend Allen said it, you can believe it's the truth. Here they come."
    Grandfather introduced Mr. Rowley. I curtsied.
    "Mr. Rowley here has vast experience treating female complaints," said Grandfather. "He'll get Lucille back on her pins in no time."
    I had my doubts. His hands were uncommonly dirty, and he smelled of rum.
    It seemed immodest to let a strange man into our bedchamber, but Grandfather and Eliza showed him in to see the patient. I followed close behind.
    He first took Mother's pulse, then felt the skin on her ankles and wrists, then peered down her throat and under her eyelids. He worked without a word, grunting occasionally, and making a tsking sound with his tongue. Mother did not wake. I wanted to throw a bucket of water in her face. It was against the laws of nature for her to lie in bed with the sun so high.
    At last Rowley rose from the bed. We waited for him to speak, like a congregation expecting the minister's benediction.
    "It is not yellow fever," he said.
    Grandfather sighed in relief.
    "But Dr. Rush says yellow fever is spreading everywhere," Eliza said.
    "Dr. Rush likes to alarm people," Mr. Rowley
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    replied. "There is a great debate about this pestilence. Yesterday a physician I shall not name diagnosed yellow fever in an elderly woman. Her family threw her into the street. She died, but she didn't have yellow fever. It was all a mistake. I use the diagnosis sparingly. And I assure you, there is no fever in this house."
    Grandfather beamed.
    "See, Matilda? I was right. We have no cause to run out of the city like children scared by a ghost. Lucille will be scolding us by sunrise," he chuckled.
    Rowley wagged his finger at Grandfather.
    "I wouldn't predict that," he said. "She'll need more than a good nap to recover. Be sure to bathe her every four hours and keep her clean and cool. I'll give some remedies to your servant. And now," he said, holding out his hand and showing his gray teeth, "my fee."
    Giving my mother a bath felt upside down and backside front. I didn't want to do it. Daughters aren't supposed to bathe their mothers, but Eliza could not manage alone.
    We moved my bed to Grandfathers chamber and replaced it with the tin bathing rub. Every four hours, we filled the rub with hot water mixed with black pepper and myrrh. The worst part was dragging Mother from her fitful sleep and getting her to sit in the water. The fever had taken hold of her senses, and she wept, calling my father's name.
    While Mother dozed in the rub, we stripped the
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    linen from her bed and laid on fresh. She was supposed to drink dittany tea sweetened with molasses, but it tasted too horrible. As soon as we had her back in bed, Eliza emptied the tub and put more water on to boil.
    Mother shivered so hard, her teeth rattled. Even with all the blankets in the house on her, she could