Thursday

Today was my penultimate vaccination day. Sunshine is taking special classes today and tomorrow. These classes meet earlier in the morning, meaning that she can take the inopportune Oakwood shuttle to school. This, in turn, means that I can use the car during the day. What did I use it for today? I went to school and got pumped full of measles, mumps, rubella, and hepatitis B. At least I didn't have to stay here dodging the housekeeping staff. I now know most of the institute nurses by name. Last week's nurse, the one who skewered my arm with demented imprecision, was not there. The nurse who took admitted me was the one who gave Sunshine feverish rabies last week. At least she managed to get Sunshine's band-aids over the actual needle holes, however; I was not altogether alarmed. Apparently, they are pretty bored up in the institute nurse practitioner's Health and Immunization office. There were three nurses there, and all three began to fight over who was going to draw my diseases from the vials in the fridge. I was led into the sticking room by one, the others were standing there with shots at the ready, like duelists, and I got the fleeting impression that I was going to have both administered at once. This would have made a good story, so stop reading here. Alas, I got the hep B in my left deltoid followed quickly by measles, et al., in the subcutaneous fat on the back of my right arm. One after another. Then my paperwork was updated and I was free to leave, but since Sunshine's classes are rescheduled today and tomorrow, I stuck around the institute for the half-hour until she was also released so I could give her a ride home. [Cavin]