Just a Cold

I had been coughing for three days, and by Thursday I was sure it was something serious. I had read too much on the internet, and now I knew the names of three rare diseases.

So on Friday I walked to the pharmacy on the corner, ready to hear the worst.

The pharmacist was a calm woman with grey hair and reading glasses pushed up onto her head.

“What can I do for you?” she asked.

I told her everything: the cough, the three bad nights, the headache, and the websites.

She listened, nodded, and put a hand on my forehead.

“You don’t have a temperature,” she said. “And your breathing sounds fine.”

I waited for the bad news.

“It’s a cold,” she said, and smiled. “Drink water, get some rest, and stay off those websites.”

I paid for the cough medicine and walked home, a little embarrassed and a lot relieved.

That night I slept for nine hours, and I didn’t look up a single thing.