A Sick Boy

Sunday morning Lynn found Jupiter alone, above where she was feeding. Everyone else came along quickly, proving they weren't far away. She wondered at the anomaly, but in her mind she thought maybe he had been asleep and everyone else wandered away. It happens. That afternoon I came up to feed with she and Shirley. Jupes did not run and buck nor run up to me for his apple. In fact, as we were unloading the hay and everyone else was skittering around--he was down the hill just standing there watching. I called to him and he walked up to a pile of hay and started eating. He did not look around or move from that pile. I went over to him and rubbed on him and looked him over. Lynn and Shirley came over and felt around him. I listened to his belly. But we left and I guess privately we all were thinking something wasn't right.

Monday morning I paced around and waited for the clock to finally chime 6am. I called Lynn to ask how he was at breakfast. Both us decided that Shirley should check him out in the daylight. When Lynn called her, she had already been to see and made the decision that he was sick. Unfortunately for me, I don't have the kind of job where I can check my cell phone easily and I missed the entire conversation.

At 1:07 pm we had violent earthquake. It shook so hard I almost fell down! My prep period is from 2:00-2:40. I checked my phone when I had finished doing most of my to-do list about 2:20 and saw the text from Lynn asking if we were all okay. I replied that we were--was she? She returned the message quickly, saying she didn't feel it because she was at the vet with Jupe! I immediately scrolled back through my messages and found five from her telling me Jupiter was sick and they would pick me up and we could go to the vet.

Unfortunately, people who work in the real world do not know how the world of school works. So six hours and 80 students later, I got the message. I was deeply upset. It was my fault for not digging in my coat pocket and finding my phone to check for messages--I have approximately 4 minutes between each class. I am supposed to meet all my students at the door and greet them as they arrive. I teach completely different subjects each period and have to prepare so that once they are inside they have something to do while I take roll. I have approximately 20 minutes to go to the bathroom (which I am not able to do for the first four hours) and eat something before I meet, greet , and teach another 28 students. I don't know how I thought Lynn would let me know. I guess part of me didn't think they would do anything about Jupiter so quickly--both times when Star was sick, Shirley waited days to do anything or take him in to be checked out. I know I am much more of a worrywart than either of them, so I try to keep quiet. I know I am quick to take my animals to the vet for the littlest things, thus "babying" them too much. Anyway, enough said.

Jupes had a temp of 103. Horses are supposed to be in the 98-100 range. He was a sick boy and probably didn't care whether I was there or not. He probably had the tick-bite disease that is becoming very common in our area. I got the news he was staying for a week.

Thankfully, I have good friends who can take time off their jobs and out of their lives to take care of my horse. I appreciate it more than I can say. Because of their quick actions, Jupes is going to recover quickly.