Tenth PSI

[a_gentle_boy]

[open call]
 . . . Hello?  Um.  Is this . . . Is this the right number?  This is Mayfield Elementary . . . ?

I'd, um.  I'd like to call in sick.  Lucas . . . Last name?  Ushiromiya.  . . . . . . . .  There isn't any -- A-Ah.  Lucas . . . Lucas Fawlin . . . Grade 7.  No, I just haven't been feeling well . . . Ah.  Mostly fever . . . . . . . . A hundred and um.  Three or four.  U-Up my . . . No.  No.  My mouth . . . A few days.  No.  I haven't seen the nurse . . . Um.  Not yet . . .  My parents . . . ?  They're not home.  And I . . . I don't want to bother them . . . I don't know.  I . . . I really don't think I can.  I don't . . . But I -- I know, but.  It's just . . .  I'm really not . . .

. . .

O-OK.  OK.  I'll try . . . I'm sorry for the trouble . . .

[Ten minutes after this call is made, an unsteady figure walks out the steps of 846 Goldberg, his face flushed and his eyes glossy.  Twenty minutes after that, the boy slowly begins to kneel to the sidewalk somewhere on the route to school, but fails to make it all the way before collapsing forward.  He does not get back up.]

((Feel free to make responses to the phone call or anytime that Lucas is spotted on the street, either after he faints or before.
EDIT: For continuity's sake, I'm going to refer to Margot as finding Lucas first if I make any reference to this simply because she had the first thread.  I wasn't expecting so many replies; thanks everyone!  He'll still remember everyone's kindness to him, though.))

Comments

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[Well he feels a little silly now since he's sitting there feeling absolutely fine and dandy. Lucas slowly maneuvers himself off the cot with an embarrassed smile on his face.]

I-I guess. I should be getting to school. Um. And. I'm not too sure exactly what I just did, b-but the hospital might be short on work today. Sorry . . .

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

[Ichabod laughs and shakes his head.]

Well, if that is the case, I welcome it. I could use the time off and I am sure that you will need a ride to school, yes?

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, please don't worry about it. I can walk.

[Lucas has no idea where the hospital is in relation to the school, though.]

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

[He thought about this for a moment and shook his head.]

No, the school is much too far for you to walk alone. I shall take you there and I shall explain to the school what has happened. It will be no trouble at all since...well...I have free time to spare.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

. . . It's probably better if you don't. Explain what happened, I mean. They won't believe it and they'll just give me detention for making up stories. Could you say I was sick, but you treated me, and now I feel a lot better?

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

[He gives a nods and smile as he grabs his hat and coat before telling the nurse that he was heading out for a short while.]

Well, that was my intention. I would never say to the school what you were treated for or how you were cured. It is none of their concern.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm sorry again for taking up so much of your time . . .

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

It is no trouble at all, Lucas.

[And out of the hospital and toward the parking lot they go. Must be nice to live in a simpler time period with a simpler set of rules. He unlocked the car door in the doctor's parking lot. Since driving an automatic was far easier than a stick, he had no trouble staying on the road and avoiding poles.]