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]

((That's fine! In the case that this stuff is mentioned later, I'll treat the first thread (Margot's) as 'canon', but it shouldn't be a problem. Lucas will remember his CR with everyone, though.))

[Lucas doesn't protest too much, although some mumblings about 'PSI fever' and 'don't worry' can be heard if Crowe is paying any attention. He doesn't really want to go to any hospital, but he figures, at least this will get him an excuse for missing school.]

Thanks . . .

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

[Crowe's still has some guilt from back from the wallet incident. That, and this poor kid has just been through way too much.]

Don't mention it. Just take it easy.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Take it easy . . . ? Coffee break. Boing.

[For some reason, Lucas laughs weakly after he says this. Crowe might think he's starting to hallucinate, but he's really not. For some reason, that phrase reminds him of Saturn Valley.]