Fever Dream

Jake was running a high fever, and Amma was genuinely concerned. I was still in Medschool, doing my internship at that time, and being the only doc around the block, she wanted me to have a look.

Let me just back off a bit. Jake is my kid brother. Well, he's not a kid anymore, but the 10 years age gap between us always make me feel he's just a kid. During my medschool days, he was the guinee pig I used to practise on. He'd lie still on the bed while I palpated his belly looking for the enlarged organs, percussed his chest trying to discern a resonant note from the dull, auscultated his chest with my black Littmann steth for the breath sounds and the rhythmic lub-dup of his heart. He used to thoroughly enjoy those sessions, mainly because he could get a break from his homework and studies while I tried to hone my clinical skills.

When I saw Jake, he was sleeping, all curled up in his bed. His cheeks were flushed and droplets of sweat glistened on his forehead. I was in a hurry, with an exam next day, and I just shook him awake..

Me: Eda, onnu ezhnneette (Jake, Wake up!)

Jake (startled): Ayyo..Enthina? ( OMG, What for?)

Me: Eda, Amma wants me to examine you.. Nee onnu nere kidanne( Lie down straight)

Jake(with a terrified look onhis face): Are you sure? Have you done this before?

Me(confused at his question): What do you mean? Nee vegam onnu nere kidanne, njan steth vechu kelkkatte (Let me just listen to your chest)

Jake: Athu veno? (Are you sure you wanna do that?)

Me: Jake, Don’t mess with me. I’m busy now. Let me just have a look.

Jake: How long is it gonna take?

Me( getting impatient): Just a couple of minutes.

And then the weirdest thing happened.Jake jumped out of his bed, pushed me aside and started crying at the top of his voice..

Jake: Ayyooo, Ammaaaa ..Papaa..Odi vayo ( Dad! Mom!, Help me!!)

Papa was dozing off in his armchair, Amma was in the kitchen. Hearing Jake shouting for help, they rushed to his bedroom.

Amma and Papa: Entha Mone, enthu pattiyeda?( What’s wrong Son?)

Jake: Please get some one else to do my HEAD TRANSPLANT...Someone with more experience than Molly chechi!!! I may die from the surgery.

We were dumbstruck. It took a while for us to decipher what had happened, and when we did we couldn’t stop laughing...Apparently Jake was in the middle of a dream, where he was supposed to have an extremely complicated procedure called ‘head transplant’ for his lethal illness. When I came into his room, he thought I was gonna do the surgery, and having had a first hand experience of my skills, poor Jake was terrified.

Well, this is just one of the weirdest dreams Jake has had, I'll blog more on the the 'hanging fan' and the 'dead friend' episodes later.

Bye for Now!