Chapter Two

This was absolutely unbelievable. Surely, it couldn't be possible that a person who had been awake just hours before was burning this feverishly hot.

But the look on Helene's face said otherwise.

"I am not feeling too well June" she said

"Well I can see that" June almost snapped. She sighed. She was unreasonably overcome with worry each time Helene fell sick. It just happened and the there's nothing she could do about it.

But now, her worry would have to wait, time for some action.

"So tell me exactly how you are feeling"

"June, you are still asking about how I feel? Don't I look bad enough? " Helene managed to say these words even wit meh her discomfort.

" Well, obviously, you are all right, if you can talk this much" June replied

" Oh heavens save me" Helene muttered under her breath.

" okay, okay,. I get that you can't go to school today. It's Friday anyway, so I need you to take a rest, okay? But seriously, tell me how you feel" June said, standing over Helene who lay in bed looking pale under the pile of sheets June had given her.

"I feel like I've been beaten with hammers, soaked in cold water and hung up to dry. Yeah, that pretty sums it up" Helene said

June cringed

" That's a terrible description you just gave you know, but fortunately for you I read and understand terrible. "

" Yay, lucky me" Helene said in a tone that sounds like anything but lucky, still managing to roll her eyes as she said it .

" So as I was as saying" June glared at her sister, warning her that she (June) was being serious . " You are cold, you feel nauseous, have a terrible headache and at the same time you are burning feverishly hot? "

" Exactly, isn't that what I have been trying to say since the last ten minutes? " Helene asked.

" You haven't been doing a very good job of saying it. But please do stay put while I get you something to eat and some drugs to make you feel better" June replied

" Yes yes I'll stay put but can you hurry? I can smell what you are cooking from here, it would be a shame to let it get burnt, wouldn't it? Helene asked.

She shut her eyes briefly, as if it was any help against the onslaught of her headaches. She opened her eyes.

" June would you believe me if I told you I were hungry?" she asked

" Hungry and nauseous at the same time? I really find that hard to believe" June replied.

The few times she been sick, she rarely had an appetite and did not eat anything. Helene was another matter entirely.

But as she ran down to the kitchen...

Crap. Helene was right. In her fussing over Helene, she had nearly gotten their breakfast burnt. In here, she could smell the vestiges of burnt food . The smell was faint. The food had only started burning from the bottom part of the pot. But Helene couldn't have smelled the food from the kitchen, June hadn't perceived and she was also in Helene's room with her. It was just a calculated guess.

June had woken up before sunrise to get things in order around the house. She hadn't wanted to disturb Helene, so she had cleaned the house alone, taken her bath and then gone to the kitchen to prepare rice for both of them. When the food was almost ready, she had decided to check on Helene, only to find her in her miserable state of shivering and not quite acting like one who felt unwell.

She quickly dished out Helene's food, making sure to put a boiled egg on top of the plate. She also took some water and tablets from atop the kitchen cabinet and hurried towards Helene's room.

"Back so soon June?" Helene quipped

"Helene, I want you to sit up slowly and rest your back against the wall. You should get some food in you before you take any drug" June said

Helene did so and managed to shove five spoonful into her mouth before pushing the plate towards June. That was good enough for June. She had Helene swallow some tablets before letting her settle in bed.

Helene soon fell asleep and June checked on her frequently. In between her checks, she studied her notes and made research on her phone.

A few hours later, her phone rang.

It was Daya

"Hey Daya, what's up?" June greeted

"Am good" Daya replied

"Listen, are we still having our research group meeting today? "

" Yeah, why" June replied

" The thing is... " , deciding to get it all out she took in a deep breath, then continued.

"Thing is that, my parents had other plans and they forced me to bail . Am sorry, hope you don't mind"

Even Daya knew that June hardly related with anyone else at the University unless it was replying to whatever was said to her. That's why Daya was apologising. She knew that only June would be at their spot where they usually went to on the University grounds where they usually went for study.

Not that June couldn't make friends if she wanted, she just had the weird notion that having friends would mean having people who would always take from her but never give.

But she had met Daya in the same department where they both studied engineering and she had found out that they had similar interests and they started getting along, meeting twice a week to revise what they had been taught that week and generally have some fun time.

The friendship had been less than a month and June's parents did not really know Daya and Daya's parents didn't really know her either.

"Are you serious? I really don't mind. You should go with your parents. It must be pretty important" June replied truthfully.

" Thanks so much for understanding, I'll make it up to you next week, okay, I promise. And don't forget, there's evening class today but I won't make it" Daya said

" No problem Daya, see you next week, bye " June said and then hung up.

She went to check on Helene again and found her awake, coming from the bathroom door that led to her room.

"Feeling better now, Hel?" she asked

"As a matter of fact" Helene replied matter-of-factly," Yes, I am feeling better"

" Good to know. Hey I'll be running to the bookstore to pick up some books. Want something I should buy for you while am out ? "

" Hmm... " Helene pretended to think about it. " You know just sweets and an interesting book from the bookstore"

" You got it" June said

She walked some distance down her street and took a turn into the next street. There, shops were arranged neatly on opposite sides; a restaurant sitting opposite a games center, a barber's saloon opposite a toy store and other stores arranged in that fashion.

June breathed in a lungful of fresh air. The weather was perfect enough for her. It was past mid-afternoon now and the sun wasn't as blazing as one would expect it to be at that time of the day. The gentle wind lifted her spirits, the air here smelled nice; of things she couldn't explain really.

She wasn't the only one with that sense of calm. Other people walking on the street were in no particular hurry as they strolled along and the children played, chasing one another.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she nearly passed by the bookstore, although she'd been there several times.

She entered the bookstore and found Phillips, the owner, busy as he went about looking for the books his customers sought.

She greeted him with a smile and a wave. Phillips was very friendly, it was no wonder he always sold books as people loved to buy books from him.

This was another thing June loved about this town; the people here loved to read.

She only had to idly browse through the books he had for half a minute before he finally had time to attend to her.

"What's up June?" He greeted "You haven't visited for three weeks now"

"Now three weeks isn't a long time , is it? " June asked.

" That's too long for you, you usually visit every week or two weeks tops. "

Phillips was right. She had been preoccupied with school work and hadn't had time to visit her favourite bookstore the previous week .

"Well, it won't happen again Master Phillips" she said as she grinned and offered a mock salute.

Phillips rolled his eyes.

"Anyway" he continued, " I've got new books I know you would like, all your favourite genre and stuff"

"Thanks" June replied, following Phillips as he went towards his desk on one corner of his shop and picked up a stack of books. He handed it over to her while she checked.

Yup. Just the right books she loved; a cooking recipe book, a university science textbook, some novels by local and foreign authors and a language book; she wanted to learn a new language. Already she knew three languages .

She loved exploring books. She rarely disliked genres of books , she even gave self help books and herbal treatment book a chance; until she read them, she didn't write them off.

Now she was a living testament to the importance of knowledge, all because her mother had stressed to her the importance of books, acquiring skills, any skills and being creative.

"Please can you get me a novel for Helene? Preferably a novel by her favourite author Collins. "

" That guy's books are selling these days. What do teenagers see in his books anyway" Phillips asked

" Don't ask me, and by the way, what don't you see?"

Phillips shrugged "Well his books don't motivate me is all"

He moved from one shelf to another trying to locate the books from that author, whistling to himself.

June quietly helped herself to some cupcakes on his desk.

"Hey! keep your hands to yourself" he warned

"oops, too late" . By now, she already swallowed the cake

" Whatever there's no stopping you June."

He took out two books from the shelf and took them to her.

" I asked for one" June said, thinking he had made a mistake.

"Tomorrow is your birthday right? Consider the other book a gift from me" Phillips replied

" aww, I'm touched" June feigned dabbing at imaginary tears and sniffed for effect.

"You are welcome, after all what can I say, my customers love me" he grinned

"I just remembered another loyal customer. How's your mom? "

" She's fine. On another one of her many trips with my dad" June collected the two books from him and added it to the stack as Phillips brought her a bag where she arranged the books .

"You hear the rumours going on lately?"

Phillips asked.

"What rumours?"

"Nothing solid anyway. Just some talk about something shady and big going on among government officials. Rumours that they have something big in store for the rest of us" Phillips replied

" And you believe them? " June was pretty sure this was just idle talk. The system of government being operated in the country was still new, and so far it was effective. Although some people still had reservations against Marcus's governance, no government was perfect.

"Where do you even get these rumours from anyway? " June asked

Phillips ran his hand through his low- cut hair. He inhaled deeply and his brown eyes looked unsure. He was acting kinda ruffled .

"Look June it doesn't matter. It probably isn't true anyway" Phillips replied

" Right" June said

There was a moment of awkward silence before June broke it

" I gotta run. See you some other time Phil"

" Yeah see you too" Phillips gave her his signature smile and waved.