Feb. 10, 2008~

Dear Book-Of-Words:

Aama here. How are you? Hope you are well.

I'm afraid I'm not doing very well today. Seems I have come down with chickenpox; have an itchy rash all over my body. I feel colder than a block of ice; I can't seem to get warm.

I am waiting to see the nurse; hopefully she will send me home. I feel feverish, my nose runs, and my eyes itch. I feel like I want to curl up and die. I am miserable!

I still miss Grandfather Elk. I see him in the northern lights at night; it upsets me. I wish he were still here; I miss his rumbling way of talking, his strong arms, his smell. He smelled like sealskin and oil; it was very comforting to me.

As you know, Grandfather Elk died around Christmas. He was very old.

Bird Woman (his wife) has taken sick too: she is currently in a Dog Child hospital; she has a very bad kidney infection and pneumonia. If she lives it will be a surprise; she is not doing very well, according to Father, who goes to see her just about every day. He takes the sled to town, then takes a bus to the hospital; he stays there a good part of the day; calls us to let us know how things are going.

Mother is worried, too; however, she is too busy taking care of us, the children. Now I am sick; and if I do have chickenpox (I think I do; it looks and feels like it; some girl had it last week in my class; think I got it from her; several other children did, too), I will be going home, where I'll then spend my days in bed until I am better.

I wish I could have more friends; the kids make fun of how I look, how I talk, how badly I read/write. I am supposed to be thirteen; yet I can't read anything higher than first grade books; the words are just too hard, too foreign, to me.

When I write, my writing looks like a first grader's. My spelling is terrible. This is why I am doing this, my writing, on the computer; it finds my mistakes, and makes them right, then my writing looks like everyone else's.

Well, the nurse has asked me to come into her office, so I'll go. I will write again when I am feeling better. Until later, this is Aama saying good-bye!

~Aama.