Someone on DeviantArt wanted me to write a story about one of her original characters (Mackerel the Galaxy Cat) catching a cold and Lumpy taking care of her. So I wrote this.
It was a warm, sunny day, and Lumpy had decided to visit the house of his new friend Mackerel. Mackerel was a "Galaxy Cat" who was pretty shy, and usually had trouble making friends. Fortunately, she was a very nice person to be around; in fact, when her and Lumpy met for the first time, they became friends pretty quickly, more so than either of them expected.
Once Lumpy arrived at Mackerel's house, he went up to the front door and rang the doorbell. He then waited patiently for her to answer. There was no response, however, even after an entire minute. He rang the doorbell again, but there was no answer.
"Mackerel?" he called. "You home?"
Still no answer. But Lumpy was pretty sure that something was going on, and he knew that he had to figure out what it was. Knocking on the front door a couple of times, as he had always been told to do before entering a house without permission, he grabbed the doorknob, turned it and opened the door slowly. The door hadn't been locked, but all of the lights had been turned off, and it was very quiet.
"Hey! Mackerel!" he called, hoping to hear her voice, but it was nowhere within earshot. "Hello?"
He walked into the house, making sure to wipe his feet on the welcome mat and close the door behind him. He then walked into the house, looking around for Mackerel. He tried looking in the living room, but no one was in there. He proceeded to look in most of the other rooms, but they were empty as well. Except for one...
Lumpy climbed the stairs to the second floor, which he had remembered that Mackerel's bedroom was located. Once he had reached the top, he called her name one more time.
"Mackerel?"
No response. He walked up to her door and knocked on it a few times. He then waited for her to answer, but there was no reply. He wanted to wait, but he had become fully aware that something was going on, and really wanted to know what it was. With a final knock on the door, he turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.
The inside of Mackerel's room was very quiet, with the only actual noises being the snores of a certain Galaxy Cat. And there was a lump in the bed, covered by just about all of the blankets available on the bed. This just had to be where she was.
Lumpy slowly walked into the room. He had to be careful not to make too much noise, lest he accidentally wake her up. Once he had gotten close enough to her bed, he tried his best to wake her up politely.
"Mackerel...?"
The lump stirred in the bed, responding with a groan and a sniffle.
"It's me, Lumpy," Lumpy said. "You awake?"
A blue paw emerged from one of the ends of the blankets, only to pull the blankets further over her body. A couple more sniffles were heard, but nothing too significant. Lumpy sighed to himself. There was no way she could be this tired...
"Mackerel, please..." he said. "It's already ten in the morning."
"W... what...?"
Mackerel finally moved a few of the blankets off of her, until her head and neck could finally be seen. Opening her eyes slightly, she sat up in bed and rubbed one of her eyes with her paw.
"Well, at least she's awake," Lumpy said to himself. "What did she do last night?" He was about to ask her something, but his dialogue was stopped in his tracks when Mackerel did something he had never seen or heard her do before.
"HaaaaAAH-SHYEW!" Mackerel doubled over as she let out a loud, but feminine-sounding sneeze, which fired a small amount of saliva from her mouth. She then recovered, sniffling again as she brought her hand up to rub her nose.
Lumpy didn't know what to think at first, but then he saw that Mackerel really wasn't looking so good. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes were a little red and bloodshot, and her nose was almost completely red. Not only that, but she was blushing persistently, and that wasn't even because she was embarrassed.
"Oh, my goodness..." Lumpy thought to himself. He didn't know too much about her, but he could clearly tell that she had come down with something.
"Ugh..." Mackerel sniffled again, and then turned her head to look at Lumpy.
"Is... is that you, Lubpy?" Her voice sounded very congested and raspy. In fact, just about every sentence was punctuated with a sniffle.
"Yeah, it's me," Lumpy answered. "Are you feeling okay?"
"No..." Mackerel sniffled again, her nose cringing as she did. "I dod't feel so g... good..." Her nose started to twitch and wiggle as she lowered her eyelids slightly and tilted her neck back a little. "Aah... AaaaaaAAH..."
Lumpy looked confused for a moment, but his eyes widened and pupils shrunk as he realized full well what was going to happen. Mackerel was going to sneeze. Fortunately for him, Mackerel knew what was going to happen, and she turned her head away from him before she released a loud double.
"AAAAAAAAHHH-CHOOOOOO! Aaaaah, HAAAAAAH-CHHHHHYEW!" A small amount of saliva was released from Mackerel's mouth as she let the two sneezes out. Upon recovering, she sniffled again, rubbing her nose on her hand.
Lumpy was almost blushing from watching her do this. As loud as her sneezes were, they actually sounded pretty cute, at least in comparison to his own sneezes. But he couldn't focus too much on that, since Mackerel needed his care, despite that neither of them knew each other all that well.
Lumpy placed his hand on Mackerel's forehead, but to his concern, she was feeling warm.
"Feels like you've got a fever," he said. "But I think you've just caught a cold..."
"Aaaah... Aaaaaaaaahhh..." Mackerel couldn't respond, as she was tilting her neck back, her nose twitching as she was about to sneeze again. Lumpy backed up a few steps, hoping that she wouldn't sneeze on him. He couldn't resist plugging his ears with his forefingers, either.
A good amount of mucus was fired out of Mackerel's nose, but hit the floor without landing on Lumpy. After the sneeze had been released, a small amount of mucus began to drip out of Mackerel's nose. She sniffled loudly and rubbed her nose on her forefinger.
"Bless you," Lumpy said, trying to be polite, although he was clearly shocked that she could sneeze that messily.
"Thadks..." Mackerel said, continuing to rub her nose and sniffle. Knowing that her nose was running, she switched to rubbing her nose on her arm, trying to get the mucus off. "Ugh. By dose is all ruddy..."
Lumpy looked over at the tissue box on the end table next to Mackerel's bed. He took that box and placed it by Mackerel's bedside.
"I'll go get a thermometer so we can take your temperature," Lumpy said. "I'll be back in a minute."
He walked away from the bed and exited the room, while Mackerel stayed in the bed, sniffling several times. She couldn't help herself, since her nose was feeling sore, runny and incredibly itchy. It always felt like something was tickling her nose, and no matter how much she sniffled or rubbed her nose, she just couldn't do a thing to stop it.
Seeing the tissues that were sitting next to her, she took one of them from the box, but she was too late to blow her nose, as it had started twitching and feeling tickly again.
"Aaaaah... HaaaaaaAAAAHHH--" She tilted her neck as far back as it could go, and then released the sneeze into the tissue. "CHHHHHYEWW!"
She tried her best to keep the sneeze small, but it was still pretty loud. She recovered from the sneeze, removed the tissue from her face, and rubbed her nose with her forefinger. She then blew her nose into the tissue, hoping it would stop it from being so itchy. A short time after she finished, Lumpy came in, holding a digital thermometer that he had found in the bathroom.
"I hope your fever isn't too bad," he said as he walked up to Mackerel's bed. The cat opened her mouth so that Lumpy could place the thermometer under her tongue. After a couple of minutes, the thermometer beeped, and Lumpy removed it from Mackerel's mouth and looked at it.
"101 degrees... Yep. It's a fever." Lumpy put the thermometer on the end table, planning to take her temperature again later. "But don't worry, it'll probably go down after a while."
"Aaaaah-shhhhhew!" Mackerel shot her neck forwards as she released the sneeze into the tissue. Lumpy could see the tissue fluttering in the air with the sneeze for a couple of seconds. Right after that, Mackerel sniffled and wiped her nose on that same tissue.
"Bless you," Lumpy said.
"Thadks..." Mackerel blew her nose again, and then continued wiping it with the tissue. "Excuse be."
"It's alright. I sneeze a lot when I get sick, too," Lumpy responded. "But don't worry, I'll take care of you until you feel better."
"Thadks, Lubpy..." Mackerel smiled weakly at him. She didn't think he'd be too good at taking care of her, but she gave it the benefit of the doubt. Her thoughts quickly disappeared, however, when her nose wiggled, causing her to tilt her neck back and let out another sneeze. "AaaaAAAAH-- CHEEEEEW!"
The sneeze wasn't excessively messy, but fired a small amount of spray from Mackerel's mouth. This time, she didn't manage to turn her head in time, but Lumpy brought up his arm to block the spray of saliva.
"You might wanna cover your mouth..." he advised.
Mackerel sniffled lightly, and rubbed her nose with her hand. "Sorry..."
"It's alright. I usually don't cover, either. Just be careful, or I might catch your cold..."
"Okay." Mackerel sniffled again, rubbing her nose on her arm. "Ugh."
"Would you like some water or something?" Lumpy asked.
"Yes, please..." Mackerel said with a sniffle.
"Okay. I'll be right back."
Lumpy again walked out of the bedroom while Mackerel stayed in her bed. She sniffled a few times, feeling annoyed that her nose wouldn't stop running. She took a tissue from her tissue box and wiped her nose a few times, but that didn't seem to help. In fact, it seemed to irritate her nose even more.
"Aaah... Haaaaaah..." Mackerel sniffled, rubbing her nose on her hand in an attempt to stop her sneeze from coming. It wasn't very effective, however, so she pulled her hand away from her nose and continued to inhale.
"Haaah, aaaaahhhhh... Ahhhh..." Mackerel's nose seemed to tickle more and more with every inhale. It felt like feathers were tickling her nostrils and nasal passages. In fact, just thinking about that made her need to sneeze even more. "AaaaaaAAAAHHHHHH..."
Just as she looked like she was ready to sneeze, Lumpy came back into the room, holding a cold bottle of water in his hand. The first thing he saw was Mackerel exploding with two large, loud sneezes.
A good amount of saliva and mucus was released from Mackerel's mouth and nose as she sneezed, but it wasn't enough to leave her nose running again. Mackerel sniffled and rubbed her nose with her forefinger.
"Excuse be..."
"Bless you, Mackerel," Lumpy said as he walked up to Mackerel's bed. "Those were pretty nasty-sounding..."
"Sorry. I just cad't help it..." Mackerel said, still rubbing her nose.
"It's okay, I know you can't help it. And besides, I don't mind." Lumpy offered her the water. "Here's your water."
Smiling at him, Mackerel accepted the water, twisted the lid off, and then drank from the bottle. It felt slightly pleasant as the water made its way down her throat. After she had had her fill, Mackerel sighed with relief, closed the bottle and lay back down in bed.
"You feeling any better after that?" Lumpy asked.
"A little..." Mackerel said. She held her hand over her mouth as she yawned quietly. Lumpy could see that her eyelids were starting to become heavy.
"If there's anything else you need, all you have to do is ask," Lumpy reminded her. "I'll make sure you're as comfortable as possible."
"Thadk you, Lubpy..." Those were Mackerel's final words before she turned over and dozed off.
Lumpy smiled at her as he pulled the blankets over her, and then walked out of her bedroom. He made sure to close the door behind him so that she would have a little extra quiet. As he went back down the stairs, his nose started feeling a little tickly, so he sniffled and rubbed it a few times. The sensation disappeared after a few minutes, but he was convinced that there was still a tiny itch in his snout.
Lumpy made sure to leave Mackerel alone for as long as he could, so that she could get as much sleep as she needed. Once the sun was going down, Lumpy went upstairs to check on her again. This time, he decided to bring her some cold medicine and some extra tissues. Once he had opened the door to her room, she had already woken up, and she was about to sneeze.
"Aaaaah... AaaaaAAAAH--" Mackerel tilted her neck back, and then pressed her hand to her mouth as she tried to make this sneeze one of her normal, quiet ones. Surprisingly enough, she succeeded. "Cheeeeew!"
Mackerel removed her hand from her mouth and then rubbed her nose on that same hand.
"Bless you," Lumpy said as he walked up to Mackerel. "You ready for your medicine?"
"Yeah," Mackerel responded, sniffling and removing her hand from her nose.
Lumpy placed the box of tissues on the end table close to her bed, and then screwed off the lid of the bottle of cold medicine. He poured a small amount of liquid into a small measuring cup that he had also gotten from the bathroom.
"This is gonna taste yucky. Do you need some water first?" he asked.
"I've already got sobe," Mackerel said, referring to the water bottle that Lumpy had already given her.
"Okay." Lumpy gave her the cup, and she nervously swallowed the medicine from it. He hadn't been exaggerating, it did taste bad. She cringed in disgust, not noticing as Lumpy took the cup from her. With her distracted, he filled the aforementioned cup with some water from her water bottle in order to get the excess medicine. He then gave the cup back to her, and she drank that down as well. Her eyes watered due to the lingering taste of the medicine/water mixture, but once it was finished, she gave the cup back to Lumpy.
"Why do they have to bake it taste so icky?" she asked.
"I know that feel all too well, Mackerel," Lumpy said. "But as long as you have a little of this every day, you'll keep feeling better."
"Okay. Thadks for gividg it to be..." Mackerel drank some water from her water bottle, trying to drown out the taste of the medicine that remained in her mouth.
"I'll come back tomorrow morning so I can keep taking care of you," Lumpy said. "Be sure to get plenty of rest so you feel better."
"Okay..." Mackerel nodded in understanding, and then her nose twitched again as she needed to sneeze. She turned her head away from Lumpy, trying not to spray him this time. "HaaaaaaaAH-CHYEEEEEEEW!"
Sniffling and rubbing her nose on her forefinger, Mackerel took a tissue from her tissue box and blew her nose loudly. She then wiped her nose several times on that same tissue.
"Bless you," Lumpy said.
"Thadks..." Mackerel continued to wipe her nose.
"When you're done with that box, I have some more tissues for you." Lumpy gestured to the box of tissues that he had placed on the end table.
Soon, the sun had completely disappeared into the horizon, so Lumpy tucked Mackerel into her bed and stayed in her room with her until she fell asleep. Once she had finally nodded off, Lumpy quietly walked out of her room, turned off the light and closed the door behind him. He walked down the stairs and then exited her house, intending to return home and get some rest himself.
On his way home, however, the tickling sensation in his nose returned, and this time, he couldn't do anything to stop it. He tilted his neck back, his nose twitching and nostrils flaring as he prepared to release the sneeze.
Lumpy shot his neck forwards as he sneezed loudly, and a good amount of spray was released from his mouth. Recovering from the sneeze, he sniffled and rubbed his nose on his forefinger, a paranoid expression appearing on his face.
"That was a pretty big sneeze," he said to himself. "I wonder if I'm coming down with something..."
Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part II is adult literature featuring adult language and situations that satirizes thirteen famous novellas and short stories. It is Jay Dubya's sixteenth ebook.
