Mallory has mono. That means staying in bed and resting - for a long time. How will the BSC survive without her?

I had planned to go trick-or-treating with my best friend Jessica Ramsey and her brother and sister, but by the time I'd passed out bags and talked Claire into wearing a coat over her tutu, I was too exhausted to walk anywhere. So I gave her a call.

"Jessi, I think I'm going to stay home tonight. I'm really tired."

"What'd you do," she asked, "stay up late last night?"

"No, I fell asleep after dinner and didn't wake up till eleven this morning."

"That's strange," Jessi said. "Are you sick?"

I felt my forehead. "I don't have a fever, or a cold, or anything like that," I explained. "I just feel worn out."

"Well, you better not come with us, then. Squirt and Becca are so excited, they'll probably run the entire night."

(Squirt is Jessi's nickname for her baby brother, who's only one-and-a-half. Becca's her eight-and-a-half year old sister and looks like a younger version of Jessi.

"Sorry to back out on you," I mumbled.

"That's okay," Jessi said. "I understand."

Oh, one more thing," I said before we hung up. "My family's going to New York for Thanksgiving."

"Mal, that's fantastic!" Jessi squealed.

I silently wished I was as enthusiastic about it as Jessi. I had a really uneasy feeling inside. What if I was still sick in three weeks? It'd be awful to go all that way and feel this lousy. I'd ruin the whole vacation.

We said good-bye and I sat at my desk, trying to catch up on my work. I'd missed a lot of school as I caught cold after cold and the homework had really started to pile up. The more I stared at my math, the more blurry-eyed I felt. Finally I shut my math book and lay my head on top of the desk. I decided to take a little nap before all of the trick-or-treaters started ringing our bell.

Get Well Soon, Mallory
Published by Scholastic Inc. 1996
ISBN: 0590470078