Page 80 of Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

Chapter 33

ACHING ALL OVER

Rachel woke in the early hours of the morning feeling like she was burning up. The bedlinen was covered in sweat and she felt clammy all over.

Okay, get up … go and get water … that’ll help … maybe take a couple of paracetamols.

But trying to move, argh no, that was no good. Oh God, her body felt like it had been kicked around The Stackyard by a donkey. What the hell? And her head … her eyeballs ached in their sockets. No, she wouldn’t move just yet. Just stay here and lie still … just a while longer.

She must have gone back to sleep and woke again as the morning light pierced through the crack in the curtains. Her throat felt parched, but there was no way she could get up just yet. She curled up on her side in the foetal position. The sheep and cattle would need checking on her usual morning rounds, but not yet, not yet.

She must have dozed off once more, sleeping through her usual 7 a.m. alarm.

‘Rachel? Are you all right?’ Mum’s voice was somewhere near.

She half-opened her bleary lids. Even that was a struggle.

‘Not well,’ she rasped. ‘Can I have some water?’

‘Oh, love.’

She felt a hand press against her brow.

‘My, you’re burning up. I’ll go fetch you some water and paracetamol. What do you feel like?’

‘Shit … ah, sorry Mum.’ Even talking hurt. She paused, ‘Aching, headache … like I’ve been ten rounds with Macduff.’

‘Sounds like the flu, pet. It’s been going about the village. Old Mrs Peters was terrible bad with it, ended up having to go to hospital last week. She’s okay now though, thank heavens.’ Jill plumped the duvet around her. ‘Right, you stay here, and I’ll get you some water and painkillers.’

‘It’s okay, I’m not going anywhere.’ Rachel tried to laugh, but even her ribs ached. ‘Aargh.’

‘Just lie there and rest, love.’

Five minutes later, Jill came back with a large glass of water, the paracetamol pack and Maisy’s head thermometer. ‘Here, love.’ She passed the water across, once Rachel had tried clumsily to prop herself up against the pillows. ‘Maisy’s asking after you, I told her to stay downstairs just now and let you rest.’

‘Don’t want her to catch it.’

‘No.’

Mum then passed her the tablets. ‘Here you go, take these straight away, they should help.’

Taking tablets was usually simple for Rachel, but her throat felt so dry that they seemed to stick. She glugged the water, until they finally shifted. As she settled back into the pillows, Jill placed the thermometer against her forehead.

‘Crikey, it’s up at thirty-nine degrees. We’ll give it a little while and see if the tablets bring your temperature down a bit. But if it’s flu there’s not a great deal you can do, you just need to rest and drink plenty of fluids.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Don’t worry. We’ll be fine with everything on the farm. Simon’s about, so we’ll get him to do the checks on the animals and I can manage the Pudding Pantry today.’ She sounded bright, breezy and efficient. Her lovely, wonderwoman Mum.

‘Sorry, Mum.’

‘No worries. You just get some rest, love,’ Jill soothed, the tone of her voice taking Rachel back to her childhood.

Rachel nodded and took another sip of water. She was soon settling back down under the covers, and found herself dozing again. When she next looked at her watch it was almost two hours later, and she was drenched in a cool sweat. She drifted in and out of sleep once more.

Mum brought her up some scrambled eggs on toast at lunchtime but she could only manage a couple of mouthfuls before feeling queasy. But after checking, Jill was happier that her temperature had come down a little.

‘Who’s covering in the barn?’ It suddenly dawned on her that Jill must have had to leave it. Had they had to close the Pantry?