Endemic Rise of the Plague by Jeannie Rae Page A

the importance of a balanced diet. The few occasions that she has been ill, the durations have been brief.
    Austin, her boss at the Scuba Cabana, remained adamant that she attend the clinic at Angora. Running a skeleton crew for years, he ostracized employees that would call in sick. The one and only time Roxy had been unable to go into work was last fall, while on-call, she had come down with a nasty bug and could not make it in for a last minute dive with vacationers. Austin had about lost his mind on the phone with her, threatening to terminate her, or docking her pay—all hollow threats. When Angora began running announcements about a free flu shot clinic, Austin made the appointment for Roxy, himself, so as to not have a repeat of last year.
    Her cell alerted and hummed across the coffee table, which sounded as if it were at a decibel rivaling a siren from a fire truck. She immediately seized the phone before it could sound a second time and checked it. A bubble showed a text message from her dad. In reality, this meant that Kate had sent her a text, through Dad’s phone.
    Joe never sends text messages. He prefers to make calls instead. That way, there are no misunderstandings and no way to simply say, I didn’t see your message . He’s old school like that.
    Roxy read Kate’s message:
     
    Food waz gr8! @ the carnival, home in couple hourz.
    Love ya sis! (:
     
    A smile snuck across Roxy’s face when she read the message. She felt somewhat relieved that she hadn’t changed her mind and decided to go with them. Her under-the-weather feeling could have left the entire evening in ruins. She typed a simple response to Kate and sent it, then set the phone on the table and shifted her position on the couch to get comfortable. Closing her eyes, Roxy gently stroked Gypsy’s head as she drifted off to sleep.

 
    Kate strolled through the bustling carnival with her dad, tossing her cotton candy wrapper in a marked trash receptacle. After a few unsuccessful games of Hot Shot and Ring Toss, while eating their corn dogs, they were gradually making their way toward the Ferris Wheel. The crowd of people near the midway had nearly disbursed, and a much smaller group assembled at the emergency services booth near the edge of the carnival.
    As Joe and Kate stepped through the roped-off line area for the Ferris Wheel, the conductor put his hand up, as if to say stop. Roping off the beginning of the line just in front of Kate, he tugged on a white lever from behind his control podium. The colossal wheel began to rotate. Kate turned back, hearing screams of exhilaration emanating from the Zipper and the roller coaster. She longed to be with friends at a place like this, but her dad would never understand. Maybe next year, until then, I’m going to make the best of it and we’ll have fun tonight.
    “Can we go on the Zipper or The Snake Pit next?” She pleaded, slipping both hands into the pockets of her jeans.
    “Yep, if you won’t be embarrassed by my screaming,” Joe grinned.
    The wheel slowed to a stop, when the noodle of a conductor began offloading riders from the rusty, blue cart at the bottom. Unclipping the rope, the unusually tall, thin man ushered Kate and Joe into the steel cart. Within a few moments, their cart began to rise skyward.
    “Hey look Kate, there are a couple more people in line now. Maybe we’re starting a trend,” he nudged her in the shoulder.
    “Dad, really,” sarcasm seemed to exude from her pores as she shot over a glare.
    She viewed the small line of five people waiting behind the rope for their turn to board the mammoth wheel. The view of the carnival and the town from only the fourth cart from the ground glimmered in spectacular fashion. The gleaming lights of Port Steward mixed with head and tail lights from passing vehicles, offered a moment of serenity at twilight. The air felt clearer the higher the cart rose into the sky, and the hum of the carnival became silenced as their cart