Of course, just as I got down into the subway station the W train pulled away, so I had ten minutes to sit there and stew. I stood on the platform, watching a rat drink the water from the floor of the subway tracks, and thought about what drinking that water would do to me, and respected the rat for somehow evolving the ability to drink the dirtiest water in America.
When the W train finally came I hopped on, and after what felt like the slowest commute ever, made it to the City Hall stop. I then sped past all the slow walkers and sprinted against the flashing hand of two intersections to make it to FedKids in less than 20 minutes. The security guys must have seen the my-baby-has-a-fever look in my eye, because they let me go with only a cursory screening and without having to show my ID.
When I burst into the daycare room, Jenya (Reilly’s primary caregiver), was sitting in the rocking chair with Reilly all wrapped up in a pink blanket. As soon as I got Reilly into my arms, I knew that she had a high fever. I packed her up as quickly as I could and rushed out the door, then called Shawn on the way to apprise her of the situation. When I got to the subway station, the train was just pulling away.
#$%@^@^$*&#$#*@!
Another 30 minutes later we arrived home, stripped down the baby, and took her temperature. Rectally. Which she didn’t appreciate one bit. The verdict? 103.6 degrees. Imagine worried shadows invading Shawn’s face. See father gulping down lump in his throat while rushing for the baby Tylenol. Shawn started cuddling our very quiet and burning hot baby and asked me in the meantime to get a cool towel for her forehead.
One hour later, Reilly was back in action:
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