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Mackenzie had always been a dirty kid.
(Not like that…)
Some of Mackenzie’s earliest memories were formed by him rolling around in the mud at the creek and having his mother painstakingly wash out his long and thick border collie fur in his nightly bath. With such frequent exposure to nature, Mackenzie developed a bit of a fondness for it—Nowhere near the dirtiness of one of his best friends Rusty, but Mackenzie liked being in nature and seeing new things he hadn’t seen before.
It was in the very creek where the story begins. Mackenzie’s house was a short distance away from the park which led to the creek, and Mackenzie super-swore to his parents so that he could go out on his own. He explored the green shrubbery around him, taking in the earthy aroma and slight moisture in the air.
After a couple of minutes of trekking through the trees and twigs, he made it to the creek itself; a shallow-ish stream that led to a little waterfall to the south. Even though there were stones to hop across, Mackenzie sometimes liked to just soak his feet in and let the rushing water flow through them.
Leeches were somewhat-common in the stream, but they weren’t harmful; most of them were still young. So, as they occasionally latched themselves onto the border collie’s bicolored ankles, it was simply a matter of pulling them off and tossing them downstream. However, this time was different. As Mackenzie basked his paws in the stream, along swam a leech; much larger than the others. And this one wasn’t the usual dark brown, this one was a dark but very vibrant red. Mackenzie spent so long squinting at it trying to figure out what it was, that he completely missed the fact that it was heading straight toward his ankle.
It was only when he felt a sharp pain down there that he realized the issue.
He flinched and quickly raised his left foot out of the water, where the large red leech was dangling off by its mouth. Mackenzie shakily grasped the slimy creature, but it wouldn’t come off. Now, the leech bite began to hurt even more, and tears began to well inside the young border collie’s wide eyes. After so many attempts of pulling it off, all the while its teeth dug deeper into his flesh and he was hobbling on one foot trying not to fall, Mackenzie was finally able to pry the leech from his ankle, which left a ring of blood seeping out of his fur. Mackenzie tossed the leech as far downstream as he could, and he slowly placed his foot back into the water. It stung as the cold, rushing water made contact with the open wound, and Mackenzie had no choice but to limp his way back to the park and back home. As he did just that (which felt like an eternity), the tears that had waited idly in his eyes slowly slid down his face, and he hobbled all the way back to his house.
In the Border Collie home, his mother was in the kitchen sketching face-paint ideas in her notebook. When she heard her son walk in, she looked up at him.
“Hey, ‘Kenzie! How was the creek?” she asked nonchalantly, expecting the usual response of ’It was awesome!’
But instead, she was met with the blubbering of her 7-year-old son, who slowly approached her with his arms spread out to hug her.
“Oh, honey? What’s wrong??” she asked, embracing her son.
“A… A leech came and… and bit me… it really hurt…!!” Mackenzie blubbered through tears. “It was a really big one too…!”
“Oh, sweetheart…” the older collie brushed her hand through her son’s long head fur. “Want me to start the bath and try and clean it?”
The younger border collie simply nodded, unable to find the words through his tears. At this, she set down her notebook and pencil and walked upstairs to start the bath, with Mackenzie limping up the stairs behind her.
In the bathroom, Mackenzie’s mother was waiting beside the bathtub, with warm water running. Mackenzie walked in and as he was about to step in (with the bitten foot), his mother caught a glimpse of the wound seeping through his fur.
“Yeesh,” she winced. “That’s a nasty bite.”
Again, Mackenzie said nothing, still dealing with the tears. He slowly stepped into the tub. Admittedly, the feeling of warm, clean water surrounding him did feel nice, it wasn’t enough to distract from the sting of the bite. Nevertheless, he remained in the tub as his mother washed and dried him.
The older border collie held Mackenzie’s hand as he limped into his bedroom and sat on his bed, draped in a long white towel. She then dug around Mackenzie’s closet to find the First Aid kit she had placed in there for his safety. She cracked it open and began to dabble the bloody wound with a cotton square.
“I guess this means no more creek for you, huh?” Mackenzie’s mother commented.
“I still wanna go…” the young border collie protested, to which he was met with a look of concern by his mother. “…just not soon.”
“So, this was some nasty leech, huh?” she continued.
“Y… y-yeah…” Mackenzie began, stopping only after a chain of sneezes interrupted his thought. After 5 in a row, his mother looked up at him with concern.
“Jeez, ‘Kenzie! You must’ve caught something from it. I don’t think you should go to school tomorrow.” she advised.
“N-no!” he protested, this time, his voice strained by mucus in his nose. “I was gonna play with Jack and Rusty again! Please!”
“‘Kenzie… you know I can’t let you go in. It’s for your own good!” she softly explained.
“Please mum!” Mackenzie begged, his voice on the verge of crying again.
With a heavy sigh, she conceded. “Just… be careful…”
“Thanks mum… good night!” he smiled, then sneezed two more times.
“Good night, sweetheart.” she stood up and leaned over to give him a good-night kiss on the forehead. “Dad’ll be home soon if you’re still awake then!”
Before she knew it, her son had discarded the towels and was already passed out in his bed, with his blocked breath creating loud snores.
Mackenzie awoke the next morning feeling… odd. He still felt an itchiness in his snout, as if he was about to sneeze at any moment. Then, something much larger hit him like a punch. Mackenzie clutched his belly in pain as he was struck with a bad stomachache. This made the young border collie nervous. He knew that if his mum had found out, she would definitely have him stay home. And Mackenzie would much rather suffer at school if it meant that he got to be in the company of his best friends; Jack and Rusty.
So, he weakly hopped out of his teal bedsheets, grabbed his backpack from across the room, and headed downstairs, with each step feeling like another blow on both his leg and his stomach.
Downstairs, both of his parents were in the kitchen, with his father preparing a pot of coffee for the both of them.
“Hey, ‘Kenzie! How are ‘ya?” he asked cheerfully, only vaguely aware of what had happened the night before.
“I’m… fine! I’m much better than yesterday!” he lied.
“Alright, look at you!” the older male border collie easily believed him, but his wife gave him a look that he was lying. “I mean… are ‘ya goin’ to school today?”
“Yup! You almost ready?”
“Yeah, yeah. Just gimme a moment.” his father took the pot out from under the coffee maker, and poured two mugs, before taking his and walking out to the car.
At school, Mackenzie writhed in his chair. Now, the pain in his belly had since overtaken the pain in his leg, and he still felt that tingly feeling in his nose. As if things couldn’t get worse, he now began to feel like he was going to faint anytime soon, so he struggled to keep his head up and eyes open.
Calypso noticed the young border collie’s head lightly swinging and his eyes slightly squinted. “Mackenzie? Is everything alright?”
“Y-yup!” he stated, with his nose still full of mucus.
Calypso gave him a concerned look, but she returned to the lesson she was teaching.
Playtime couldn’t have come sooner. After suffering through his sickness for half a day, he was finally able to play with his best friends. As he walked outside, he noticed the fiery Red Kelpie and the earth-toned Jack Russel in the grass, waiting for him. As he slowly hobbled over to them, trying to ignore the soreness in his belly, he noticed that Jack was already standing in a salute, with Rusty in front of him. Taking the cues, the border collie stood next to Jack and slowly gave a salute to Rusty.
“Alright, soldiers! We got a difficult mission today!” Rusty began, tipping his camouflage army hat. “We need someone to- WOAH! What’s up with you, Mackenzie?” Rusty exclaimed this, as he noticed the border collie’s fur getting slightly paler.
“Oh, I’m fine! Let’s keep going!” he smiled, nose still clogged, leg still stinging, and stomach still aching.
“Okay…? Anyways. we’ve got a difficult mission today! We need someone to run over to the enemy lines and check for mines!” the Kelpie pointed over to the empty field of grass behind them.
Before he could even finish his sentence, Mackenzie raised his hand. “Ooh! Ooh! I’ll do it!”
“Really, ‘Kenz? Are you’re good for it?” Jack looked over, concerned.
“Yeah, I’m fine! Let’s go!” the sickly border collie put on an overly-excited façade in order to distract his friends (and himself) from his sickness.
Before Rusty could even give the proper order, Mackenzie went careening towards the empty field, with each step making his leg and belly more uncomfortable.
After a while, he had to stop running, and he placed his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.
Suddenly… out of the grass… there came a dark brown Dachshund, who playfully attacked him.
“It’s an ambush!” Jack shouted from the distance, before he and Rusty rushed over to help.
Snickers playfully jostled the border collie, shaking the contents of his belly up like a blender. Then, when the Kelpie and Jack Russel came over, they too began to shake Mackenzie, attempting to free him from the grasp of the ‘enemy’.
They shook and shook him. Mackenzie struggled to keep his composure, as he tried not to let any of his sickness out…
However, his sickness would come out whether he liked it or not…
Suddenly, the pain in his stomach disappeared, and Mackenzie’s eyes widened as he felt what was about to come.
Immediately, he stood up (breaking himself from all of his friends’ grasps) and ran—no— sprinted over to the tree. Mackenzie was scared. Something was swiftly rising in his belly and up his throat. There was no way he could make it inside the school and to a dunny in time, so, he swiftly ran to the large tree further in the field.
Concerned, Snickers, Jack, and Rusty all followed him.
Mackenzie finally makes it to the tree, just as the contents of his stomach expel themselves and fill up his mouth, before the young border collie threw up on the side of the tree. The three other boys just stood there in shock as the border collie expelled the sickness from his belly, with each retch even more uncomfortable than the last. Finally, after three-and-a-half streams of vomit, he finally stopped. He stood up and wiped the remnants off of his lips, before he turned around and was met with the shocked expressions of his friends.
“‘Kenz… why didn’t you tell us you were sick?” Rusty asked.
“‘Cuz… I wanted to play with you guys… and my mum was gonna keep me from school…” Mackenzie twiddled his foot in embarrassment as he ashamedly wiped his mouth with his arm.
“Well, we could’ve waited for you to come back to keep playing!” Jack chimed in. “I know how being sick like that feels, and it’s not great!”
“C’mon, let’s go tell Calypso…” Snickers smiled at the border collie, as he took his hand and slowly led him to their Australian Shepherd teacher.
The conversation was a little awkward. But what was even more awkward was the phone call to Mackenzie’s mother. Calypso sat down alone with Mackenzie and called his mother, and the young border collie couldn’t help but cringe as he heard her describe what had happened.
“Hello, Mrs. Border Collie! This is Calypso; Mackenzie’s teacher! Um… I’m afraid he’s had a bit of an ‘accident’ at recess today, he threw up after one of his games. If you could come pick him up, that’d be great… Okay, see you then. Bye!”
Calypso hung up the phone and looked sweetly down at Mackenzie, who was sitting with his knees curled up and his head down in embarrassment.
“Hey, Mackenzie. It’s okay! It was an accident!”
“But… I…” Mackenzie tried to find the words tearfully, but he was shushed by Calypso.
“Shh… It’s okay…! Your mum’s coming soon to pick you up.” she spoke softly.The kind woman crouched down on her knees so she could be at eye-level with the young border collie. “Do you feel like you need to throw up still?”
Mackenzie sniffled, and wiped a tear from his eye. “A… a little bit… not as much, though…”
At this revelation, Calypso stood up walked over to her desk. She reached into one of the many drawers and pulled out a plastic shopping bag. In one hand she held the bag while in the other, she picked up the empty trash bin that rest by the door of the classroom. She placed the plastic bag inside the trash bin and wrapped the top so it would stay secure.
“If you need to do it again, do it in here. I’ll leave it right here for you!” she smiled as she set the trash bin next to Mackenzie, but the border collie only wallowed further in his embarrassment.
“I really don’t wanna miss school… if I’m fine tomorrow, can I come back?” the border collie hopefully inquiered.
“Mackenzie… you know how when you run for a long time, and you get out of breath?” Calypso asked, hoping to explain things to him with words a 7-year-old will understand.
“Yeah…?”
“And if you tried to keep running, you couldn’t, because you’d be out of breath?”
“Yeah…?”
“Well when you’re sick, that limit happens earlier, since your body’s main job right now is fighting the sickness. You can’t keep running when you’re out of breath, because you’ll tire your legs too much. And you can’t keep pushing your body when you’re sick, because-”
“-because I’ll frow up…” Mackenzie began to connect the dots.
“Even if you are better by tomorrow, your body still needs its rest. When you go home, I want you to go to sleep earlier, okay bud?”
“Okay…! Thanks Calypso!” Mackenzie smiled, and he hopped off his chair and hugged his teacher’s legs.
At this moment, Mackenzie’s mother rolled in front of Glasshouse, and Calypso and Mackenzie walked hand-in-hand to the car…