Nightmare on Mic-Street IV  (Page 2)                   [ Go to start of article? ]

Some things don't dawn on you right away. I had this strange week when I was tossing and leaping about in bed at night. Most times I would wake up around 3.00 or 4.00 in the morning wondering what had woken me. I put it down to stress... you don't earn big bucks in London unless you're under pressure at work - so a few sleepless nights are just part of the work. Sure - it shouldn't have to be this way, I know, but that's life in the late 20th century.

It all started to come together when my very young girlfriend, Vanessa - (yup she's 16 years younger than me, (er... that makes her 32 years old) so eat your heart out you late-forty-year-olds) - started scratching her head...  a lot! She comes over to my London pad most weekends, and most times nothing bad happens, just a couple of days spent enjoying each others company away from our busy working lives, and sharing our common love of Biology & Microscopy. Gee... just when did all this bad stuff begin now... it seems like its been going on forever? Ah... yeh... about a month ago, just towards the end of the xmas break!

 
Van is a school teacher, you know - the studious quiet type - except when she's with me. After a hard slog at the end of term being observed almost incessantly by the 'thought police' O.F.S.T.E.A.D Inspectors she was in one hell of a mood to let her hair down and have some fun over the holidays.
 

We had gone out that Saturday night. She wanted to go clubbing, not my favourite scene - but she wanted to let off somesteam on the dance floor. And boy... when my Van dances... she is really sexy. She nearly danced most of the night away but we managed to get back to the pad in the early hours.

 
I guess we weren't to know that a few other warm-blooded creatures were looking for somewhere to nestle up to and do a bit of partying themselves!
 

Things broke one Sunday morning, one of those real ice-cold winter days, when  everything outside the bedroom window looked as if it was suspended in a huge transparent Cryogenic tank - waiting for life to return some time in the future. I just wanted to turn over and snuggle up to the warmth of Van sleeping next to me. I love the smell of her... especially her hair. God knows what she washes it with but it always smells of summer and lazy days, like fruit and flowers with a dash of hope for days yet to live and enjoy. Yup, I guess I am an old romantic at heart - just don't tell Van on me... she thinks I'm a cynic!

Anyway, I was pushing my face up close to the back of her neck when I noticed this red rash just below her hair-line. It looked real sore. Van has great skin, pale white, like best porcelain. I started to wonder how much gold there was in that necklace I bought her for Christmas. She just can't wear anything less than 24 carat: get a cat to breathe on her and her china-white skin goes bright red and inflamed quicker than you can down a good whisky.
 

Over breakfast, I mentioned it. She said the rash had been there for a few days and she thought it might be the necklace, but it was nearly a week later before I really started to wonder about it. I found I was waking in the  morning and finding  tiny bumps on my chest, my back, and my legs. The weather had gone unusually mild for this time of year so I thought maybe El Nimo was bringing a few midges out early, tricking them into thinking it was spring, and they were getting into my bedroom at night: wrong thought!
 

When Vanessa came over the next weekend, the Saturday night when we went out for dinner, I saw how she kept scratching her head, and  I wondered why she was doing what I had been doing all week. As we came home to the flat, I was just taking her coat off when my microscopy knowledge suddenly hit me. I didn't want to spoil the evening so I waited till the morning before I told her:
          "Van... honey.. " I said. "We might have a
            problem... I think you've got Lice!"
 The way she looked at me was like I had accused her of sleeping around! And if there is one thing I can say about me and Van - we don't cheat on each other, so I was worried for a moment that her microscopy knowledge might not come through. I shouldn't have worried though. She smiled...
 

"Oh Larry, that's probably it! I've been scratching my head all week... I never even thought of it. Can you look through my hair and see if you can find anything?"
 
 

I felt real smug. We 'do' amateur microscopy - had heard and read about head-lice (hair lice to some), so I thought it shouldn't be too much of a problem sorting it out and getting rid of them...
  Little did I know... the worst was yet to come... ...the nightmare was just about to start! (PC User) or  ...the nightmare was just about to start! (MAC User) [ Go to start of article? ]     [Continue Nightmare - PC User]    [Continue Nightmare - Mac User]  [Wake-up]