You Make Me Sick

It was just a typical day at the P*lace. Kids Incorporated, the house band, had just finished up their last set for the day. It had been a long day in particular for Riley, the soda jerk. Fifteen banana splits, twenty malteds, and more ice cream than he cared to remember. He struggled to stifle a yawn as he finished washing the dishes. Seems kinda chilly in here today, he thought with a shiver.

The last of the crowd slowly went home, and Riley directed his attention towards the kids in the band, who were grudgingly leaving the stage to do their homework. Not that Mickey and Gloria were really kids anymore. He smiled to himself as he tried to imagine two teenagers hanging out with 8 and 9-year-olds in his day.

These 8 and 9-year-olds in particular were heading over to the bar. Or in The Kid's case, dancing over. "Heyyy, Riley!" he called out as he got closer. "How "bout a malted?"

"You got it, Kid. That was one great set you guys just did."

"Yeah, well, I don't like to disappoint my audience. I mean, it's not everyday they get to see a superstar."

Good old Kid, he thought, all ego. They were interrupted by shouting coming in their direction.

"Oh, it does not!"

"He does, too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too, and I can prove it." Little blonde-haired, blue-eyed Stacy marched over to the counter, her pigtails swishing. Her older sister Renee followed behind her with the air of one who knows everything and wouldn't pass up the opportunity to tell you so.

Riley passed them each a malted without asking and debated whether or not to get involved in the argument. "Okay, now what's this about, girls?"

Renee tossed her long brown hair back and rolled her eyes. "Oh, she just thinks her stupid frog can talk!"

"Ziggy is a very smart frog." Stacy insisted.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, Stace?" asked Mickey as he and Gloria joined them.

"I'm telling you, he talked to me!"

"Well, maybe he wants you to kiss him and turn him into a prince." offered Gloria, not wanting to crush Stacy's fantasy altogether.

"Ewww!" yelled Renee. "I bet you would, too, 'cause you love that stupid frog."

"It's better than kissing a stupid David Hasselhoff poster!" retorted Stacy.

The Kid high-fived her and said, "I heard that!"

"That's enough, you guys." Gloria said finally. Riley just chuckled. Then he coughed.

"Are you okay, Riley?" Gloria asked him. "You don't look so good."

He didn't feel good, either, but he couldn't tell her that. "No, I'm fine, I'm fine. Really!" he added when she looked worried.

"Maybe you should just close up and go home." Mickey suggested. "C'mon, guys, let's go over to the garage.

"Yeah, all right. I'll see you guys later."

They all said goodbye and left. Man, I feel horrible, Riley thought to himself. Maybe closing was a good idea. It was pretty dead around there, anyway, and he could always do inventory tomorrow.

When Gloria came over to the P*lace from school the next day, she found that the doors were locked. That's strange, she thought, Riley wouldn't lock us out. Then the other Kids came over and tried them, too, and everyone was puzzled.

"Maybe he forgot."

"Maybe it's a holiday or something."

"If today's a holiday, then why'd we have to go to school?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, maybe you should ask your frog!"

"Hey! Leave Ziggy out of this!"

"Renee! Stacy! This is serious! If the P*lace isn't opened, then we can't perform tonight!" Gloria chastised them.

"Uh, I think you're forgetting something." said Mickey. "It's not like Riley to forget to come to work. Don't you think that's serious?"

"Yeah, you're right." she said. "And he was looking sick yesterday."

"I hope he's okay." Stacy said sadly.

No one had noticed that The Kid had disappeared for a minute. He reappeared just then and yelled, "Hey, the stage door's open!" Quickly, they ran inside to investigate.

"Well, nothing looks wrong." Renee said suddenly. "Maybe Riley just had to leave."

"I don't think so, Renee." Mickey said from behind the counter. He was holding Riley's hat.

"But Riley would never leave his hat behind." Gloria started to say. "Unless..."

"Riley's been kidnapped!" Stacy finished.

"STACY!"

Stacy looked offended and said, "Well then, you come up with something."

"He must have been too sick to work." Mickey explained. "A lot of the kids in my class were out sick, too."

"Hey, mine, too!" Gloria realized. They all remembered then how many kids they hadn't seen in school that day.

"But they were all fine yesterday when I saw them here..." Kid said, starting to catch on.

"...here at the P*lace, where Riley was sick!" Gloria finished for him. "And if Riley was coughing all over their ice cream, then they must have what he has!"

"Wait a minute," Renee said, "We had malteds yesterday," she gestured to herself and The Kid, "and we're not sick."

"Guess we just got lucky." The Kid said casually. "Hey, is it hot in here, or is it me?"

"That's funny," Renee said, "I feel chilly." She looked around. "Where's Stacy?"

They found her sitting at a table with her head down. "My stomach hurts." she moaned.

"I had to say something!" groaned Renee. She joined Stacy at the table.

"Mickey, we should take them home." Gloria said.

"Yeah, before we all get sick." he agreed. He hoisted Stacy over his shoulder and he and Gloria half-pushed, half-dragged Renee and The Kid back to the stage door- which would not open.

"Oh, it's stuck again!" yelled Mickey.

"We keep telling Riley to fix it, but he never does." The Kid said disgustedly.

Stacy picked her head up from Mickey's shoulder. "Are we stuck in here?"

"Yep." he said. She put her head back down.

This seemed to be too much for Renee to take. "Ohhhh...!" she whined, "We're gonna be stuck in here for the rest of our lives wasting away from some horrible disease and by the time they find us..."

"Don't you think you're overreacting?" Gloria asked her.

"That's easy for you to say! You're not sick!" she whined back.

They spent the rest of the night camped out on the stage, with Mickey telling campfire stories minus the campfire, and Gloria singing the kids to sleep. They awoke to the doors being flung open and a voice calling, "Kids! Hey, you guys in here?"

"RILEY!!", they chorused, and bombarded him with explanations.

"When the doors wouldn't open, we were so worried!"

"And then the stage door was open, and then it stuck, and then..."

"I thought you'd been kidnapped!"

"Whoa, whoa, hold it, hold it!" Riley held up his hands to stop them all from babbling. "I knew you guys would be worried about me when I didn't show up for work, so I called all your parents. When they told me none of you showed up for dinner, I figured you'd probably be here."

"Well, these three have been moaning and groaning all night." Mickey told him. "They got sick from the malteds you served them yesterday."

"So did half the school." Gloria added.

"I'm sorry, guys, I didn't realize it had gotten that bad." Riley apologized. "The flu's been going around, and well, I guess I caught it."

"Can we go home now?" Stacy asked.

"Sure. You guys have to get better so you can go back to school." Now everybody groaned.

Two weeks later, the flu had run its course, and everyone was back on their feet. Riley was back at work, and the P*lace was just as busy as it always was. Kids Incorporated sat at the bar nursing malteds, congratulating themselves on yet another great set.

"Well, I'm just glad we're all here and we're all healthy." commented Gloria.

"No thanks to Riley." Renee remarked.

"Don't worry, guys, I've learned my lesson." Riley assured them. "As soon as I start to feel even the slightest bit out of sorts, I promise you I will see a doctor first thing."

"And don't bring your germs to work!" added Stacy, and they all laughed.

"And hey, speaking of work, don't you guys have some work to make up for school?"

"Yeah, yeah." they all grumbled, heading for the storeroom.

"Ohh, I don't feel so good." The Kid moaned. "Hey, I think I'm getting sick again."

"Nice try, buddy." said Mickey. "You're not getting out of it that easily."

"No, really, I'm all tired and achy."

"Keep moving."

"I feel hot. I think I'm getting a fever..."

Yep, Riley said to himself, another typical day...

The End