Reflections of a Vegan Lifestyle

                Last Wednesday I woke up to my roommate knocking on my bedroom door. I stumbled out of bed half asleep and opened my door. My eyes barely open, I took one glance at her and instantly knew what was wrong. She was sweating yet wrapped in a blanket. Her skin was pale and splotchy. She body was shaking and her face expressed misery.

                She was, as I like to say, ‘swining’.

                She began to tell me how horrible she felt. I did my best to console her and secretly held my breath in an attempt to avoid breathing in any of the nasty germs that were inevitably swarming her body and looking for the next victim to latch onto.

                She got on the phone with health services and explained her symptoms. The nurse on the other end told her that she did indeed have the swine flu and that they absolutely did not want her coming down to the office. The voice on the other end made no attempt at consoling her, they just bluntly told her to stay as far away from everyone as possible. When she hung up the phone she was upset and just wanted to go home.
                I was also upset. The nurse at health services is advising her to stay in confinement and emphasizing the extreme contagious nature of this virus. Here I am, trying to make her feel better, in our tiny two bedroom apartment when all I could think about was the germs multiplying and contaminating everything in the small space.

                It wasn’t long before I heard frantic knocks at the front door. I immediately knew the source of those knocks. It was her mother, her very worried mother. I had never met her mother before and this was not the ideal time to first introductions. I tried to open the door as quickly as I could, struggling with our temperamental lock, I could feel her anxiety through the door. I finally opened the door and we briefly introduced, then I led her down the hall to Adria’s room.  Within five minutes they had the linens stripped from her bed and were gone.

                This had all happened in a matter of one hour. Still half asleep, I poured myself a cup of coffee and tried to wrap my head around what had just happened. My roommate has the flu. Health services denied her any care. Her mother is in a state of absolute panic.

I was sitting on the couch, the very same couch she was sitting on last night. The couch that her swine contaminated body was sprawled over for a good five hours. I was drinking coffee from a mug, a mug that she undoubtedly drank from at some point in the past week. I began to think about all the tiny germs that were incubating in my tiny, over heated apartment.

I immediately broke out the Lysol and start spraying everything. Door knobs, light switches, any hard surface I could find.  

I turned the heat down and opened all the windows.

Then I called my mom, a decision I immediately regretted. She, of course, immediately started worrying. I assured her I had sterilized everything humanly possible. I tried my best to calm her down then got off the phone and went straight for the shower.

I went on with my day as I normally would. Friday came and my parents insisted that I come home for the weekend and get away from the apartment. I assured then it wasn’t necessary but reluctantly complied to ease their anxiety.

When I arrived home Friday I was feeling fine. I woke up Saturday and whole body ached. I saw I had a voicemail from my roommate. I was clammy and my head was throbbing. I dialed my voicemail and heard her happy voice on the other end, “Hey! It’s me! Hope you’re doing well, I’m feeling much better now! Headed back to school, let’s go out tonight! Call me!”.

                I grumpily tossed my phone off the bed and rolled back over. I was now ‘swining’.