Clancey felt as if her lungs were going to collapse as she walked to work in the first real frost of the year. She’d used her preventative, but she was hoarse and the over-the-counter cough syrup she’d used wasn’t having an effect. She had to stop along the way, just to breathe. Tad had worried all the way to school that she wasn’t going to make it. He tried to get her to spend money on a cab, but there was so little left until her paycheck. She smiled and assured him she was okay. But as he went into the building, she wondered how in the world she’d ever get back to pick him up after work.

Even worse, she was coughing up something brown, always a worry this time of year. She hadn’t slept well and she’d woken up sweating, ironic considering that the house was icy cold because they had to conserve so tightly on the gas heat they could ill afford for the rickety old house. The sweating indicated fever. The colored sputum went with pneumonia. She knew the symptoms all too well.

Well, she had to hope that she could wear it out. She’d managed that once before, by drinking lots of water and filling herself full of cough syrup and exercising to keep fluid from accumulating in her lungs. The only thing was that she’d had a prescription cough syrup and antibiotics that a nurse practitioner at her pharmacy had prescribed for her. She couldn’t afford the hospital emergency room or a private physician because the co-pay on her insurance often was more than she had available. The pharmacy had the nurse practitioner come in once a week for the poorer clientele. She guessed she’d have to stop by there after work and pray that she could get credit, because she couldn’t afford the medicine any other way. The added monthly cost of prescription medicine, even with her insurance policy’s help, was too much for her frail budget. The pharmacist knew her, though. She always paid off the bill, even though it sometimes took her a few months. He was never impatient.

She was dragging by the time she got downstairs and into her office. She was going to avoid Banks at all costs. She had to pretend to feel fine. Hopefully he’d be out of the office most of the week. He usually was, and he was filling in for another Ranger right now, which would keep him busy.