Blogs from Jupiter

I knocked off early from work as we have an emergency at home. My youngest brother has fever, and according to my mom, it seems that he has rashes, and dry cough. I immediately instructed people in the house to just confine him in his room, and that he is not allowed to roam around the house because my sick dad might get into further trouble. Since mama has loads of stuff to do, I volunteered to bring my 12-year old brother to the hospital.

My brother wasn’t feeling well since Saturday night. And by Sunday morning, he was burning hot. I had him take our usual home remedy, apple cider vinegar, together with paracetamol, and kalamansi juice for his chaser. I also gave him a massage. But the massage was so-so because all he did was laugh and laugh because he finds my massage very ticklish. He rested, and after a few hours, the fever was gone. Told him to rest further, but he went to the mall together with my sister.

Sunday night, time to leave home for our dormitory, he wasn’t feeling well. So I left, leaving him in our house in Cubao to rest. He was disappointed because he has to be absent for school. My brother is an OC when it comes to his school attendance. He is always perfect in attendance, except of course, when he is sick. The following morning, he was burning hot again.

I was so worried with my brother’s fever because of the rising cases of dengue, H and typhoid fever. And exposing him to my dad might complicate the health situation at home. But to my relief, he was just diagnosed with upper respiratory tract infection.

My youngest brother is the most loved member in the family. A lot of us have spoiled the kid but surprisingly he is no brat. He is reserved and very observant. He is also obedient to his elders and is self-disciplined. He is so independent for his age. The age gap between the eldest (me) and the youngest is 18 years. I am old enough to be his real parent. People really think that I’m his dad.

Since my mom and dad cannot attend his parents’ homeroom activities in school, I was tasked to proxy for them. I was elected as one of the officers, and when his classmates told him that I was an officer, they said: "Osiris! Your dad got elected as officer!"

He usually goes to sleep first before me. After my prayers and before hitting the sack, I whisper to him a prayer. In one of those prayers, I sighed to my surprise: "God bless you… son."

Perhaps in a past life, we were really father and son.