Some icicles were hanging from an iron pipe. I broke one off and, although warned by my schoolfriends, continued sucking it until I reached the house. By the late evening I was very ill and was put to bed. Dedushka came in and after examining me I heard him say to Mother: “No, Nellinka, this is not influenza Ч it is typhoid.” I gradually became worse and remember very little of the critical period. Later, I was told, I became capricious and wanted no one near me but Kapochka. From Mother, however, I demanded a lemon jelly. When she personally prepared it and brought it to me, I, after tasting it, accused her of not giving me what I wanted. To prove to me that this was what I asked for she took a spoonful and earnestly assured me that it was indeed a delicious lemon jelly. I do not know if using the same spoon had any bearing on her illness which followed shortly. She became far worse than I was. DedushkaТs colleague, a Doctor Grenkov, was sent for and a young nurse arrived from the hospital.
