Title: If I Die Before I Wake
Author: Jean Little
Series: Dear Canada
Diary of: Fiona Macgregor
Here is an excerpt from Scholastic Canada:
"My bones were right. Fanny is here. She is alive but terribly ill. She got brought home from Aunt Jessica's a week or so ago because their son George caught the Flu and was sent home from university. We don't know how he is today. But Fanny got feverish a few days after she arrived home. Soon after that, she was burning up. Grandmother, who likes to make things sound as bad as possible, told me this and added that the doctor said fever was the first stage of the Flu. Next Fanny would start choking on phlegm and come down with pneumonia. "I am sorry to have to tell you this, Fiona, but you need to be prepared," she began. "There isn't much hope . . . "
I pushed her out of the way, Jane, and rushed up to our room. They said I must not go in but Fanny fixed that by calling out my name in a hoarse voice. I marched right past Aunt, who was doing her best to stop me in my tracks. I did not take time to think. I just did what I knew I should.
The worst moment, almost, was when I came to her bedside and she did not know me. She stared at me with big glassy eyes and called out, "Fee. I need Fee."
I wanted to hug her but Aunt would not let me get close until I put on a mask. She wears one every time she goes near Fan. Of course, I did not look like myself in the mask, but at last she knew my voice and gripped my hands with her thin fingers. Oh, Jane, her pretty hands are like claws.
They tried to order me out but Fanny cried out for me again. It was terrible. She seemed to quiet a bit while I held her hands in mine. Aunt still tried to argue with me but she is too tired to do battle. Theo is not allowed even in the doorway of her room.
The doctor told us he thought Fanny was nearing the crisis. "It might be tonight," he said. "Once their faces . . . "
He did not finish but it was bad news, I could tell. Her face had turned a greyish colour. He sounded so like the doctor in Little Women, but this is not just a story.
Jane, I sit here in Fanny's room. I can hardly bear to look at her. She is grey and her breath rasps and gurgles and wheezes. She has lost pounds. Her face is all hollow and a dark colour. A bluish grey. That is one of the symptoms of this Flu, Aunt said. Nobody is saying the word but we all know. So many have died, but not my Fan. I will not leave her whatever anyone says. I am giving her some of my strength. I can't make them understand, Jane, but I must stay or she might leave me. I vow, here and now, that I will not let her go. "
Dear Canada- If I Die Before I Wake is the diary of Fiona Macgregor. It is about the flu epidemic and how Fiona's family has to suffer. I found this a sorrowful book. I would rate it a 10/10 because of the depth. I would this book to anyone who likes history.
Author: Jean Little
Series: Dear Canada
Diary of: Fiona Macgregor
Here is an excerpt from Scholastic Canada:
"My bones were right. Fanny is here. She is alive but terribly ill. She got brought home from Aunt Jessica's a week or so ago because their son George caught the Flu and was sent home from university. We don't know how he is today. But Fanny got feverish a few days after she arrived home. Soon after that, she was burning up. Grandmother, who likes to make things sound as bad as possible, told me this and added that the doctor said fever was the first stage of the Flu. Next Fanny would start choking on phlegm and come down with pneumonia. "I am sorry to have to tell you this, Fiona, but you need to be prepared," she began. "There isn't much hope . . . "
I pushed her out of the way, Jane, and rushed up to our room. They said I must not go in but Fanny fixed that by calling out my name in a hoarse voice. I marched right past Aunt, who was doing her best to stop me in my tracks. I did not take time to think. I just did what I knew I should.
The worst moment, almost, was when I came to her bedside and she did not know me. She stared at me with big glassy eyes and called out, "Fee. I need Fee."
I wanted to hug her but Aunt would not let me get close until I put on a mask. She wears one every time she goes near Fan. Of course, I did not look like myself in the mask, but at last she knew my voice and gripped my hands with her thin fingers. Oh, Jane, her pretty hands are like claws.
They tried to order me out but Fanny cried out for me again. It was terrible. She seemed to quiet a bit while I held her hands in mine. Aunt still tried to argue with me but she is too tired to do battle. Theo is not allowed even in the doorway of her room.
The doctor told us he thought Fanny was nearing the crisis. "It might be tonight," he said. "Once their faces . . . "
He did not finish but it was bad news, I could tell. Her face had turned a greyish colour. He sounded so like the doctor in Little Women, but this is not just a story.
Jane, I sit here in Fanny's room. I can hardly bear to look at her. She is grey and her breath rasps and gurgles and wheezes. She has lost pounds. Her face is all hollow and a dark colour. A bluish grey. That is one of the symptoms of this Flu, Aunt said. Nobody is saying the word but we all know. So many have died, but not my Fan. I will not leave her whatever anyone says. I am giving her some of my strength. I can't make them understand, Jane, but I must stay or she might leave me. I vow, here and now, that I will not let her go. "
Dear Canada- If I Die Before I Wake is the diary of Fiona Macgregor. It is about the flu epidemic and how Fiona's family has to suffer. I found this a sorrowful book. I would rate it a 10/10 because of the depth. I would this book to anyone who likes history.
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