What’s Inside My Body: Breathing

When Charlotte’s mum came to pick her up from school, she immediately saw that Charlotte’s eyes were puffy and her cheeks were red. But she was cheerful and promptly showed her mum the picture she’d drawn. Then her mum kissed her on the forehead and knew for sure that something was wrong. Charlotte was burning up. She definitely had a fever.

When they got home, Charlotte plonked herself down on the sofa — her body had gone quite limp. “I’m so tired all of a sudden, Mummy. My head aches and my throat hurts a little, too.”

Her mum knew what to do. She brewed some herbal tea for Charlotte and added a spoonful of honey. Within half an hour, the little girl was in her bed, covered up to her chin and fast asleep.

“She’s caught a virus, I’m afraid,” her mum informed Charlotte’s dad. “She cannot possibly go to school tomorrow, she’ll need to rest and drink plenty of healing tea.”

When Charlotte opened her eyes in the morning, she felt a little better. Her fever had gone down, and the headache didn’t bother her much anymore, but as she swung her legs out of bed, she sneezed twice and her nose immediately clogged up.

“Mummy,” she called, “are you there? Did I oversleep?”

Her mum appeared in the doorway with a sympathetic expression. “No, darling, you’re staying home today. Looks like you’ve caught a bad cold, and you can’t go to school in that condition.”

By the time her dad got home from work, Charlotte’s nose was completely red and she’d started coughing. Despite drinking warm tea with honey and lemon all day, the cough was getting worse and her temperature had risen again.

“My dear Charlotte, you look even…