Over 40

Judy Dent said teachers should hug kids: hug them, rock them, massage their back. 

Rubbing up and down the spine is good for short term memory.  From the knee to the bottom of the bottom – reading skills. 

Cool.

And the kids loved it. 

I have slacked off a bit lately: maybe because I started to notice how itchy my scalp really was. 

I got Beki to check it.. twice.  “No lice.. no nits.. no cooties”..

But when Vas called from Jilk yesterday and said.. “We have scabies” in a rather panicked voice, I headed right to the clinic. 

It took an hour to get in to see the nurse.  It’s a busy place for such a little town: like a social hub. 

I visited with one of the local police: his kids attend our school so I was familiar with the sunburned face and white legs, sticking out beneath the khaki of the Copper’s shorts.  And there was the head of the local shire.. she sounded like she had a bad flu, but was in uniform:  reflective vest, a wide brimmed, Aussie, felt hat, ready to get right back to work picking up the rubbish and driving the lawn mower.  The young ranger was there.. not sure why.  She looked good for someone we often called to remove the occasional wild visitor from the school yard.  They all disappeared.. I waited.. 

And watched a bit of “Neighbours”, an Australian soapy.  All good..

When it was finally my turn, the nurse assured me that I didn’t have scabies.. but I did have a lousy head.. nits, bugs.. yuk!  She gave me the soap I had to apply, and clear instructions on how to use it, and the two fine webbed combs. 

“Go home, and wash everything in hot water.. take your mattress out into the sun.  Clean your couch.. wash all the towels, take the carpets out and let them air..”  You get the picture.

In this over 40-degree heat, it wouldn’t take long for heat sensitive nasties to die off.  The heat has to be good for something!  

So I washed it all and put everything outside in the sun.  Even the mattress off the bed.  

The cure for the scabies.. not the lice so much. 

Then Vas showed up, and sure enough, he was covered with red dots. He had two packs of scabies cream, and was ready to rub me up.  But I said no.. I didn’t have scabies. 

We still did my neck and some other scabi prone areas.

We decided I still had to be the carrier.. probably brought them home from the kids, and dropped them on poor Vas. 

Then I sent him back to his place.  I didn’t want him in my bed until we were both ‘clean’.. and they said it could take a couple of days.  Scabies are little bugs that burrow in under your skin.. and lay eggs.. and hatch .. and.. well you get the picture.  I didn’t want them coming back into the house after I washed everything.. again!! 

Poor guy.  Off he went to clean his place.  Which is good, as otherwise we would carry things back and forth…

So.. it was another interesting day in Mataranka. 

Maggie Dent talked a lot about stuff that happens when you hug a kid.. but this was never mentioned. 

I woke up this morning feeling itchier than ever… So I checked the instructions again.  They said that after I wash it out, I may find the skin irritated and itchier than ever. However, it also said that the crawly feeling would soon be gone.

And so it is. 

Tonight I got an email from Vas.  The doctor was in the community from Katherine today.  Vas doesn’t have scabies.. it is just a heat rash.

Something else 40 degree heat is good for.