A ‘common’ cold, oh my mother would have labelled this bug ‘common’ alright!

I witnessed him arrive in the office, and he certainly brought a briefcase of unsavouriness with him. He was here to stay it seemed.

Firstly he didn’t bother me, preferring to fraternise with my colleagues at the front of the room.

Oh how he solicited himself to them, long after he had shut them down for the evening, staggering home with them to share his filth with their families.

Only happy was he when his effects could be witnessed first-hand.

“How are you feeling?” They would ask each other, as he hopped from foot to foot excitedly anticipating the reply.

“Not too good? Oh dear, me neither!”

They looked with great sympathy, and now empathy, at each other after entertaining his embrace, most not able to return to work for a week or more.

One day he sauntered up the corridor to where I was standing making a coffee. He caught my eye as he slid an arm around a colleague and engaged her in a deep, salacious connection.

I looked away, repulsed.

‘He’s not getting to me’. I announce to myself triumphantly, ‘I am made of stronger stuff’

Besides, I’d be going away on holiday soon, away from this cauldron of contamination.

But he heard.

He heard from wherever he’d been hovering, slyly waiting to witness my pitiful naivety. For me to let my guard down.

“Better make it quick, then”, he whispered from behind me and before I could resist, he breathed his foul being into my lungs, sowing his seed.

My fever seemed to rise before I left to go home that night, and I relinquished the fight for immunity before I even had time to pack for my holiday.

It looked like he was up for a change of scenery and was planning on a vacation himself…with the rest of my family, it seems.