Table of Contents

MEGAN’S FATHER FALLS ILL

OWEN JONES

DEDICATION

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1 MEGAN’S FATHER FEELS FUNNY

2 MEGAN’S FATHER STAYS HOME

3 MEGAN TRIES TO HELP

4 MEGAN’S FUTURE

5 WACINHINSHA

GLOSSARY

THE DISALLOWED

Owen Jones

1 MR. LEE’S PREDICAMENT

MEGAN’S FATHER
FALLS ILL

A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger, and One Scary Mother!

by

OWEN JONES

Copyright © January 9th 2015 Owen Jones

Megan’s Father Falls Ill

By Owen Jones

Published by

Megan Publishing Services

https://meganthemisconception.com

The right of Owen Jones to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. The moral right of the author has been asserted.

In this work of fiction, the characters, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or they are used entirely fictitiously.

All rights reserved.

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Other novelettes in the same series:

The Psychic Megan Series

A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!

The Misconception

Megan’s Thirteenth

Megan’s School Trip

Megan’s School Exams

Megan’s Followers

Megan and the Lost Cat

Megan and the Mayoress

Megan Faces Derision

Megan’s Grandparents Visit

Megan’s Father Falls Ill

Megan Goes on Holiday

Megan and the Burglar

Megan and the Cyclist

Megan and the Old Lady

Megan’s Garden

Megan Goes To the Zoo

Megan Goes Hiking

Megan and the W. I. Cookery Competition

Megan Goes Riding

Megan Goes Yachting

Megan at Carnival

DEDICATION

This edition is dedicated to my wife, Pranom Jones, for making my life as easy as she can. She does a great job of it.

Karma will repay everyone in just kind.

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES

Believe not in anything simply because you have heard it,

Believe not in anything simply because it was spoken and rumoured by many,

Believe not in anything simply because it was found written in your religious texts,

Believe not in anything merely on the authority of teachers and elders,

Believe not in traditions because they have been handed down for generations,

But after observation and analysis, if anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, accept it and live up to it.

Gautama Buddha

––

Great Spirit, whose voice is on the wind, hear me.

Let me grow in strength and knowledge.

Make me ever behold the red and purple sunset.

May my hands respect the things you have given me.

Teach me the secrets hidden under every leaf and stone, as you have taught people for ages past.

Let me use my strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy – myself.

Let me always come before you with clean hands and an open heart, that as my Earthly span fades like the sunset, my Spirit shall return to you without shame.

(Based on a traditional Sioux prayer)

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

1 Megan’s Father Feels Funny

2 Megan’s Father Stays Home

3 Megan Tries To Help

4 Megan’s Future

5 Wacinhinsha

Glossary

The Disallowed: Chapter 1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Thanks are due to the artist who did the cover for me, Jackii. If you want her contact details, just let me know.

1 MEGAN’S FATHER FEELS FUNNY

Megan usually arrived home from school an hour and a half before her father got in from work, and it had been her habit for as long as she could remember to run downstairs to meet him at the front door. This day was no different in that regard, but she stopped at the foot of the stairs and watched him take his jacket off.

He had the look of someone who had just run his first marathon without ever doing any training for it. He looked as if he were worn out and in great pain.

“Whatever is the matter, Daddy?”

“Hello, darling? How are you? I’m fine. Just a little tired, that’s all.”

She went to him and kissed him on the cheek as she always did.

“You look pale too, Daddy. Come in and sit down. Have a cup of tea. It might make you feel better.”

“I’m sure it will. Lead on, Mc Duff!”

She took his hand and led him up the narrow passageway to the living room door and opened it.

“Mam! Dad’s home and he’s looking worn out. Is there tea in the pot or shall I put some fresh?”

“Away with you, girl! You know I always make a fresh pot of tea for six when your father’s due! Go and pour us all a cup.”

“What’s the matter, love? Still not feeling quite right?”

“No. I can’t say that I feel any worse than yesterday, but I can’t say I feel any better either. It’s odd. I can feel fine for a few hours and then it’s just as if someone has thrown a switch or my batteries have run down, and I feel worn out. Perhaps, I’m coming down with the flu, or maybe it’s the change in the weather. It is a lot warmer and the summer will be here soon. That’s probably it… a lot of people suffer from the changes of the seasons, don’t they?”

“Yes, they say that they do, but you never have before.”

“No, that’s true… Maybe it’s because I’m getting old.”

“Perhaps, I’ll see if I can get you some sort of tonic tomorrow.”

Megan brought a tray in with tea and biscuits.

“There’s some cake in the tin, Megan, I baked it this morning.”

“Shall I bring it all in, or just three slices, Mam?”

“Do it properly. Put it on a doily on a cake dish and bring three tea plates and a cake slice.”

“Yes, Mam.”

“Are you really feeling as bad as you look, dear?”

“I look that bad, do I? I ache all over, I feel dog-tired and I’ve got a headache. It’s like the flu, but worse.”

“You men and your man flu, really! You all pretend to be big, brave and macho, but you allow a simple cold to floor you. Most women go through worse than the flu every month of their adult lives.”

“Yes, well there you are then… You get used to it, but we only get sick once every year or two and our bodies forget how to handle it. We feel it more.”

Robert wasn’t sure whether he was talking sense but it sounded good enough to him at the time.

“Is this how you mean, Mam?”

“Yes, dear. That’s the way to do it. I want you to get used to doing things properly for when we have visitors.”

“But we never get any visitors, Mam! You say that the house is too small to receive visitors.”

“And so it is, but we may not be living here for ever. People have been known to move… We may move too, … one day. Perhaps, we’ll have a nice semi in the suburbs with a front and a back garden.”

She looked at her husband who managed a faint smile. He’d heard it all a hundred times before, but she was allowed her dreams.

Everyone was.

“Do you mind if I skip dinner tonight, love. I think I’ll eat my cake and drink my cup of tea to keep my strength up, but all I really want is a couple of paracetamols and a sleep. I’ll see how I feel then, but I’ll probably just sleep on through till tomorrow.”

“No, that’s all right, my dear. If you’re not up to it you are better off in bed. It’s cauliflower cheese tonight, so I’ll put some up for you and if you fancy it later, I can microwave it for you, otherwise I’ll freeze it for another day.

“What time do you want yours, Megan?”

“The usual time, Mam, seven to seven thirty, whatever suits you best.”

“OK, early and I’ll have an early night as well, so I can take care of your father.”

∞

At breakfast the next day, Robert looked a lot better and everyone hoped that he was over the worst of his bout of the flu. He ate a hearty breakfast of sausage, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and cauliflower cheese and thoroughly enjoyed it, as did everyone else.

Megan studied her father over the breakfast table, but she wasn’t convinced that he was yet fully recovered. She thought that he certainly looked better, but she noticed that his eye sockets were darker than normal and that his eyes looked dull.

It struck her that he looked like a toy, the batteries of which had had a flash charge rather than the full overnight job. Still, she went to school and he went to work, leaving Suzanne at home alone to continue her endless and thankless task of cooking and cleaning. As Suzanne saw it, it was what she was supposed to be doing to keep her family running as it should be. It was what her mother and every other woman in her family had done. Forever.

At three p.m. Megan received a call on her mobile phone while she was in a class. She apologised to the teacher, but explained that it was from her mother, so she had to take it. The teacher told her to stand in the corridor so as not to disrupt her class.

“Megan, your father has just rung. He’s ill in work, so I’m going in to drive him and the car home. We may not be there when you get back, so check to see that you’ve got your key on you.”

“OK… yes, I’ve got it right here.”

“Are you sure? I can leave one with Mrs. Horrobin or Mrs. James next door next door, if you haven’t got yours.”

“I have mine right here, Mam. Please stop fussing.”

“All right. I’ll see you later. I’m so worried about your father. He’s never been taken ill like this before…”

“OK, Mam, try to stay calm. You’d better get off. I’ll see you both at home later. I’m sure Dad will be all right once you get him home.”

“Yes, all right, Megan, dear. See you later.”

Megan knocked the door and went back into the classroom.

“Is everything all right, Megan?” asked the teacher.

“We’re not sure, Miss. My father has been taken ill at work, so my mother has gone in to pick him up. He looked pretty bad last night, but he says that it’s probably only the flu.”

“Well, let’s hope that he’s right. Now to continue our lesson on the history of human migration out of Africa…”

When Megan got home, her parents had already returned. Her mother was making tea and reading the instructions on the label of some tonic she had bought that morning and her father was lying on the couch in his pyjamas with a blanket over him. He was looking rather sorry for himself and staring blankly at the TV, which was showing an old film, but judging by the expression on his face, she doubted that much of it was sinking in.

Megan looked at her father’s Aura, but the only difference to normal was a complete lack of energy. It was as he had said, he was completely exhausted. The thought crossed her mind that he was not ill at all, just very, very tired, but she stopped the thought. She knew that she was just too inexperienced to make that sort of judgement.

“Is there anything I can get you, Dad?”

“No, thank you, my dear. I’ll probably sleep after I’ve taken whatever witch’s brew your mother is making up for me. It’s sure to taste disgusting and not help one little bit, but at least she’s trying, I suppose.”

Suzanne ascended the few steps from the kitchen into the living room.

“Here you are, love, valerian and blackcurrant tea. The herbalist said that the valerian would help you sleep and the Vitamin C in the blackcurrant would give your body strength. She said that it counteracted the bitterness of the valerian as well, so that it tastes quite nice. Go on, try it, Robert.”

He put it to his lips.

“It’s like drinking boiling water! Without milk to cool it down, I suppose that that’s just what it is. It smells lovely though. I’ll give it a few minutes to cool down. Thanks, my dear.”

“Megan, get your father a glass of cold water, please.”

When she returned, Suzanne poured some of it into the cup of herbal tea.

“Try it now. Is that better?”

“Yes, much. It really is quite nice.” He winked at Megan, who smiled back. “Yes, I could get used to that. What are these on the plate?”

“Brewers’ Yeast for energy metabolism and multivitamins as a general tonic.”

“I see, thanks. They can’t hurt. I think that Brewers’ yeast was in Philosan, wasn’t it? Philosan fortifies the over forties!”

“Yes, I think it was. Go on get them down you and wash them down with the rest of the water.”

“OK, nurse!” He smiled at Megan again who smiled back at both of them to keep the peace.

“Are you warm, Robert?”

“No, I’m about right. It’s just that all my joints ache and I feel so tired.”

“Would you like to go to bed?”

“No, not really. It’s only five o’clock, but I will snooze here and go to bed early again. Perhaps after dinner. Megan, could you find me a decent film to watch, please? I’m not sure that I’ll be able to follow it, but anything is better than this rubbish.”

“OK, Dad.” She flicked through the channels, but it was too early, so she went to Sky Movies. “There are three old free ones on there, Daddy, or you can pay to watch something new.”

“No, I don’t want to pay. I may fall asleep, if your mothers tea works and the yeast and multivitamins don’t. In fact, I’ll probably fall asleep halfway through it anyway.”

“Well, here’s the remote, Dad.”

He lay down flatter as if getting ready to go to sleep. Megan sat on the pouffe near her father’s head and stroked his hands which were resting on his chest. He opened his eyes for a few seconds, smiled, said, “That’s nice,” and fell asleep. Megan watched his Aura as he did so. It was the first time that she had witnessed the phenomenon, so again, she felt unqualified to draw any conclusions from what she saw, but nothing looked ‘wrong’. He still looked quite normal, just very, very tired.

When he was asleep, Megan went into the kitchen to help her mother and have a chat.

“What do you think it is, Mam?”

“I don’t know, love. Maybe he’s only coming down with the flu, or maybe he’s worried about something at work. He hasn’t said anything to me though. However, I have noticed how tired he’s been getting lately. I don’t think it’s anything serious though – he hasn’t got a temperature and he’s not in pain, so try not to worry about him too much. If he’s no better tomorrow, we’ll keep him home from work and either take him to the doctor’s or try to get the doctor to come here.

“Right, then, Megan, go upstairs and start your homework, there’s nothing you can do here. I’m finished in the kitchen for a while, so I’ll go and sit with your father and watch television and we’ll send him to bed early.”

Megan went up to her room with a heavy heart and did not make the clatter she usually did for fear of waking her father. She sat on the bed close to tears and stroked her familiar, Grrr, the Siberian tiger.

“It is so worrying, Grrr, I can’t ever remember seeing my father ill before. I didn’t think that parents got ill. I mean, I suppose they must do, but I’d never thought about it before.

“Dad asked me about healing once – whether I could heal - and I said that I didn’t know. I wish now that I’d taken the trouble to find out. Maybe I could be helping him right now. What would you do, if one of your cubs were ill, Grrr? I bet you were a great mother.”

Grrr licked Megan’s hands and then lay a huge paw over them.

“Yes! I suppose you would lick the cub, but I can’t lick my Dad, can I? I suppose we humans kiss, not lick. So, I could kiss him better, wish him a speedy recovery and hold his hand?

“Thanks, girl, I’ll remember that.”

2 MEGAN’S FATHER STAYS HOME

Suzanne didn’t bother to get up early, she just lay in bed watching her husband sleeping. He was so sound asleep, despite the fact that the alarm would have been going off any minute, if she hadn’t already turned it off. The point was though, that Robert hadn’t needed the alarm to wake him up for more than ten years.

“Can I come in, Mam?” called Megan from outside the bedroom door.

“Certainly, darling.”

“I’ve made some tea. I didn’t know whether Dad wanted any breakfast, but I can make it if he does.”

“We’ll ask him now, thanks, dear. Put the cups down on the bedside tables. Robert… Robert, dear! It’s time to wake up.” She shook him gently. “Robert, Megan wants to know if you want breakfast in bed.”

“Ooh, ah! Is it that time already? I feel like I could sleep for a week.”

“Yes, it’s seven thirty. Are you going into work today?”

“I don’t think I could go into the bathroom, the way I feel at the moment.”

“Come on, let me help you sit up so you can drink your tea. Maybe that’ll perk you up a little. If you’re not going in, why don’t you come downstairs so that I can look after you better without having to run up and down those stairs?”

“Yes, all right, but I’ll just sit here and drink my tea first. He groaned with every movement as he wriggled to get higher in the bed. “Did you make the tea, Megan? There’s a good girl, you’re spoiling me, and I love it.”

“How do you feel today, Daddy?” She studied his face. It was ashen in colour and his eyes were sunk in dark pits. He looked as if he had just worked two shifts back to back instead of sleeping for thirteen hours.

“About the same as last night, but if it were the flu, I should have a runny nose, sore throat or watery eyes by now. I’ve got nothing except extreme tiredness.”

When he had finished his tea, they helped him downstairs, but the old staircase was too narrow for anyone to stand alongside him, so Suzanne went in front lest he collapse forward and Megan brought up the rear looking concerned in case he fell back and couldn’t get up again.

She used the opportunity to study his Aura. The colours were duller by far than after a normal day’s work, yet he had just woken up, and his etheric shield radiated only half an inch from his skin instead of the more vibrant inch to inch and a half. She knew that these were signs that he was tired, exhausted even, and that his body’s batteries were very low. She consoled herself that she couldn’t see any patched of ugly colours that might suggest that specific organs were diseased.

They rounded the corner at the foot of the stairs into the living room and Megan closed the door behind them. She watched as her mother helped her father into a supine position on the couch and put a blanket over him.

“Do you want to try breakfast, Robert?”

“Yes, OK, go on then, it may give me some energy, although I don’t feel hungry really. I’d love another cup of tea though.”

“I’ll get that,” volunteered Megan, as she descended into the kitchen, “for you too, Mam?”

“Yes, Ok, Megan, thanks.”

Suzanne was soon standing behind Megan. She reached up, took the frying pan down from its hook and was cooking three full English breakfast minutes later.

“It smells gorgeous, Suz,” called Robert. “I’m beginning to feel better already.”

Megan put his teacup on the coffee table beside him, which she had dragged as close to the couch as possible to save her father having to reach over.

“You’d better go and have a shower, young lady, or you’re going to be late for school and I don’t want to be responsible for that. Go on, run along with you.”

“OK, Daddy, if you’re sure. Mam, I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

She ran up the stairs making her usual clatter and her mother sighed.

“She’s late, Suz, she’s in a hurry, that’s all,” but she didn’t believe that that was the reason, because she had been making the same noise for years.

“A reason is only an excuse with substance, Robert. How many times have I told her over the years to walk upstairs like a lady?”

“Yes, dear, I know, I know, but at the moment I can’t be bothered to let it upset me.”

“Nothing your golden girl ever does upsets you. You let her run riot. She can do what she likes.”

“Not now, Suz, please. At least wait until I feel better before you have a go at me.”

“I’m not having a go at you, Bob, I am only saying that you are far too lenient with that girl.” She brought his breakfast up from the kitchen to him and put the tray on his lap. “Will you be all right there or would you rather sit at the table?”

“I’ll be all right here, thanks, Suz.”

Five minutes later, Megan came back down making a noise that resembled a train crossing points. When she opened the door, both her parents were looking at her: her mother with anger, and her father with sadness, in their eyes.

“What? What have I done now?”

“The noise you make on those stairs, Megan, that’s all. You know how much it annoys your mother. I wish you’d try to walk like she asks you to.”

“That’s right, blame me,” exploded Suzanne. “I’m the nasty one in the family. I’m bad cop and you’re good cop! Why can’t you just tell her off and stop making me look like the ogre?”

“I didn’t mean it to sound like that, Suz. Megan, please try to stop making such a row on the stairs for my sake.”

“Sorry, Mam, sorry, Dad. I will try. I promise I will.”

“There’s a good girl,” said Robert as Suzanne stormed off into the kitchen to take Megan’s breakfast out of the oven. It had a plate over it to stop it drying out, which she removed before placing it before her daughter.

“Thanks, Mam, aren’t