Chapter One—Are You Kidding Me?

Chet Kelly had a headache. A bad one. Aspirin hadn't touched it. Sleep was impossible. He didn't want to go off-shift for just a headache. And he was being a royal pain! Especially when Mike Stoker claimed to have the cure, but Chet refused to believe him. Mike explained it one time, as was his custom, and then clammed up. Chet was free to do as he pleased. Chet's reaction to Mike's "cure" had been, typically, "Are you kidding me?" The last thing Mike said to him before lights out was, as always, succinct and to the point: "Either try it, or stop whining." Chet's other shift-mates all chimed in with their hearty agreement.

Chet's problem with it wasn't that he didn't trust Mike. It was just that it sounded too, well, spacey! Which was confusing, because of all the guys, Mike was one of the least spacey types he knew. Now, if it had been Gage—him he could have understood coming up with something so weird—but Mike?

Chet hadn't realized he was mumbling all this out loud, until Marco turned to him, and even in the dark he could tell his partner was aggravated. "?Dios, Chet, silencio! Ve a dormir! Go to sleep!" Four other sleepy voices mumbled, "Shut up, Chet!"

Chet lay back, frustrated, his head pounding, and decided he had nothing to lose. His night's sleep would be shot anyway, as this migraine was probably the worst he had ever had. He began to take deep, slow breaths, as Mike had instructed, and feeling silly, reached for his left earlobe—and pinched it hard, holding on tightly. He kept the up the pressure as the pain began to ease slightly.

He then began step two of the process, which also felt ridiculous, but at this point, he wasn't going to knock it. While still holding his ear, Chet began rubbing his index finger very lightly in small, gentle circles just above his left eyebrow. This was the side the headache was worst on. *

To his complete amazement, within just a few minutes, Chet's headache was nearly gone. He kept it up for a few minutes longer, and the pain was completely gone. He sighed in relief and rolled carefully onto his side, afraid it would come back. It didn't. In a few more minutes, his quiet snores filled the dorm.

Over on the other side of the dorm, Mike Stoker grinned into the darkness. He had known Chet would eventually give in; that with that headache, he'd have to. Tomorrow morning, he would have a little ammunition with which to needle The Phantom!

51

*Btw, yes, this two-step, acupressure/deep-breathing exercise does work for getting rid of headaches. At least, it is extremely helpful to me when I get a migraine. I use it in combination with reducing light and sound stimuli.