Note: Some of my OC's will make an appearance; some may only appear in flashbacks.
Chapter 1
The Great Valley seemed like a paradise for leaf eating dinosaurs of all kinds. It might keep out meat eating dinosaurs; however, the leaf eaters aren't immune to diseases or illnesses. One day during breakfast, Kosh seemed to have trouble just getting to his feet; he heard gurgling noises from the pit of his stomach and felt his muscles aching.
"*tsk* I wonder if any of the others are feeling like this," Kosh told himself.
After a few attempts to stand, he finally was able to get to his feet. However, a wave of dizziness prompted him to sit down for a moment. Once it passed, he stood up again and wandered over to the Feeding Grounds. Upon reaching his destination, he was stopped by Grandpa Longneck. The aging male lowered his head to get a better look at the clubtail.
"Are you sure you should be up and around? You don't look so good," Grandpa commented.
Kosh shrugged him off like any stubborn dinosaur would; even if the elder was just expressing his concern for his health.
"Don't worry about me; I think I just need some food to get my strength up," Kosh responded.
"All right; but, if you start feeling worse, it would be a good idea to go home and rest," Grandpa stated.
Kosh groaned and rolled his eyes. The longneck may have had a point; but, Kosh found it annoying to have stuff pointed out to him as if he was a child. To his relief, Grandpa wasn't trying to annoy him with questions about his health; he was just concerned. Just then, Kosh grabbed a few treestars from a bush with his mouth and started chewing. When he tried to swallow the thoroughly chewed food, he was having trouble getting it down his throat. Once he did manage to swallow the food, he found himself trying to fight a wave of nausea. Once again, Grandpa looked at him; a smug expression was seen on his face.
"Just to let you know; saying I told you so just doesn't cut it right now," Kosh snarled while walking away.
"How'd he know I was gonna say that?" Grandpa thought.
Grandpa shook his head and wandered over to a tree to get some treestars. Soon enough, Topsy walked up to him. Apparently, he had overheard the conversation he had with Kosh.
"What was that about?" Topsy questioned.
"Kosh is pretty sick and he was trying to hide it; however, I could see it's hard to hide an illness; I've been guilty of trying to hide illnesses during my childhood; especially with colds; I got tired of being treated like a baby whenever I got sick; Mother would go back to bathing me herself and wouldn't let me go to a relief spot by myself either; she never did this with my sisters whenever they got sick and it was so friggin' annoying considering I was the one who hatched first; *tsk* mothers; you know," Grandpa explained.
"Yeah; mothers can be more protective of their sons than their daughters; it's more of the father's job to protect their daughters," Topsy stated.
Grandpa nodded. However, he felt better about discussing his experience with illnesses from his childhood.
"There is one thing I neglected to mention during my rant; I almost succumbed every time to extreme high body temperature; and after I got well, Mother would punish me for a month; at least, she didn't believe in spanking; just grounding me to the nest and escorting me if I was hungry, thirsty or if I had to relieve myself; here's the catch; according to her, she HAD to be there and watch me to make sure I didn't get away; if I felt like I was being watched, I couldn't go; whether it was number one or number two; didn't matter," Grandpa added.
Topsy nodded. His own mother may have been a bit overprotective, but, not like Grandpa's mother.
"What your mother did to you makes my mother seem like a saint; and I always thought threehorn mothers were more protective of their sons," Topsy commented.
Grandpa sighed and nodded.
Meanwhile, Kosh was wandering around the valley; he might not have been feeling very good, but, he has certainly felt worse before. The aftertaste of the treestars still lingered in his mouth; which was weird since he usually doesn't mind it.
"Maybe a drink of water will get rid of the aftertaste," Kosh told himself.
Upon reaching a watering hole, he took a few sips of water. However, that particular pool of water was colder than some of the others; and cold water during an illness was hard on his stomach. He soon began to feel nauseous; however, he managed to settle his stomach before he started throwing up all over the place.
"Man, that's annoying," Kosh told himself.
Soon enough, Mr. Thicknose made his way over to the clubtail. He noticed that the younger male's muzzle was pale and that he has bags under his eyes and his face was all sweaty.
"Looks like you've caught that virus that has been going around," Mr. Thicknose told him.
Kosh shrugged him off.
"Ah, I'm fine," Kosh tried to sound reassuring.
"You're not fine; from the looks of things, it seems like you haven't been getting enough sleep over the last few days; and I noticed that you're not eating enough to satisfy a child's hunger; don't you usually eat an entire bush of treestars along with a bush of sweet bubbles and five tree sweets at breakfast?" Mr. Thicknose wondered.
Kosh turned his head, closed his eyes and held up his right forepaw.
"Stop! All this talk about food makes me want to puke!" Kosh exclaimed.
"All right, I'll stop; but, you know I'm right," Mr. Thicknose teased him.
After managing to fight off yet another wave of nausea, Kosh turned back around to Mr. Thicknose. Soon enough, the elder saw the younger male shivering and checked him over.
"Sore throat, fever, nausea, aches and pains, a stuffy nose; and of course, dizziness; looks like you're sick; how about you go home and get some rest; the illness should be gone within a week or two," Mr. Thicknose responded.
Kosh nodded and headed back to his nest.
Once he was out of earshot, Grandpa Longneck showed up behind Mr. Thicknose.
"I'd like to say I told you so to him; but, I held my tongue," Grandpa commented.
"Yeah; that guy is the most stubborn dinosaur I've ever known; next to you, that is," Mr. Thicknose stated.
"I beg your pardon?" Grandpa demanded.
Mr. Thicknose turned to face the younger elder.
"When you were a kid and would get sick; I'd give your mother instructions of how to treat your illnesses and you always insisted that you were fine," Mr. Thicknose answered.
"Ah, that was just to keep Mother from babying me; I was sick and tired, literally; but, also sick and tired of being treated like a baby just because of an illness; this was a subject I was talking to Topsy about earlier; and how annoyed I got at her and I have told her so many times to leave me alone so I can recover during my childhood," Grandpa ranted on.
"What has gotten you so annoyed? Is it because I said you were stubborn during your childhood?" Mr. Thicknose demanded.
"That's pretty much it, yeah," Grandpa answered.
"Sorry, I was just being honest; you really were stubborn and yet had the tendency to assert your independence from a very young age which annoyed your mother," Mr. Thicknose said.
Grandpa nodded.
Soon enough, he remembered one time after he had recovered from an illness.
Flashback
A 6 year old Kenneth has just recovered from a very bad cold; however, during the illness, he stubbornly resisted the care of his mother since she had the tendency to baby him. Just when he was about to go off with his friends, he was pulled back by his mother's tail.
"Where do you think you're going, young man?" Lillian demanded.
"Out to play," Kenneth answered.
Lillian sighed.
"You're not going anywhere for the next month; at least not without an escort; and you're going back to get tongue baths for the duration of your punishment," Lillian scolded him.
"A month? Mother, that's not fair," Kenneth complained.
"Listen to me VERY CAREFULLY; you don't get to decide what's fair and what's not since you're a child and I'm a grown up; and as your mother, I get to punish you the way I see fit; you nearly died since you let your body temperature reach a dangerous level and I was scared for you; and as a result, you're not playing with any of your friends and they will not be coming over here," Lillian explained.
"I don't care what you say; I draw the line at tongue bathing," Kenneth snarled.
"Who's the parent here? You or me?" Lillian demanded.
Kenneth was rendered speechless; he has never seen his mother this angry before and curled his tail around his body while he was sitting down.
"Whether you agree with this or not, the punishment stands," Lillian added.
Kenneth sighed and nodded.
Flashback end
"This makes me glad that I hardly ever got sick when I got older," Grandpa claimed.
Mr. Thicknose nodded.
Both males were hoping that none of the other herd members would get sick and also hoped for Kosh to get better fast.
