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Two updates in one day - how fun! I enjoyed introducing a new character in this part! I apologize, in advance, for any typos. I swear I proofread this, despite the evidence proving otherwise 😅   He was disappointed, but not surprised, to have woken up still very much in the throes of the worst cold of his life. He’d managed to pull on an old hoodie and thick, flannel pajama pants, along with his thickest pair of socks. He looks at his reflection in the bathroom mirror and can’t suppress the shudder. He’s never looked worse. Despite having slept through the entire night, his appearance implies he’s been sleep deprived for a week. There’s dark circles under his eyes. His eyes, themselves, appear slightly swollen. He should’ve washed his hair yesterday, but the mere thought of standing in the shower for any length of time exhausted him. So, now it hangs in limp, greasy waves. Then, there’s his nose. Felix knows he blew his nose a lot yesterday. He remembers reaching up to rub and wipe it with tissues, and, of course, there were all times he’d use his flannel. He’d also used a fair amount of cheap toilet paper. So, he knows, logically, he shouldn’t be surprised at the state his nose is in. But, still, it’s different actually seeing it. The edges of his nostrils are inflamed and not only are they red —  the skin is chapped and peeling, and not just a little bit of peeling, either. Anyone who looked at his nose would know instantly that it is full of  a vicious cold virus multiplying and spreading inside of it. The skin between his nose and upper lip are blotchy and just as irritated looking. Even now, he can see a sheen of moisture on the inner edges of his nostrils threatening to spill out. The tip of his nose — a bright shining red that contrasted with his particularly pale pallor, stands out as especially noticeable. He watches as the nostrils flare until he finds himself bending over. “Hnnngkkk-SHHFFFF!” “Oh, ow,  what the hell kind of sneeze was that?” he mutters to himself as he rubs at his nose. He then blows his nose — or attempts to do so — but his nasal passages are completely blocked.  Felix is not used to being this sick and is entirely unequipped for managing the situation. He has no cold medicine and as he thinks about it, he can’t recall ever buying the stuff. He, like most people, hates feeling ill as he tries to go about his day, but he’s never felt compelled to take medicine when he knows it won’t actually cure the virus. He figures waiting it out and ignoring the symptoms until he’s back to normal is the best tactic instead of trying to dull the symptoms with medication that make him feel drowsy. But this cold, as it’s established many times already, is a different kind of beast. One that is begging for all possible reinforcements. Reinforcements that Felix is dismayed to realize has none of. He walks to his kitchen to look out the window. There is a fair amount of snow already falling down. The snow is expected to fall steadily all day until tonight when it changes to sleet with a drastic drop in temperature. He wants to go to pick up some things at the store, like tissues, canned soup, and medicine. But — due mostly to a car accident he’d been a part of when he was in high school during a bad winter — he goes to great lengths not to drive in any kind of potentially severe weather. He considers ordering through a delivery app, but even that feels wrong, like he’s putting the driver in danger. He sighs, deciding to tough it out without the assistance of drugs. At least, he gets to spend his entire day in bed. He’s never seen the appeal of napping and can count on one hand how many times he’s partaken in the particular activity since adulthood. But, today, he desires nothing more than allowing his body to do what it needs to recover while he checks out of consciousness. He starts making coffee with one hand while the other has a tissue pressed against his nose. His phone starts ringing, so he puts everything down checking the name of the caller. Ben. He stares at the phone, brows furrowed. Ben doesn’t usually call. He’s always been a texter.  “Uh, hello….” he answers, hesitantly. “Felix! Dude, where are you?” Ben asks, tone slightly frantic. Felix clears his throat, then to his surprise, he begins coughing. Oh my god, please, please let the cough be a fluke, I cannot handle another symptom, Felix thinks, internally groaning. “Um, I’m at home? Where else would I be? Have you seen the weather?” Felix asks, voice raw and congested. There’s a long pause. “Where else would you be? Felix! You’re supposed to help me finish moving. Like, now. Right now. You said you’d be here. I have to be out of this fucking apartment in 4 hours. The new tenants are supposed to move in immediately after I’m out. You know this, dude. I’ve reminded you!” Felix stands, pinching the bridge of his nose. “That’s next week. Ben, you said you were moving next week,” but as Felix says it, he feels less sure. “Um, nope, that’s not what I said. No way would I have said the entirely wrong date. You have to come help. You know I have no one else and I can’t do this all on my own,” Ben says, practically begging. “Ben… I… I can’t help today. I’m sick,” he says, feeling helpless. He can hear Ben sigh over the phone. “Yeah, I know. I can tell,” he says, voice softening. “You sound like shit. I wouldn’t ask if I had another option.” “Damn it, Ben, why couldn’t you have gotten this done before the literal last minute?” he asks, feeling his frustration building. “Because working two jobs doesn’t exactly give me a surplus of free time! Listen, it won’t be so bad. All the major stuff has been moved already. Well, except my bed. But it’s everything else. The boxes and tubs and all that,” he explains. “Okay, then it’s all packed and ready, right? We just have to load up your SUV and drive over to your new place?” Felix asks, thinking as miserable as he’d feel, it wouldn’t be impossible to achieve. There’s, yet again, another long pause. “Ben? Ben please tell me you p-p-packed heh-t’shuhhh! HEH-T’SHUUHHH!”  Felix feels alarmed as the two congested sneezes trigger a small coughing fit. “Felix… you all right? Were those supposed to be sneezes?” “Yeah, the first couple were anyway. Like I told you, I’m sick,” he says, as he reaches for a tissue. “I know, I just, I’ve never heard you sneeze like that. You usually hold them in. But, okay, I get it. You’re obviously not feeling well. And I’m sorry, but please, can you help? I can’t get it done in time by myself. I’ll buy you pizza or something.” Felix tries to imagine eating greasy pizza and shakes his head even though Ben obviously can’t see the gesture. “Not pizza,” he says. “Okay, then, like, chicken noodle soup! I don’t care! I’ll get you anything.”  Felix rubs his temples. Ben has always been his closest friend since they’d met in preschool. He knows Ben has no one else, with both parents having passed away recently within a year from each other, and no siblings. At this particular point in time, he is Ben’s only actual friend. Ben has an affable personality and gets along with plenty of people at his jobs where he works as a waiter at the local steakhouse and as a barista at the coffee shop. But, without a doubt, there’s not a chance of any of them helping him in this situation. “Fine, Ben. Fine. But you have to pick me up. I don’t drive in the snow,” he says, knowing full well that Ben is aware of this; he’d been in the passenger seat while Felix had been driving during the car wreck when they were in high school. Ben adapted to driving and riding in cars again without any issues, but Felix never fully recovered from the traumatic experience. “Yeah, yeah, I do know. Of course I’ll pick you up. Thank you so fucking much, dude. But, yeah, I’ve got to leave now. I’ll see you soon!” “Okay, but don’t rush. Be careful!” “I’ll be careful, promise! See you in a bit,” Ben says before hanging up. _____ “Heh-TSCHUUUHH! Huh-TSHUHH! HEH’TSNGGHH!”  “Felix, please do me a favor and wait until I’m done moving before you die, okay?” Felix can’t even respond. Well, with anything except — “HEH- T’SHUUHHH!” Ben looks over from where he’s driving the car and rubs the back of his neck. “Oh my god, dude, you’ve got to stop. You’re making me feel like such a dick having you come out like this.” “HEH-T’SHUUUHHH!” “I mean it, man. Stop making me feel bad.” “HEEEHHHH-T’SHUUUUUUUHHHH!” Felix sneezes again, into his elbow, then starts coughing. “Okay, it’s fine. It’s fine. Everything will be fine. We’ll get you some DayQuil and you’ll be good as new, all right? We’ll stop at the store right up here.”      “HEH’TSHUUH!” “Oh my god, I fucking get it, okay? I’m an asshole. You don’t have to keep rubbing it in,” Ben says, frustration seeping into his voice. “I’m not - heh? - I’m not rubbing anything heehh in,” Felix replies, voice shaky with the urge to sneeze, yet again. “Yeah, well, you might as well be. I mean, for as long as I’ve known you, you’ve had the quietest little sneezes. And you choose now to start sneezing like a fucking cannon? C’mon. You’re clearly trying to make me feel guilty,” Ben says, but the smile he’s wearing suggests he’s joking. “Serves you riigghht heh? HEH’TSHUUH!”  “Yeah, honestly, it probably does,” Ben admits, as he pulls into the parking space of the Dollar General. “Do you want to come in, or….” Ben tails off as Felix holds his head back with his mouth open, trying to find the sneeze he’d lost. “Okay, um, right. You stay in here. I’ll grab you the drugs. What else do you need?” he asks Felix. “Um, just the DayQuil is fine. I heehhhh wait. Oh, and maybe tissues. Hold on and I’ll give you some cash,” he says, but he still stares upward waiting for the sneeze. “There’s not a chance I’m taking your money. Buying you cold medicine is literally the very least I can do for you right now.” “Okay, that’s cool because I don’t think I have my HEEHH’TSNGGHHHH!” he breaks off coughing. “Holy shit. Okay. I was saying I don’t think I have my wallet,” he finishes, sniffling. Ben grimaces at the aftermath of the sneeze. “Okay, so I’m definitely getting you some tissues.” Felix nods vigorously, arm held up to his nose. “God, yes, please. Thank you.” “Yeah man. I’ll be back in a minute,” he says before shutting the door. _____ “What?” Felix asks, trying to open his eyes, but still feeling half stuck inside of a dream. “I said I was in there for less than 10 minutes. How did you manage to fall asleep?” Ben asks. “Um, what?” Felix asks, again, his eyes finally opening, seeing Ben shoving bags into the back seat. “Okay, just nevermind. Let’s hurry and get this all finished so we can get you back home and in bed, okay. Sound good?” Felix nods, starting to remember what’s happening. “Yeah, bed sounds good,” he croaks out before coughing. “Shit, I’m a terrible human being,” Ben says, shaking his head. “First things first, take these,” he says, holding some orange gel capsules out to Felix. Felix slowly reaches to take the capsules. Ben quickly hands him a bottle of water, which Felix uses to wash the pills down.  “Okay, good. Good start,” Ben says, as he starts the car. “Now we’ve just got to get to the apartment and I really don’t think it’ll take too long to get everything ready,” he starts, but then glances over at Felix, who’s struggling to untie the plastic bag with the tissue boxes inside. “Well, it might take a little longer than I had thought. But, we’ll manage.” “‘Kay, I trust you,” Felix says, leaning his head against the window, having given up on rescuing the tissues from their yellow plastic bag prison, deciding to shut his eyes instead. _____ “Ben, have I ever told you I hate you?” Felix asks as he starts at Ben’s bed with clothes and shoes strewn out all over it. “Well, Felix, as it so happens, I can recall you telling me that a time or two in the twenty-eight years we’ve known each other.” “I mean who waits until they have literal hours to move out before packing? I'm surprised your landlord didn't force you to leave days ago. But, Ben, seriously! What is wrong with —” but he can’t finish reprimanding Ben due to the coughs tearing through his throat. “Felix, we quite honestly do not have time for this. Listen, your job is to sit on this bed and shove stuff into all the tubs and boxes, okay? I literally do not care how it’s organized. I do not care if anything breaks. Just shove them, all right?” Felix nods, already sitting crisscrossed on the bed. “And I’m serious about staying on the bed. Right now, you’re staying in here where it’s warm. I’ll deal with hauling everything out to the car. At least until we end up really pressed for time. I promise I’ll do my best to keep you from actually dying, okay?” Felix looks up and sniffles. “Yeah, fine. I just sit here and shove things into boxes. No problem,” he says, already moving toward a pile of shirts. The first half hour goes smoothly with Felix packing up the items from Ben’s bedroom. Then, he gets a text. Connor: Hey, Felix. I apologize if it’s inappropriate to text you. And please feel free to tell me to fuck off if it is. But I want to check in to see how you were feeling. You didn’t look or sound well at all yesterday, so I want to make sure you’re resting and taking it easy. I know it’s not my place anymore. But, could you please indulge me a little so I know you’re okay? Felix continues staring at a text until Ben throws a shirt at his face. “What the hell?” he asks, glaring at Ben. “Quit staring at your phone!”  “I…. I’m sorry. It’s just, Connor texted me,” Felix says. Ben’s mouth drops open and he stills. “Connor? Are you sure?” Felix just stares at him.  “Okay, yeah, I guess you would know. Um… I want to unpack all of this and hear every detail… but, time crunch and everything, you know?” Ben says, urgently.  Felix looks back down at his phone. “Felix! Can you hear me?” Ben asks. “Yeah, I hear you,” Felix responds, distantly, his fingers already moving to type up a message. “This is fucking pointless,” Felix hears Ben mutter as he walks out the door. Felix knows that if he wants to protect himself from any kind of potential hurt Connor may cause to flare up again, he should stay quiet and ignore Connor’s texts. But with the DayQuil in his system and his cold already making his brain murky, he can’t find it within himself to deny himself what he wants. Felix:  Hi. I’m okay. Stupid Ben is making me help him move because he’s got to be out in a few hours. He doesn’t even have everything packed yet. You know how he is. 🙄 But I’m loaded up on DayQuil right now and I’m starting to feel a bit better. Connor: Felix, are you joking? You shouldn’t be out, sick or not. The weather’s already getting pretty bad. No one should be out on the roads right now. Connor:  Please tell me you’re not doing anything outside. You need to rest. Connor:  I’m going to kill Ben. Felix tries to text back, but he lacks the energy to think of an adequate response. Instead, he looks at the pile of clothes he packed and just stares at them. A few minutes later, though, his attention is directed to who’s stormed into the room, cheeks red. “You told on me?” Ben asks, sounding incredulous.  Felix is confused and continues staring at Ben with his eyebrows furrowed.  “You’re ex-boyfriend just texted me telling me to take you home before you get pneumonia. What the hell, dude? He doesn’t need to be involved in this!” Ben exclaims.  Felix feels his cheeks flare with heat. “God, I can’t believe he’d do that. Just ignore the text.” But then Ben’s phone starts ringing. Ben glances at the phone, then shoves it toward Felix, shaking it, as if to make a point. The screen reads “Dickwad.” “Huh,” Felix comments, struggling to sift through his muddled thoughts to find an, at least, partially coherent one. “Is that Connor? I didn’t think you had his number, still.” Ben rolls his eyes. “Bigger issues, right now, Felix.” “Just answer it. Tell him I’m fine,” he says. Ben stares at him for a moment, then puts the phone on speaker. “Hey, Connor! It’s been a while, huh? Care to tell me what you’re doing in my business?” Ben says, voice laden with annoyance. “Your business? It’s not just your business, Ben! I saw the state Felix was in yesterday, and it’s obvious he shouldn’t be anywhere right now except in bed.” Ben glances over at Felix. “What do you mean you saw him yesterday? Felix didn't tell me that," but it's clear from the silence Connor isn't going to elaborate. "But, anyway, technically he is in bed. It’s just not his own bed. And maybe he’s kind of more on it than in it, but still. Why do you care, anyway?” Ben asks, voice rising. “You fucking ditched him out of nowhere. You spent a year telling him every day you loved him, and then you just left. For no fucking reason, man! And now you’re telling me, the person who’s been by his side for twenty-eight years, how I should act toward him? Who do you think took care of him when you just disappeared, Asshole? I’ve been here the whole time. So don’t waste your breath telling me how I should treat my best friend.” And with that, Ben hangs up the phone. Ben’s breathing raggedly and his cheeks are flushed. He awkwardly rubs the back of his neck. “Too abrasive?” Ben asks, as Felix stares at him.  “Um maybe just a little bit,” Felix admits, but feels warmth spreading through him at the protectiveness of his best friend. The phone starts ringing again. “Fuck!” Ben exclaims before answering it. “Ben, look — Everything you said. You’re right, okay. I’m not going to argue with you. Can you just tell me how Felix is doing right now?” Felix sits on the bed, frowning at the snot he’d just rubbed onto his sleeve. “Uh, he’s … fine. Totally fine,” Ben says, voice unsteady. “Really?” “I mean, he’s got a bit of a cold, you know? But, yeah, he’s fine,” Ben says, again, looking at Felix as Felix continues to rub his nose with his sleeve. Felix feels an intense tickle spread throughout his sinuses. He gasps so hard, he starts coughing. But even with the coughing, the sneezes still come. “Hhhuh-RRSSHHHuh! HHHUHHH-RRSSHHHHHHEWWW!!” Coughs wrack his chest as he bends forward again. “HUH-RRRRRSHHgknt’SHEEWW!”  Ben stares at him, eyes closed, as though he knows what’s coming. “Ben, that doesn’t sound fine,” Connor’s voice says harshly from the phone’s speaker. Ben runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah, man, okay. He’s sick. I made him take some DayQuil, and he’s a little better than he was. But yeah, this cold’s definitely hitting him pretty hard. I’ve honestly never seen him like this. I just didn’t know what else to do. You know, normally I’d ask my dad, but…. Fuck. I just don’t have anyone else, okay? I’m doing my best to make sure he stays inside and does minimal activity. But we have to get it done quickly. The new tenants are moving in soon. But, I mean, at this point, I don’t even care. They can just fucking wait,” he finally finishes. Felix hears Ben sighing over the phone. “Okay, listen, I’m coming over to help. I’m about twenty minutes away from you. We’ll get it done much faster with three people helping.” Felix takes in a deep breath, then — “Huh-RRGGG’SHEEWWWW!” “I’m going to be honest. I think Felix counts as, at best, half a person right now,” Ben says, staring at Felix with an expression that’s a mixture of sympathy and disgust. Felix is surprised to hear Connor laugh. “Yeah, if he’s anywhere as bad as yesterday, I think it’s safe to say he’s useless. Listen, I’ll be there soon.” “Fine. Thanks, Connor. I’m sorry, again, about, you know…. The stuff I said.” “Don’t apologize for that, Ben. I’m glad Felix has you in his life. I’m leaving now, okay? See you in a bit.” “Yeah, okay bye,” Ben says, before setting his phone down. Felix’s eyes have grown increasingly heavy during Ben and Connor’s conversation. He heard the worse they were saying, but processed only about half of it. He’ll ask Ben about what’s going on in a minute. Right now, he just needs to rest his eyes for a moment. He allows his body to sink into the soft bed as he pulls up the closest material he can find over his body. He remembers he’s supposed to be helping Ben move. But he will help.  After he closes his eyes for a few minutes.  

This is great

Ooooh

Oh wow, this is an amazing start!! 🤯

This story sets up a series of characters, with very distinctive sneezing and blowing habits, based loosely upon three young women I used to observe when I was a student. I'm open to any suggestions of events or situations involving them, maybe someone else would like to pick up on this and add their own text.   Claire, Marianne and Arabella were all studying the same subject and attending the same college, so they usually sat together at the lectures for all students at the university on that course. But they were three very different personalities, in ways which came out through the ways they sneezed and blew their noses, which all did fairly frequently, more so than most other student around them. Claire, who like the others was aged 20-21, was medium height, about 5’6”, with a slightly pale complexion, which could flush a bit. She had quite short, slightly mousey hair, coming down just to the back of her neck. She had green eyes and a moderately thin medium length nose. Otherwise she was fairly thin, in good shape, but did not always present herself in the most flattering way as she had a tendency to bend her neck and head a bit, not so often standing or sitting straight. Usually she would wear jeans or some other trousers, flat shoes, and a blouse or shirt on top, sometimes white, sometimes pale blue, sometimes light pink. She usually carried a quick large bag with her, which she always packed with multiple wads of tissues, often pink, when she went out in the morning to her classes. If she didn’t get one wad out at the beginning, she usually would within the first ten minutes. In exams she always had a wad by her, and as she had to wear a cap (which could be taken off) and gown for these, she would put the cap on the floor and place the wad of tissues in that. Claire sneezed often, usually several times in rounds of three to five, during a lecture. She would hold her hand over her nose and mouth when she did, but almost invariably her sneezes were stifled, as if they wouldn’t come out properly, and as a result she had to blow more to get everything out of her nose. She always blew plenty of times after sneezing, but even without she was in every sense a ‘frequent blower’, with a particular way of doing it. She would blow with one hand clasping a tissue over her nose, and blew harshly, quite a number of times. She would always bend over and look downwards while either sneezing and blowing, unable to avoid doing so, and often, but with a type of scowl as she did so, which suggested that she disliked making such a spectacle in public. She practically never honked, not least because she seemed to produce an amazing amount of snot as a matter of course. You could clearly hear big wet flow going into the tissue with every blow, super-productive, and when she blew again and again it kept gushing out plentifully. There was rarely a lecture or other class where she wouldn’t get through a significant number of her tissues. Rarely would any tissue last more than one or two blows before being ruined, and she sometimes used two at a time. She would deposit the crumpled, soaked ones, stuck together with her deposits, either in her bag, or during exams in her cap. Marianne, was a little taller than Claire, about 5’8”, and very slim. She had an innocence or naivete about her, clearly from a well-to-do, proper and somewhat conservative family background. She had ash blonde curly hair, which she usually tied back, and always wore glasses, round with golden rims. Her skin was very pale, her eyes were blue, her mouth was a little small, with thinnish lips, and she had a significantly thin and long nose. She would also wear a blouse, usually white or soft cream, several of which had a few frills on the sleeves, and usually a long skirt, sometimes a mixture of red and green or tartan, sometimes with a floral pattern, with socks and ‘sensible’ shoes, not completely flat, but only a tiny amount of heel, or sometimes sandals. She carried a small dark brown satchel with her, but always kept white tissues in both sleeves, removing a number from several boxes she also in her room, tucking them in before leaving in the morning, just as her mother always taught her to do. Her mother also impressed on her that if she sneezed or her nose started to run, never to sniff in public but always blow it out, but also to be careful not to do so in an over-loud or vulgar manner - she had gotten a few good talkings-to when she blew a bit too loudly when younger, told that she would never be a proper lady if she blew that way. As a result Marianne’s blows were longer and protracted, but very wet-sounding, a long continuous bubbling flow with made a sustained sound. She often sneezed, reacting easily to pollen or other allergies. Her sneezes were high-pitched ‘A-choo!’s, usually three of them, but never harsh or that dramatic, more dainty in nature. As for Claire, but in a different manner, the sound of those sneezes signified how much her nose would fill up. So without exception she would do some long blows afterwards into one of the tissues she would retrieve from her sleeve. But she had no obvious shame about blowing, which she had always learned was a natural and right thing to do. She could be talking to someone, and while doing so pull out a tissue from her sleeve, then do a dripping, gurgling blow and still look at them while they were talking – she would even do this with a new boyfriend she met during her second year, thinking it perfectly natural. She always used two hands and always blew in the praying position, holding what were quite large tissues so they formed a mini tent over her nose and would catch what sounded like a considerable discharge. Arabella, at 5’4 shorter than either Claire or Marianne, was nonetheless the most confident and self-possessed of the three. She was attractive, relaxed, and knew what sort of figure she cut, and the amount of attention she got from the male students, and inwardly relished that. She had a very good rich and healthy complexion which she touched up every day with careful use of make-up to accentuate the best features, with medium-length black silky hair, slightly wavy. Her eyes were dark brown, she had a regular and slightly seductive looking mouth, and a regular-shaped nose for a white woman, with slightly larger nostrils than usual, which could occasionally flare a bit if she got excited or a bit annoyed. She would smile a lot, a smile of ease, not a come-on smile, communicating how she was not at all self-conscious, and she walked confidently, not striding, but breezing, sometimes with hips moving a little provocatively. Arabella had an excellent figure, not unnaturally thin, but with the right curves, and well-endowed. She dressed medium casual but always stylish, with a different coloured jacket practically every day, sometimes a leather one, quite tight jeans, sometimes heels, and either a t-shirt or other top, comfortable but which would clasp her body to show it off. She had had a string of boyfriends both before and during her time at university. If she got sick of one, she had little compunction in giving him the push and moving onto the next, causing a string of broken hearts, but that didn’t seem to bother her at all. When Arabella sneezed, which she didn’t do so often as the others, but still with moderate frequency. Usually she would do so three or four times, and everyone would be a loud and highly dramatic piercing ‘a-CHEW’ sound, which could fill a room. Each sneeze would increase in intensity, but she had no embarrassment about them whatever – if anything, she seemed to enjoy sneezing quite a bit, and would often smile or even grin a bit afterwards. But then she would reach in her trousers and take out a tissue, or sometimes when she had a handbag reach in to take out a packet, pry open the top and extract one between her thumb and forefinger, put it to her nose, like Marianne in the praying position, with two hands, never looking down or anything, and do a huge, volcanic blow, like her sneezes building in intensity, in a way she seemed to have learned always to do, a gush beginning and then getting louder until it built to an explosive-sounding stream, incredibly productive. Unlike the other two, she generally disposed of her tissue right afterwards, which would be totally soaked (once a tissue was dripping afterwards, and she laughed and said ‘Oh dear!’ before dropping it into the waste). But as with sneezing, she appeared to enjoy the experience, even occasionally saying quietly ‘Nice!’ afterwards to some other friends, as when she would parade down the staircase on the way out from the lecture while doing her own nasal explosion ceremoniously during this.