Smallpox

"It hurts less if you say 'ouch,'" William suggests. "Even less if you say it loud." He jabs.

"Ouch!" Claudia says, and rubs her arm. She stands up and you sit down.

"This may take a while," you say, thinking of all the layers you have on.

"Smallpox," Claudia muses. "Well, the symptoms fit. It starts with a fever, right?"

"And then a rash," William agrees, "usually in the face. Didn't the diary say 'Harper woke up this morning with horror in his face'?"

"Mrffph," you say as you take off the first sweater. "I mean, yes. And everyone panicked. Because everyone knew exactly what it was."

"They didn't know about viruses," William says, "but they knew that quarantine was necessary."

Claudia taps her chin. "And Mister Yates was picked to care for the sick, because he clearly had smallpox before. So he would be immune."

"That's a key point, yaah. But then what about Sarah Byers?" William sets down the empty vaccine vial, and holds the needle ready in his hand.

"Cowpox," you say, rolling up the sleeve on your flannel pullover. "She had been a dairy maid. She had the marks on her arms from cowpox -- which also protects you from smallpox."

"Ready?" asks William.

"OUCH!"

"Very good," he says, and snaps the case shut.

An Access Excellence Science Mystery sponsored by Genentech, Inc.
Copyright © 1997 Genentech, Inc.; all rights reserved.