Fever 2 Chapter 7-12

Summary Fever 2 (7-12)

In chapter 7 Matilda and her mom go to the Ogilvie mansion where her mom is trying to see if Pernilla Olgavie’s sons are single and hook one of them up with Matilda. When they go to visit Matilda is wearing her best outfit which wasn’t near as nice as the Olgavie’s outfits. Matilda was very cautious as to how she moved because she didn’t want to rip her outfit due to the lack of quality of the material. Matilda meets the daughters, Colette and Jeannine who were spoiled and quite snobby. Jeannine saw Matilda reaching for the cakes and moved the plate so she couldn’t and passed it the opposite direction as Matilda and the other stuck out her tuck at her too. It didn’t take long for Matilda to see that she didn’t belong to the upper class people especially when they were putting down the coffeehouse and calling it the Grog shop where criminal and other dregs of society gathered to drink whiskey and fight.   

In chapter 8, Colette has the fever and Grandfather and Matilda go to the African Society meeting that is talking about the fever. A letter from the major gets printed with advice from the college of physicians on yellow fever. Grandfather, having been in a war thinks that you just face this soldier with a sword and run it through it. He has a hard time understanding why everyone is running from it instead of riding it out and facing it. Grandfather and Matilda pass a man limping and dressed in dark rags pushing a cart. They wonder where he is going and follow him. They soon come to a conclusion that he is taking a poor sick person to the Rickette’s Circus where the poor sick people go to die. Instead the man continues and stops in front of the coffeehouse where he dumps a woman, it was Mother.

Chapter 9 and 10, they get mother in the house and get her cleaned up and to bed. Grandfather has a doctor come look at her and insists that it is definitely not yellow fever. The doctor turns out to be an imposter and a real doctor confirms that she has yellow fever. Matilda wants to stay and take care of her but mother yells and insists that she leave immediately so she doesn’t get sick. She then wants to take mother with her but the doctor lets them know that no town will let her in and that grandfather should hire a wagon as soon as possible to take them because they are scarce as hens teeth. Because Mother has yellow fever they have to tie a yellow cloth on the doors and close the coffeehouse. The next morning, the wagon arrives. It’s a farmer and his wife with their little baby that is going to take them. Matilda gives her goodbyes and off they go leaving home. While on their way they run into four horsemen with muskets. They have to stop and get off to let a doctor check them for the fever because no one is allowed to pass through if they are carrying the fever. While the farmer was being checked Grandfather breaks off into a coughing fit. This brings suspicion and they order for them to take him back to the city. The farmer panics and leaves them hanging with no food, water, or clothing.

Chapter 12, Grandfather is getting sicker by the minute and they have no food or water to help him get his energy back. Grandfather couldn’t go any farther they had to stop a rest. They decide to rest under a chestnut tree and Matilda decides she needs to find water and food. Using her old soldier tricks that grandfather taught her she finds water by following the willow trees and while getting water she finds berries for them to eat too.

Summary: Chapters 1-6

            Matilda is a girl who lives with her widowed mother. Her mother has very high expectations for Matilda. Whenever the housekeeper is late or fails to show up, Matilda is responsible to begin the day’s duties. Matilda adores the waterfront, where her mother forbids her to go for fear that she will become ill, although she looks for any opportunity to make long detours while out on errands to visit her favorite spot.
           
            They run a coffee house, along with their grandfather, out of their house. Eliza, a free African American, works for them as a cook for the coffeehouse. She is saving her money to set her husband free of slavery and is sure to take special care of Matilda. Polly is a servant at their house and is late today. She has become a long-time friend to Matilda. There is sickness in the air but mother assures Matilda that “serving girls don’t get sick”. Since Polly is not there to run the errands to the market, Matilda volunteers to go and look for Polly while she is out, but mother won’t allow it.

            Upon her return, she tells Polly that Polly has died. It was a sudden. Matilda is in shock and wants to go see Polly’s family, but mother does not want her to. That day in the coffeehouse, grandfather and many of the other men begin talking about the illnesses that seem to be coming from the refugees living at the waterfront. A doctor interrupts the conversation and says that it is not just the refugees, but that the disease yellow fever is in the air again. The people in the coffeehouse quickly jump to the conclusion that doctors make people worry about unnecessary things and that moving farther into the country would be unnecessary.

            Weeks later, more people had died. They needed items from the market and mother was extremely exhausted so they ended up sending Matilda as grandfather suggested. Mother was still worried about this because she felt like the sickness was coming from the water’s edge. There was a lot of fever talk in the market. While there she sees a long lost friend, Nathaniel. He had the day off from his job as a painter and was going fishing. He asked Matilda to join him and although it was tempting because she enjoyed being herself around him, she knew that she needed to get back home. Before she left she heard the church bells ringing. Another person had died of the fever.

            After more weeks have gone by, they begin to talk about making a bigger coffeehouse as people begin to move away from the waterfront in hopes of avoiding the fever. Mother thinks this is an irrational idea. Later that day, mother and Matilda are invited to afternoon tea with Pernilla Ogilvie. Mother thinks this is a wonderful idea because she had a handsome son that she thought would be good for Matilda. They struggle to find clothes in their home that are good enough to wear to tea with Pernilla Ogilvie. As chapter 6 comes to a close, they are headed out the door to tea and grandpa thinks Matilda looks like a “china doll”.