Why do fevers strike at midnight?  You’re sound asleep one second and the next you’re kneeling by the side of the bed while your child sweats through the sheets.  It’s terrifying.  I know. I know. Fevers are healthy.  Fevers are helpful.  They are useful to fight illness.  None of that comforts me when I’m simultaneously watching the numbers on the thermometer climb and counting down the minutes until the ibuprofen kicks in.  Morning brings another doctor’s visit, another strep test, another run to the pharmacy.  Even in a screaming fit, Piper delivers comic relief.  After a thermometer reading this morning, she lifted her weepy head off my shoulder and assigned blame where only the logic of a four-year-old can go.  “Wait!” she cried. “Nana said if I ate my apple I wouldn’t have to go to the doctor.  An apple a day keeps the doctor away.  She said so!” Such betrayal. And from her grandmother nonetheless.  “That’s it,” Piper declared, “I’m never eating fruit again!” That should definitely solve the problem.