Billy quickly began shaking the thermometer down and soon had it down after a few tries to about 101. Further whispered consultation with Johnny confirmed that it was still too high for someone whose forehead didn’t feel hot. So Billy continued shaking the thermometer down some more. He hadn’t ever done this before and didn’t realize how easy it was. Unfortunately, he ended up shaking it down too much so that it read 97. After holding it quickly near the lamp again, Billy started over. Before he could check the thermometer, he heard Belinda’s footsteps outside the door. There was nothing he could do but pop the thermometer into his mouth just before she entered the room. “How’s my other sick boy doing? Let’s see what the thermometer says.” After taking it out and looking at it, Belinda exclaimed, “104.2! This can’t be right. Wait a minute … Billy. What did you do with this thermometer, hmmm … Billy? Answer me?” “Nothing, Belinda, I swear.”
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