Bucket brigade

So the boys went back to school two days ago.  And today both of them are home sick.  It started off with only one home, but Eli had the unfortunate luck to be upstairs right before school when his brother was throwing up. It's never easy being around a person who is dealing with intestinal issues, but Eli is another case altogether.  He started humming loudly to try to drown out the noise.  I helped Theo get cleaned up and then pushed Eli out the door.  He went, with backwards glances that were meant to show me just how damaged he was from having to witness Theo not at his prime.  But to school he went.  A short while later I got a call from the nurse.  Eli was lying down in her office, complaining of a stomach ache.  Eli has never been to the nurse's office before, so she was taking him seriously.  I helped Theo through one more round of issues and then knew I had a clean 20 minutes to fetch Eli before Theo might start feeling cruddy again.  So I rushed down to get him.  There he was, looking pale, and somehow self-righteous at the same time.  I brought him home and he set himself up in a chair in front of the TV with a bucket.  Before long he was asking me for lunch.  Which he ate heartily, with a bucket by his feet.  Right now he's playing a pretty active game on the wii, bucket nearby.  He feels fine.  But he is now linked to that bucket for at least 24 hours.  Last time he threw up I think he carried that bucket around the house for 48 hours.  This time he hasn't actually been ill, so we might be able to pry it out of his hands within a day or so.  Sheesh.  What a kid.