"Can I help you?"

Shelly had seen the woman coming. With her blue-patterned blouse that looked like it'd come straight out of the mid-nineties she was hard to miss. Shelly didn't really need help, or didn't like to ask for it, so she'd tried to avoid eye-contact with the woman, but nonetheless the woman had found her and picked her off. After all, there weren't any other customers in the chemist to take care of. Shelly supposed the woman had to do her job.

"I'm just looking for some stuff to take for a cold" Shelly explained.

"All right, just over here" the woman said. "Follow me." She led Shelly to a set of shelves full of bright, small rectangular boxes of drugs, all of them proclaiming slight variations on the same general suite of functions and effects. "How bad is it?" the woman asked Shelly. "Are you coughing a lot?"

"Well actually it's for my girlfriend" Shelly replied. "She's got a really sore throat. She's coughing a bit, especially when she lies down. And she says she's got a headache, like, all the time."

"Okay" the woman said kindly. "Try this. Now, make sure she takes that one with meals, okay? 'Cause it can make you a little nauseous."

"Okay, I'll tell her that."

The woman took the box of pills and led Shelly over to the counter. "That's just $8.95" she said, smiling. "Has she been sick for long?" she asked as Shelly handed her a ten dollar note.

"Since last week" Shelly replied. "It came on really suddenly."

"Yeah, there's a little bit of a one going around at the moment. We've had quite a few people come in. It's not a bad one, this year, but it stays around for a while. Make sure she gets lots of rest, okay?"

"Okay, I'll tell her that" Shelly said.

"With these cold nights, people will be getting sick" the woman continued. "And the 'flu season will start soon. Let's hope it's not a bad one this year, eh? Now make sure you don't get sick from your girlfriend, you can't be looking after each other if you're both sick."

"Don't worry" Shelly smiled, "I'm being careful."