The Desert, Part 3: What to do?

     A two-hour came ride took us back to our hotel the next morning, where hot showers, clean clothes and breakfast awaited.  Ten minutes after I showered, it started raining.  Yes, in the desert.  I booked for breakfast and managed to avoid further wetness.  And minutes after that, we were on the bus again, headed back to Fez.

     The bus featured two rows of seats on the left hand side, and a single row on the right.  But four seats stretched across the back row, and with only one other person back there, stretching out for a little nap helped pass the time and alleviate some pain from the dunes and camels. 

     The weather was dry once again and we rumbled over rough roads through small towns, which was no help to the few of us suffering from stomach ailments or unexpected car-sickness.  They clung to window seats in the hope their conditions didn't worsen.  But I was feeling fine, and had managed to get the timing right on using the bathroom.  

     Most people put on headphones or played game to help pass the time.  No one knew what the road conditions would be like as we got further north, and there remained the possibility of another 11 hour marathon drive.  I turned off my computer to preserve a little battery just in case.  But amidst the laughing, joking and impressions of our teachers, an alarmed voice pierced through and urged the driver to stop the bus.  

     I looked around for whoever might be getting sick, and saw an Italian girl in one of the single seats on the right.  From the back I had trouble seeing her--she sounded like she was gagging and convulsing.  But she started lurching forward and her arms tensed up, and her hands were stuck rigidly at right angles from her wrists.  Her Italian friend across the aisle, Martina, quickly shot over and tried to calm her down.  But there was nothing she could do.

     She was having a seizure.