
received from Uncle Mark for his birthday this whole time, and he convinces J.D.

It takes the mumps a while to show up, but when they do, he's thrilled.

sneaks through the quarantine to get infected. decides he's going to be first for a change, and when his friend Howard Kay gets the mumps, J.D. After a bout of the measles, which S.D.because, for whatever reason, he never gets sick first, so he never gets the chance to feel better first and make fun of his brothers for still being sick. Mamma's system is a real problem for J.D.They're so much a part of life that Mamma has a system for dealing with them: She uses the first child infected to get all the boys sick at once so when they're all better, the family is done with the terrible illness du jour.Before vaccines were widely available, life-threatening illnesses were just another part of childhood.
