The next morning, Almanzo woke up to see Mrs. Wilder hovering over him looking at his neck. His neck was swollen since he had enlarged lymph nodes, a symptom of diphtheria. Almanzo tried to ask his mother what she was looking at but seemed to forget he couldn't talk. He opened his mouth but no words came out. This was when Mrs. Wilder spotted something else.

"Wait, Almanzo! Open your mouth again!" Mrs. Wilder demanded, frightened.

Almanzo did as he was asked, and opened his mouth. In the back, near his tonsils/throat were grey membranes covering his tonsils.

Mrs. Wilder was on the verge of tears, she didn't know it would look this serious. Dr. Robert showed up half an hour later with the proper treatment to cure the diphtheria. It went through Almanzo's system, and was slowly making him better.There was a catch though, he had to take 2 doses of the treatment to fully cure him. The whole family groaned after this new news being brought to their attention. But, anything for Almanzo to live.

Laura decided to take Rose to the church nearby, they prayed that Almanzo would get better. The family didn't have much to do, so they decided to devote some of their time to Rose. When they weren't taking care of Almanzo, that is.

Rose would read one poem per night, with Laura's help, and practiced her writing and spelling on her slate while Laura quizzed her on simple words. Mr. and Mrs. Wilder would watch sometimes, chuckling and helping her out.

A week went by, and Dr. Robert brought the 2nd dose in hopes that Almanzo could be cured.

"Alright I've injected the cure into Almanzo, he'll get better in a few days. He still needs some rest." Dr. Robert pronounced.

The whole family lit up with smiles after hearing the news. There was a grin creeping up on Almanzo's face after hearing the news as well.