Emerg Infect DisEmerging Infect. DisEIDEmerging Infectious Diseases1080-60401080-6059Centers for Disease Control and Prevention337580007-999910.3201/eid1311.079999Another DimensionA COUNTRY STORYFieldsKenneth112007131118031803“When I was a little girl back in East Texas,”My mother’s mother, Beulah, used to tell,“There was an outbreak of the German measles,Mama was pregnant, so I went awayTo a neighbor lady’s, three or four miles from homeWhen the first signs showed. I was just eight, and sick,And lonesome for Mama. One day she came for me.My little sister had broken out, and MamaFiguring she would die, and the baby, too,Wanted us all together for those last weeks.She wanted me home with her. As it turned outMy sister had been reading by the fireAnd broke out from the heat, and it was meThat carried the measles home. After Mama diedI used to think of seeing her out the windowTalking to the neighbor lady on that day,Crying and wiping her eyes with her apron hem.”

From Classic Rough News. Copyright The University of Chicago Press. Reprinted with permission.