Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

A tick, no bigger than a pinhead, touched you. Nothing more. A brief encounter with the wild, a hike through tall grass, a walk in the woods — and later, often only after days, the body begins to burn. Fever spikes. The muscles smoulder. The head pounds. And then the rash appears: first at the wrists, then spreading until it covers the entire body in red spots. At the bite site there may be a dark, blackish crust — a silent witness to the tiny touch that set everything in motion.