A Bad Case of the Stripes

Camilla Cream loved lima beans. But she never ate them. All of her friends hated lima beans, and she wanted to fit in. Camilla was always worried about what other people thought of her.
Today she was fretting even more than usual. It was the first day of school, and she couldn’t decide what to wear. There were so many people to impress! She tried on forty-two outfits, but none seemed quite right. She put on a pretty red dress and looked in the mirror. Then she screamed. Her mother ran into the room, and she screamed, too. “Oh my heavens!” she cried. “You’re completely covered with stripes!” This was certainly true. Camilla was striped from head to toe.
She looked like a rainbow.
Mrs. Cream felt Camilla’s forehead. “Do you feel all right?” she asked.
“I feel fine,” Camilla answered, “but just look at me!”
“You get back in bed this instant,” her mother ordered. “You’re not going to school today.”
Camilla was relieved. She didn’t want to miss the first day of school, but she was afraid of what the other kids would say. And she had no idea what to wear with those crazy stripes. That afternoon, Dr. Bumble came to examine Camilla. “Most extraordinary!” he exclaimed. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Are you having any coughing, sneezing, runny nose, aches, pains, chills, hot flashes, dizziness, drowsiness, shortness of breath, or uncontrollable twitching?”
“No,” Camilla told him. “I feel fine.”
“Well then,” Dr. Bumble said, turning to Mrs. Cream, “I don’t see any reason why she shouldn’t go to school tomorrow. Here’s some ointment that should help clear up those stripes in a few days. If it doesn’t, you know where to reach me.” And off he went.