[ WP ] A man at an event coughs throughout . It begins to affect the audience . How does it affect them and what is their response ?

Mike raised his hand to shield the blinding 
 
 Light cast down upon him on the stage 
 
 He had built up a sweat and a slight rasp 
 
 Presenting for what seemed to be an age 
 
 Click to the next slide, he paused 
 
 A cough echoed, much to his rage/ 
 
 
 
 In the silence of the moment, the noise 
 
 Echoed around the room. 
 
 Before an utterance passed Mike ’ s lips, 
 
 The cough came again too soon 
 
 Sputtering in his chair, a man 
 
 In a brown coat covered his doom/ 
 
 
 
 Mike called for a break, 
 
 Noting the man ’ s wife at his side. 
 
 He eyed them as they left, carrying the cough 
 
 A woman they passed gasped and cried, 
 
 “ Is that blood on your arm? ” 
 
 As the man hurried on by./ 
 
 
 
 He fell in the aisle, down to his knees, 
 
 Causing alarm in the audience around. 
 
 His wife stood in frustration, 
 
 Arm on her hip, she stared and frowned. 
 
 A gentleman near the aisle stood to help, 
 
 One true gentleman in the crowd./ 
 
 
 
 Mike ’ s eyes shot left as he heard a sound, 
 
 A second cough from the audience rang clear. 
 
 A soft buzz of worry carried around the room. 
 
 A buzz that could quickly turn to fear 
 
 As the second victim coughed once again 
 
 A dreaded sound for everyone to hear./ 
 
 
 
 Mike switched to his mic to say, 
 
 “ Everyone stay calm, don ’ t be afraid. 
 
 Coincidence, I ’ m sure, is our friend today. 
 
 Stay calm, think of what you all paid, 
 
 The presentation is not done, 
 
 It ’ s worth more to you if you all stayed. ” / 
 
 
 
 Mike clicked back on his slideshow, 
 
 And recalled his place in his spiel, 
 
 Even though he was still thirsty, 
 
 He resumed his speech with great zeal. 
 
 But only one minute in, the man in the coat, 
 
 Coughed from the back with wife on heel./ 
 
 
 
 He had not made it out yet, 
 
 Now he stood by the main door. 
 
 On his knees, his arm over his cough 
 
 He had fallen again to the floor. 
 
 The audience tittered at the noise, 
 
 Of the cough, they could take no more./ 
 
 
 
 A woman from the back cried aloud, 
 
 “ He ’ s spurting blood onto his sleeve! ” 
 
 Mike wiped at his brow with his, 
 
 Worried that the audience would leave. 
 
 Then, because his throat was so dry, 
 
 He coughed, something he barely believed./ 
 
 
 
 It echoed in his mic and around the room, 
 
 The audience turned to him as one. 
 
 One woman stood up in panic, 
 
 “ Flee! Or the cough will have us all done! ” 
 
 Mike held up his hands in response, 
 
 “ Please stay, we can not all run. ” / 
 
 
 
 “ It is only a cough, not a demon, 
 
 I am thirsty and warm up on stage. 
 
 I had wanted a break to grab a glass, 
 
 Speeches are tiresome at my age. 
 
 The man in the back will get help, 
 
 I am sure. He doesn ’ t need your rage. ” / 
 
 
 
 To Mike ’ s horror, another cough! 
 
 Not from him but from them. 
 
 Surely statistics were on here, 
 
 Only so many could cough phlegm, 
 
 A cough was a trifle, not to worry, 
 
 Nothing we need to condemn./ 
 
 
 
 The woman stood up from her seat, 
 
 “ Honey, I think it ’ s time we go. ” 
 
 But she didn ’ t want to walk past the man 
 
 On the floor, to get out of the show. 
 
 She stopped in the aisle and huffed, 
 
 Her confused husband in tow./ 
 
 
 
 Then, amazingly, her husband coughed, 
 
 And she whirled on him in a daze. 
 
 The sheepish expression on his face, 
 
 But her face was amazed, 
 
 As she dropped his hand from hers, 
 
 And backed away in a craze, / 
 
 
 
 “ If we stay we are all doomed! 
 
 You are all sick in here. 
 
 God has punished us all for our sins, 
 
 He ’ s sent a cough we all fear, 
 
 That spurts blood on our souls, 
 
 And stains to make evil so clear. ” / 
 
 
 
 She pointed at Mike, as if it was his fault. 
 
 But her claim was preposterous. 
 
 Mike opened his mouth to claim so, 
 
 “ You ’ re overreacting, no need to fuss, 
 
 It ’ s only a cough in a room of people, 
 
 Surely sickness is not in all of us. ” / 
 
 
 
 She pointed her finger and sneered, 
 
 And opened her mouth to retort, 
 
 But her husband coughed again, 
 
 A fake cough with a snort, 
 
 But it worried another in the room, 
 
 Mike saw his presentation cut short./ 
 
 
 
 He clicked off his slide and said, 
 
 “ You all sought my advice, 
 
 It is why you all came. 
 
 Please, let me be concise: 
 
 You all stand in your own way. 
 
 To not open your mind is your price./ 
 
 
 
 “ You overreact and miss cues in life, 
 
 I can ’ t help those too lost in their mind, 
 
 That can ’ t show decent empathy, 
 
 Have open spirit, or be kind. 
 
 Reanalyze yourselves is my advice, 
 
 You are your own problem, you ’ ll find. ” / 
 
 
 
 Mike hung up his mic and walked away. 
 
 Disgusted with the fear inside those, 
 
 That can too quickly overtake a crowd. 
 
 Common sense in too low of a dose, 
 
 Quickly turns darker with time, 
 
 Distorting reality, to be man ’ s worst woe./
