It all seemed to start when the girl in the hairdressers sneezed while cutting hair.
She apologised of course, but the damage was done. Her customer found herself sitting on a bus a few days later being racked by a severe coughing fit. Later that week, the young student seated in front of her was telling his father about an upcoming exam when he sneezed and blew his nose.
Later, his father coughed while showing an elderly lady samples of carpet they sold in the store. Soon after, she sneezed while waiting to be served in the post office. The man next to her in the queue started coughing while he was talking to his neighbour. His neighbour coughed in a taxi.
The driver of the taxi coughed while working on jig-saw puzzle with his daughter. She sneezed near the instructor in the gymnasium. He sneezed while straightening his son’s tie. The boy coughed while talking to his teacher.
The teacher sneezed while helping her husband on with his coat. He coughed later that day, when he was giving change to a young man who was passenger on the city ferry. A day or two later, it seemed perfectly natural for the young man to kiss his girlfriend goodnight.
A couple of days following that, she sneezed while cutting hair.