Kerchoo !

GET A GRIPPE ON YOURSELF

 

I was five or six and Mommy wanted to just kiss my 'darling eyes.' 'Bob, come here'   she called to my father. 'Feel Sophie's head. I think she has temperature.' Daddy laughed and, as usual, corrected her. 'Dora, everybody has temperature.' 'Let Daddy feel your forehead, Sophie.' He never hurts me, I love him, and let him feel my forehead. 'Dora, get the thermometer. It's in the top drawer of the tall cabinet.' I hear her clip clop down two flights of stairs and clip clop back. Daddy wipes off the thermometer with alcohol and sticks it under my tongue. 'Sophie, don't talk. Keep your mouth closed and breath thru your nose.' I do what he tells me to do. Three minutes is a long time when you can't  
bre athe right. Mommy takes it out of my mouth and hands it to Daddy. He nods to her. 'You are right, Dora. Our little girl has 101. She'll be fine. I'm already on my way to the drugstore. Give her a big glass of orange juice. Dr. Wellner will give me his Brown's Mixture and I'll get a  box of Exlax too. Golden head, put on your pajamas. You can wear your heavy sox if your fee get chilled. Get in bed and stay there.' 'Mother, turn on the radio so Sophie can hear Babes in Toyland.' 'Mommy, I feel hot and cold at the same time.'

 

When Daddy comes back from the drugstore, he brings a little wooden tray into my room. It has pictures of Goldilocks and the Three Bears on it. It also has a tablespoon for my ichy, horrible cod liver oil, small glasses of orange juice and water, a bottle of Brown's Mixture. I see a folded piece of white paper and ask Daddy what it is. ' If you want to get better soon, you have to do as I say and stop asking so many questions.' He sprinkles what was inside the paper onto my spoon, mixes it in one glass of water and tells me to drink it all down at one time. I try but spill some on my pajamas. Daddy opens another paper and makes me try again. Some powdery stuff sticks to my lips. He wipes it off and gives me chocolate candy he said is called Exlax. I eat it slowly and ask for another piece. Daddy shakes his head, 'no.'

 

'Sophie,' he says. 'I'll let you rest a few minutes, then Mommy will give you your orange juice and cod liver oil. Try not to make an ugly face. Then she is going to read stories to you until you fall asleep.' He stops talking for a while. Then says, 'If you feel better and your high temperature is lower, Mommy will bring you a dish of vanilla ice cream with Hershey syrup on top.' He hugs me while I am coughing.

 

Everything Daddy said comes true. Mommy reads me two Big Little Books. When I open my eyes I find  Piggly Wiggly on my bed. I must have fallen asleep.  My nose smells something cooking. 'Mommy, Mommy!' She comes running. 'Mommy, are you making chicken soup? Is today Friday?' 'No, Sophie, this is Tuesday.' 'But Mommy, I remind her. 'You always make chicken soup with noodles on Fridays. She holds my hand, smooths it, kisses her finger tips and puts them on my forehead. 'Sophie, Darling, this is more than chicken soup. It is family medicine. I'll bring you a plate, with noodles, soon. Then later you can have the vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce Daddy bought for us all.'

 

'Mommy, Daddy already gave me chocolate candy, 2 pieces. He told me they were called Exlax. Can I get out of bed now? I have to go make. I really, really do.'

 

Mommy carries me two flights down the stairs, slips off my pajama bottoms and seats me on 'the throne.'