Pamy's Place: The Day I Evaded The Shot Thing
"However, one look at Momma and I knew this was almost the end of the battle. The big showdown scene was about to begin. Momma was standing there with the spoon in one hand and my coat in the other...'' Pamy Blaine tells of her childhood horror of taking "that pink medicine''.
“But Momma, I don’t like pink medicine!” I exclaimed.
“It will make your tummy feel better,” Momma insisted as she aimed that loaded spoon of Pepto-Bismol right toward my face.
“It tastes yucky,” I cried.
It didn’t matter how much I complained and protested Momma was quite adamant that I open my mouth and swallow the pink medicine. However, I still sat with my lips pressed tightly together in stubborn refusal.
“Okay, put on your shoes, we’ll just have to take you to the doctor then,” Momma said without missing a beat as she slipped her coat on over her dress and reached for her purse.
Momma knew I hated going to the doctor. It was because I was afraid of what I called, “the shot thing”. The shot thing was what is better known as a hypodermic needle but who knows when the doctor might draw it out of it’s scabbard like a sword and stab me with it! I had experienced it before and it felt just like that awful bee that stung me last summer.
However, one look at Momma and I knew this was almost the end of the battle. The big showdown scene was about to begin. Momma was standing there with the spoon in one hand and my coat in the other. I knew there was no way that I was going to win so with great reluctance I ever so slowly opened my mouth. I scrunched my face up as I swallowed that spoon full of pink medicine. I closed my eyes tightly and held my breath as long as I could to put off tasting the disgusting liquid.
After I swallowed it, I made sure to make all the appropriate gagging, coughing, and whining sounds so that Momma would be sure to know what a terrible thing she had just done to me. I had to swallow the medicine because I thought the alternative was too terrible. I just couldn’t take a chance on a visit to the doctor. There was just no telling whether or not that doctor might decide to deploy “the shot thing”.
Later that day, I did get better thanks to the makers of Pepto-Bismol and my mother’s tenacity. The good news was that I didn’t have to go to the doctor nor did I have to deal with “the shot thing”.
Since that time, I’ve often wondered if Momma was bluffing to get me to take the pink medicine or if she really would have taken me to the doctor if I had refused to take my medicine. I guess I’ll never know but I do know that I never messed with Momma when she meant business because there was no way to win.
I took my medicine that day and managed to save my pride by pronouncing myself the heroine of “Act One” of the play called My Childhood. This particular scene was titled, “The Day I Evaded the Shot Thing!”
By Pamela Perry Blaine
©November, 2005
Pam lives in Missouri with her husband, Michael. She enjoys composing music and writing stories. She writes "Pam's Corner" for her local newspaper, The Edina Sentinel. Pam and her husband are active in their church where she plays piano and he is music leader. They have a CD available called, "I'll Walk You Home". The title song is about her lifelong friend who died of cancer. You can hear this song on her website: http://blaines.us/PamyPlace.htm
Several of her stories have been published on the internet as well as in books such as The Miracle Of Sons, 2The Heart/People Who Make A Difference, and A Tribute To Moms. Her goal is to write to encourage others and to write stories for her children and grandchildren so that stories and family history will be preserved.
Send Pam an e-mail: pamyblaine@blaines.us and let her know what you thought of her sto
"Security is not the absence of danger,
but the presence of God"
"NO ONE IS USELESS IN THIS WORLD
WHO LIGHTENS THE BURDEN OF ANYONE ELSE"
