Jeannette, Everilde, Doris - and Buster
Our childhood was better than most, although not as pleasant as that of some of my friends whose parents were very kind to each other and where there was a lot of laughter. Mother was always whining about how poor were compared to her background and she and Dad argued constantly about such things as who won WWI, creamed spinach, buying produce out of season, whether Grandfather was a snob or not, whether to buy store-bought toys and if it were necessary to wear stylish clothes.
Mother was a bit of an effort because of the amount of time spent being bilious and having 'female troubles.' This condition caused our medicine cabinet to look like the corner drug store. We had Carters Little Liver Pills, Doan's Kidney Pills, Lydia Pinkens Vegetable Compound for Women, two shelves of assorted prescriptions as well as homemade concoctions of salves, lotions and liniments. Every two weeks we were told we looked “bilious and green around the gills” (wherever gills are).
Hence we were led to the kitchen sink and forced to swallow of syrup of figs. I usually threw up the first few tablespoons – hence the sink. In recent years through hypnosis it was revealed to be the cause of a chronic gagging problem I have lived with for years, which has improved somewhat with treatment.
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