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Aspirin in a Tin


The peddler man sold these tins.  Fifteen cents was a lot for 12 little pills, but we bought them regularly.  I'm sure we could have bought a bottle of 100 for fifteen cents at Walmart...WAIT! There was no Walmart, and no Target, and no K-Mart, or especially, no CVS stores.  The peddler man brought it to road in front of our house, so I guess we were paying for the convenience.  This was at the same time that huge candy bars were a nickel each, and if you bought a quarter's worth, you got one free.  Buying an aspirin was a sacrifice, but you can't always think straight when you have a splitting headache.

In those days, without parental consent, we built a lot of flying jennys.  I'm not sure that is the proper spelling, but if you were there, you know what I'm talking about.  It was an extremely hazardous contraption that was made by drilling a hole in the middle of a long piece of lumber about 12" wide.
A huge nail or screw was put in the middle of an appropriate sized stump, and the hole in the board was fitted over it.  We would borrow some axle grease from the shed and put between the stump and the board.  Two people sat on the ends, and third pushed.  You could get that thing going ninety in no time, and we would be drunk as buzzards from going round and round.  What fun it was!  I'm surprised no one was killed.

One day, we were playing on one we had built after being told not to, but I guess we were bored.  My brother was pushing, and we were flying!  Suddenly, the ground flew up and hit my head so hard that I kinda blacked out for a second.  My brother was terrified, and knew he was going to be in big trouble.  It was peddler day, and we agreed that he would spend his money to buy me a tin of aspirin, and I wouldn't tell Mama. 

I can't remember how I explained away the big goose egg that was on my head, but we didn't get in trouble that day.  That has to be proof that God watches over us when we don't know any better.

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