Monday, April 11, 2016

The Third Cough Drop

I caught a cold Wednesday night? Thursday night? Dr. Theresa got me some cough drops. Yesterday I put one in my mouth and the shell - I guess we'll call it - caved in (by design! though little did I know) and mentholated goo oozed out. It was a surprise! And not an unpleasant one, despite the way I just described it. These were "dual action" cough drops, according to the bag. I checked after my surprise. Like, "What is going on with these cough drops?" The effect was bracing and medicinal. I don't know how I feel about the phrase "goo oozed" - at best you could say it's sort of onomatopoeic. Makes me think of a line from "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed's Church" about "clammy squares which sweat as if the corpse they keep were oozing through." Sorry! But that's almost the only thing I remember from school. I also remember "Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs upon the slimy sea" from "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner." That's all. After about the third cough drop, the novelty wears off.