Tuesday, February 26, 2013

A Short Story About Setting an Example, and About a Joke That Went Nowhere

My 5-year-old got a shot, and he acted like it was the worst thing that could have happened to a human being. Considering any event a teachable moment, I tried to show him I was brave, and took him and his sister to Rite Aid, so they could see me get a flu shot with a smile.

When I reached the pharmacy, I was told the whole neighborhood was out. No Rite Aid, no CVS, and not even a doctor's office. There were no flu shots in North West Baltimore.

So the next day I went with my kids to a Rite Aid in Owings Mills, which is about 30 minutes drive from Baltimore.

The pharmacist at this branch greeted me by the door, and when I proudly told her I was there to get a flu shot, she told me the whole city was out.

"The whole city???"

"Actually, the suppliers are out."

Now, I've watched 24 on Netflix almost every night for a year, and knew exactly what it meant when the suppliers were out of a vaccine: terrorists were attacking us with a dirty bomb. And you know how you sometimes think about whether or not you should say something, and then the voice of reason wins and you end up just walking away? Well, my voice of reason always loses.

"You know," I said, "if this were an episode of 24, my nose would have started bleeding now, and then you'd see a clock!"

"Oh, is that so."



jack bauer

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7 comments:

  1. Jill/Twipply Skwood HerzbergFebruary 26, 2013 at 1:22 PM

    I got a flu shot for the first time in my life this year back when they were plentiful. I just got it at my kids' pediatrician's office. My older kids had never had one either, but I ended up telling them that if the baby could get one, they could get one. What was point? Oh yeah...I hate when the voice of reason is just a second slower than the voice that was already coming out of my mouth. Funny though! :-)

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  2. LOL. I wish I could be that clever at the CVS Pharmacy line...

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  3. In a perfect world, she would have known exactly what I was talking about, and she would have high-fived me. That was the scenario going in my head when the voice of reason was losing.

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  4. Funny scene. You try to be a role model and you end up with a terrorist attack. So, please, for the sake of the rest of us, next time find another way to teach your children a lesson.

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  5. It all backfired anyway. A week later I did end up getting a flu shot in front of my kids, and I didn't flinch (even though it did hurt). But I did such a good job, that my son complained that the shot he got was obviously more painful than the one I got, which explains why I didn't cry.

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  6. I got my first one last year. I figured I may as well get one this year, since the government's mind-reading microchips have already been installed when I got it last year.

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  7. A good post as at first, i was shocked to read that 5 year old got shot but when i started reading with the curiosity then i cam to know what was she shot of. I consider it one of
    the most 11 jokes of the day.

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