Your Mother Should Know by Paul Alan Fahey

Author:Paul Alan Fahey
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub

From inside a pharmacy, a woman tossed items through a window directly into the bed of a truck parked underneath. Several large boxes flew by including a pillow, a stuffed panda, and what looked like a bunch of over-the-counter medications.

Mother pointed to a sign: Prescription Drive-Through Window.

“Guess she took it literally,” she said.

Inside, it was pandemonium as customers grabbed merchandise from shelves and threw their purchases into shopping carts while wheeling them around the aisles. Philip spotted a display of bottled water, handed a bottle to his mother, and slipped another into his coat pocket. He found some salve and iodine in the first aid section, and Mother dropped them into her purse.

“I think I’ve got a headache,” she said. “Do you think we could find some aspirin?”

“Look at the overhead signs,” he said.

“Pain relievers, two aisles down.”

Philip picked up a box and held it out to her.

“Mm. Not that one,” she said. “It thins the blood. Dr Weissgarten said—”

“Okay,” he said. “You choose. I thought you said you wanted aspirin.”

“Yes, but…oh, dear, what do I mean? Like when you order a soft drink in a restaurant and say you want a Coke, but you really mean anything cold and fizzy like but not necessarily a Coke. Sometimes it’s a Dr. Pepper, other times, a Pepsi, and then they might have Coke and—”

“Okay. Got it. Just pick one, okay?”

She ran her finger across the shelf, snatched up a box, scrutinized it, and then put it back like Goldilocks deciding on a bowl of porridge. “No, not this one, either. Too harsh on the stomach.” She tried another, studied the ingredients. “Nope. Why they say it’s extra strength is beyond me.”

“It’s not like we’re paying for this shit, Mom.”

She went back to the first box of aspirin he chose for her and held it out to him. “I’ll take this one.”

“This is aspirin. You said Dr. Weissgarten—”

“You wouldn’t let me finish. Dr. Weissgarten said this brand has other ingredients, and in a pinch it would work just as well as anything. I guess this is the pinch she was talking about.” She snapped open her purse, dropped the box in, and snapped it shut. “I think we’re done here, honey.”

In a relatively safe spot off the main street, Philip washed his hands with the bottled water then squeezed the ointment onto a small gauze pad and doctored her facial cuts the best he could under the circumstances. The sound of gunshots and sirens continued in the background.

She tore open the aspirin box and played with the twist-off top. “Bottles with childproof caps. So safe and simple only a child can open them.” She handed him the bottle. “Here you try.”

Philip gave it one twist, and off it came.

“See I was right. Only a child.” She laughed and he joined in.

She downed two pills and took several swigs of water. Suddenly she swayed and caught his arm for support.

“Ouch.”

She released her grip.

“Arm’s pretty sore.”

“When did that happen?” she asked.

“In the alley, I guess,” he said.

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