Dum Dums
Bernardo Menchaca
If you do not know what Dum Dums are please look them up, and if you do, you will probably be able to relate to this. Dum Dums are these magical, round and colorful lollipops that every pediatrician had in his office to give them to kids to stop crying after they get out of the office. And yes, I said magical because it has been 5 years since I have gone to a pediatrician and I am still not able to figure out why those suckers made a more positive effect on my body that the actual medicine that he prescribed on me. I could guess that scientifically, that does not make any sense at all, but those things had some kind of magical power that makes kids feel better.
I loved those candies, and Mom used to take advantage on that. These were her rules for me drinking the medicine: There will be no candies until you drink that. That forced me to drink the medicine a couple minutes before I grabbed the candy. And here is my conspiracy theory: by the time I got the Dum Dum to my mouth, the medicine was already doing effect on the virus and the lollipop did not had anything to do with the fact that I felt better at that time.
I will never know if my theory is correct, or if it is wrong. I will never know if this was either planned by mom, or the doctors recommend doing this to kids. Or if it was just a psychological thing that happened to me and it was coincidence that every time I put the lollipop in my mouth it was the exact same time as the medicine started doing the effect. Or maybe the doctor’s secretary was a witch and she did something to the candies. I will never know, but one thing I know is that I will implement that strategy with my future kids when they feel bad, and I hope I either get a doctor with magical Dum Dums or the perfect timing Mom had.
I loved those candies, and Mom used to take advantage on that. These were her rules for me drinking the medicine: There will be no candies until you drink that. That forced me to drink the medicine a couple minutes before I grabbed the candy. And here is my conspiracy theory: by the time I got the Dum Dum to my mouth, the medicine was already doing effect on the virus and the lollipop did not had anything to do with the fact that I felt better at that time.
I will never know if my theory is correct, or if it is wrong. I will never know if this was either planned by mom, or the doctors recommend doing this to kids. Or if it was just a psychological thing that happened to me and it was coincidence that every time I put the lollipop in my mouth it was the exact same time as the medicine started doing the effect. Or maybe the doctor’s secretary was a witch and she did something to the candies. I will never know, but one thing I know is that I will implement that strategy with my future kids when they feel bad, and I hope I either get a doctor with magical Dum Dums or the perfect timing Mom had.
Menchaca is a 16 year-old that likes to write. He knows that he is not the best writer and that is why he tries very hard.