I love pop. OOey-gooey, unapologetic pop, like the Strokes and Huey Lewis. Know what else I love? Birds, books, trees, freckles, and pepto bismol. Maybe I will change my name to Jessae Pepto Brown. When I was an adolescent I carried no less than a half full bottle of pepto bismol tablets around with me. For years. If anyone else didn’t feel good, they knew I had the pink to make them better, beautiful chalky tablets. I was nauseous for most of the late 90s.
It couldn’t have been the massive amounts of drugs I was taking.
Seriously, it wasn’t, cause I got sober for a few years, and the nauseous remained. Then I started on m*** and p*** again fairly regularly and felt great. No dry heaves, no early morning puddles of breakfast.
When I was a sophomore I was the first stop on the bus, so Mr. Kushner would pick me up, and we would make all the rounds and get all the other kids. When we were done with the pick-ups and ready to head to school we would always get stuck at this one traffic light. There were only three stop lights in my town growing up and we called this one the “lunch light” cause you could assemble and eat your entire lunch while waiting to cross Rt. 9. When ever we hit this light Mr. Kushner would know to leave the door open. Eventually I would make my way the through the leg-and-book-bag cluttered aisle, one hand clasped over mouth, the other either clutching my tossing tummy or out in front of me like a classic football player running the ball.
Once out I heaved my guts on to the grass between the pavement and the trees.
Mr. K and my gawking, giggling school mates would take off while I was still bent over, shaking and spitting. Eventually I would be empty of whatever it was that was possibly still in my stomach from the night before (I’d given up breakfast in an attempt avoid this morning ritual) and walk the rest of the 2 miles to school. Daily barfing, contradictory to logic, actually heightened my popularity among certain, rogue crowds: the skaters, the punks, the hardcore kids, the outskirt-ish art kids. Every now and then one of these said school mates, mostly juniors and seniors driving their own cars, would pick me up along their way, running late from some sort of teen drug or alcohol abuse the night before. If there's one thing kids can bond over, its what drugs you do and where you get them.
I just took some pepto tabs from the first aid cabinet at work. Pretty pink discs. A satisfying crunch between the teeth. Ah...nostalgia mixed with digestive soothing. I love them. They taste so good to me. I think I’ll grab a couple more and enjoy a gorgeous lunch break heaving in Union Square.
No comments:
Post a Comment