Games Kids Play

"I’m burning up," I told my mother that morning

before school." And my throat is so sore I can barely
swallow. I don’t think I can go to school today," l
pleaded my case with the most pathetic whimper
I could muster.

Mother felt my forehead. “Hmm, a little warm. Let’s
take your temperature.” she said, slipping the glass
thermometer into my mouth. “Make sure you keep it
under your tongue,” she instructed as she went into
the kitchen to get my two brothers ready for school.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes to check on you.”

Quickly as I could, I removed the thermometer and
placed it on the lamp’s light bulb within reach beside
the bed, being careful not to leave it on such heat for
too long. That was a slick trick I learned from my older
brother who used it to stay home from school many
times before.

Needless to say, I hated school most days, especially
when I hadn’t done my homework the night before.
Besides, it was a lot more fun to take the day off and
watch Captain Kangaroo on TV in the morning, take
a little nap, have some lunch, then draw pictures in
my pjs all afternoon.

Mother came back after five minutes or so had passed.
She removed the thermometer from my mouth, reading
the results with a seriously scrutinizing eye. “Hmm?”
she sighed. “It seems a little high. You’d better stay
home today. But the TV goes off after Captain Kangaroo.
Don’t you have some homework you need to do?"

I figured mother was wise to me; she was no dummy,
and certainly didn’t need a Phd in psychology to know
that I was faking. But still, you’d think a mom would be
more sympathetic to her sick child. “Do I have a fever,
“Mom? “There appears to be a problem here with the
thermometer,” she said suspiciously. “It indicates a
temperature of 108. Open your mouth and say, ahhh!
Hmmm, a little red.”

That was back in the late 1950s when I was ten-years old,
Captain Kangaroo has long since passed away.
Thermometers, given the technological advancements
made, are far quicker and more reliable today. And kids
being kids, always seem to find a way to play their
conniving games, and be the little rascals they can
sometimes be.

And when my brothers returned home from school
that day, mother allowed me to watch the Little
Rascals on TV. (Poetic Justice, I suppose.)

Chris Hanch 5-30-18