I crawled back into bed, still sobbing. She quietly informed me that she was now going to take care of my cold and that if I talked back to her again, she was going to get a strap and put me back in diapers. I was not dumb, so I said absolutely nothing. The only sounds coming from me were the tremulous sobs of a child who had not yet achieved the level of maturity that he thought he had.
Before she was finished, I had quietly consumed two tablespoons full of the thick, bitter syrup and been smeared with very thick layers of Vicks on my chest, neck, and back. They were then covered with the flannel rags and pinned to my pajamas.