英语小故事— Vitamins

Vitamins

You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it’s a little thing, do something for

others—something for which you get no pay, but the privilege of doing it.

Albert Schweitzer

I was in my room getting ready for school when Mom stormed in with an angry face cemented in

place. Ooh, scary. Watch out, world! As she stared at me, I mentally ran down a list of all the

things I could have possibly done wrong that she could have found out about.

“We had a deal,” she seethed through her teeth, pointing at me. I cocked my head to the side and

frowned.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m talking about the green and white vitamins I just found in the toilet.”

Shocked, I slowly shook my head. I hadn’t done that since I got caught. “I don’t know how they

got there, but I swear, I didn’t do it.”

Okay, here’s the thing: I hate taking vitamins. They’re nasty. I gag when I try to swallow them, and

then I taste them for the rest of the day. The very smell makes the bile rise in the back of my

throat. They’re chalky, then slimy as they start to dissolve in my mouth. My cheeks soon puff out

with water, causing me panic every single time. I have to fight to calm down enough to swallow.

Sometimes it takes three tries to get them down.

Jen, who’s only nine, thinks it’s so funny when Mom yells at me for “making a scene.” I can’t

stand that smug look she gets. She loves telling on me when I spit them out. One day I’m going to

spit them right at her.

Terri thinks it’s all a big game. She likes to pretend she’s choking and then bust up laughing. As

the baby of the family, she acts like the whole world revolves around her, and everything is done

for her entertainment.

But Dad’s a health-nut, and so we have to go through this every morning. For awhile, I was good

at pretending to swallow those nasty green and white pills. When no one was watching, I’d stick

them in a pocket. Then at the first chance, I’d flush them down the toilet. If I threw them in the

trash, someone might see them. Pretty smart, huh?

One morning, Mom caught me slipping the vitamins into my jean pocket. She was pretty cool

about it, which was surprising. We talked it out and agreed I only had to take one pill instead of

all three. That I could deal with. I took my one vitamin as promised from then on.

“You’re grounded for this, young lady.”

I dropped my jaw and stared at her. “But I didn’t do it,” I wailed. “Honest, I didn’t.”

She came back with, “So they just got there by magic.”

“I don’t know.” I plopped on my bed, bewildered. I had no clue what was going on. It has to be

Jen or Terri because I didn’t do it. Why is it that they can get away with anything? I can’t because

I’m “the oldest and have to set a good example for the girls.” Not fair at all. Why isn’t she grilling

them? I’ve been choking down those nasty things just like I’d promised.

Mom looked at me suspiciously. “If you lie to me, you’re grounded for an additional three weeks.”

“I’m not lying!” I wiped the tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand.

“Jennifer! Terri!” She called my sisters into the room. Great, now they can watch her humiliate

me.

Jen wandered in with Terri skipping not far behind. I glared at them, scanning for guilt. Terri had

her normal life-is-wonderful face. There were no in-betweens with her. She was either happy as

can be or yelling her head off. If she is guilty and doesn’t ’fess up, I’ll make sure that smile is gone.

Baby or not, I am not going to get grounded for something she did.

Jen was missing the smug smile. I expected her to rub this in my face for days. She didn’t choke

on the vitamins. Wait a minute . . . did she set this up on purpose? Rage growled in my chest. I

squinted my eyes at her, daring her to smile at her cleverness. All I got back was a shrug. Hmmm.

“Do you know anything about these pills being in the toilet?” They both looked up innocently and

shook their heads. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t do it, so one of them had to have done it. And I

was going to pay.

“This is so not fair,” I said, the anger rising in my voice.

“Don’t you take that tone with me,” Mom warned. “You admit it right now, or you’re grounded

for four weeks. I will not tolerate lying.”

I stared at her, stunned.

“I’m not lying,” I shouted at her. “I’ve been swallowing those stupid vitamins every day. I don’t

know who put those pills in the toilet, but I didn’t.”

She shook her head at me. “You leave me no choice. Four weeks.”

“It’s not fair!” I started crying again and buried my face in my pillow.

“I did it,” a tiny voice said.

I looked up cautiously. Mom spun around. Jen was looking at her feet, digging her toe in the

carpet. She looked up at me, tears in her eyes.

There was something about her face that hit me deep. I groaned inwardly.

“I didn’t mean for you to get in trouble. I just can’t stand those pills either.”

Everyone just froze there silently. Finally, Mom turned toward me and sighed.

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. But that’s what happens when you disobey in the first place,” she

added.

“You,” she pointed to Jen, “to your room. We need to talk.”

Jen looked at me, chewing on her lower lip. “I really am sorry.” The guilt filled her voice as she

turned, and they all left my room.

I let out a big sigh and flopped back on my bed. I stared at the ceiling as the emotion slowly

drained away. I wanted to be angry with her, but I couldn’t. She was my little sister. Besides, she’ll

be cleaning toilets for a month and getting lectured by Mom. I think that was punishment

enough.

Maybe all that fuss at the table was to cover her vanishing trick with the pills. Maybe we had

more in common than I thought. I smiled.