Free On a Slippery Slope by Melody Fitzpatrick Page A

fingers. “Can I keep the change?”
    â€œHannah, I want you back with those drops, like, five minutes ago!”
    â€œBack in a flash!” I say and, as fast as lightning, run across the street to the drugstore, burst through the door, and proceed to run up and down every aisle, trying to find them. What kind of drugstore doesn’t sell cough drops? They must be here somewhere! Finally, I ask the woman behind the counter.
    â€œThey’re right there.” She points to a shelf directly behind me.
    After a quick scan, I’m about to grab my all-time favourite, Honey-Lemon Halls, when it suddenly occurs to me that Mary-Lou might not like honey, or worse, she could be allergic. Maybe she’d prefer cherry or citrus or green tea or green tea with echinacea. There are so many choices! Herbal, sugar-free , gooey centers, chewy, hard, vitamin-enriched , warming, soothing, triple action! Why didn’t Andy tell me what kind to get? How can I choose? I can’t choose. Suddenly I find myself grabbing every single type of cough drop I can find. I grab bags, rolls, boxes; I have it all.

    The lady at the cash gives me a look. “Bad cold?” she remarks as she rings it up. “That will be $34.68.”
    â€œOh, I only have twenty.” I rub my head furiously in frustration. “I can’ t do it! ” I yell, which makes her take a step backward.
    â€œ You can ’t do what?”
    â€œI can’t choose. Just give me twenty dollars’ worth of … whatever.”
    â€œWhat?” She frowns. “You want me to choose your cough drops?”
    â€œPlease!” I beg, looking down at my watch, which decided to stop right after I got into work today.
    â€œWell, which ones do you want?”
    OMG , this is why I asked her to choose; I don’t know what I want!
    â€œJust please give me twenty dollars’ worth of ANYTHING , and that will be perfect.”
    â€œOkay,” she says with a shrug and starts scanning packages.
    â€œWait!” I yelp as she scans a value pack of ginger-grapefruit -menthol drops. “Not those. They sound gross.”
    She looks at me annoyed. “You said anything would be perfect.”
    â€œYeah, I know.” I glance around looking for a clock. “Just not those.”
    â€œFine.” She shakes her head and voids the ginger-grapefruit -menthol drops, which really do sound disgusting.
    Before she scans the next box of cough drops she holds them up. “Are these acceptable?”
    â€œYeah, sure … whatever. Just please hurry. Wait!” I screech, noticing the extra-sour cherry-chocolate drops in her hand. “Not those, either!” I squish up my nose, waiting for her response, which I’m pretty sure won’t be friendly.
    â€œLook, if you want my help, let me get on with it. I do have other people to serve, if you haven’t noticed.” She points to the line of impatient looking customers behind me.
    I laugh uncomfortably. “Sorry, they’re not for me,” I say to the lineup. “You see, one of the news anchors over at Channel Nine has the NATT , and it’s very important that I get her these cough drops right away.”

    â€œWhat’s the NATT ?” the lady behind me asks, full of concern.
    â€œIt’s the news-anchor - throat-tickle ,” I answer.
    â€œAhhhhh,” everyone in line says in unison.
    â€œWell you’d better get moving!” a guy at the end of the line says, looking at his watch. The news has already started.”
    So, with $19.98 worth of cough drops in my bag, I run back across the street to the station. When I arrive on set, I see Ron, Sue, and Mary-Lou sitting behind the news anchors’ desk. The guy from the lineup was right. I’m too late. They’ve already started. How much have I missed? Ron and Sue are chatting away about the price of gas and how it’s going to affect our economy … boring stuff.