“If This Still Happens”

When I was in elementary school I used to hate when I look through the window, just in time to see the lady dressed in brown. She was the district nurse. Her reason for coming to our school was to inoculate the students. Minutes after she arrived, she would set up her table and we would have to form a line. The list of names, were in alphabetic order. I would be standing near the end of the line because my last name started with ‘V’. I wished I was first in line, just to get it over with. I had to go through the motions of hearing some of my friends cry. While they were lamenting, my heart would be racing. I used to take deep breaths because of the fear of the needle prick.

I asked my sister if this still happens and she said, just last week the Nurse came to her school to inoculate her students.

“Do they still call the names in alphabetic order?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“What the… Jesus! That is not right.”