My Annual Flu Escapade

It's a normal, January day
Suddenly, without warning,
a cold chill shivers
my stiff spine,
a warm nasal drip
seeps from my nose,
yellow flem coats
my pink tongue
a dull, throb pulses
over my forehead,
a raspy tingle
strains my vocal chords,
my lymph nodes swell
to the size of golf balls

Zapped, in my shocked state,
I remember the Flu shot
that the druggist, nagging wife,
eighty year-old grandmother
had pestered me to get,
but, I laugh off the memory,
because a real man
treats the symptoms
and ignores the pain

Stumbling to the medicine cabinet,
I fling open the door,
and last year's cold remedies
stare me in the face.
I grab some Walmart aspirin
pluck some CVS cough syrup,
then down the bitter cocktail,
and head straight to bed
to sleep off the minor nuisance

After a few hours of tortured sleep,
I awake, trembling, in a cold sweat,
my head burning with fever,
with a tightened chest, making it
very hard to draw breaths

Shedding my macho facade,
while still inwardly denying
that I have a serious malady,
I pick up the phone, and
call my doctor's office.
I explain to the receptionist
that I have a common cold.
She summons a busy nurse
to give me a quick remedy.
The nurse immediately informs me
that the office is fully booked
by people with more serious
cases of seasonal influenza.
She tells me to take an aspirin
every three hours or so,
to guzzle some cough syrup, and
not forget my Flu shot next year.