Coke And Dagger

When I was around seven years old, I was hospitalized and ended up staying in the hospital for a few days. On my second day, my brother (a year older than me) was left to “look after me” while the adults went down to the hospital cafeteria to get some food.

We found ourselves in one of the nursing stations and saw a Coke bottle inside their fridge.

Brother: “Oh, look. Those are for the patients!”

Me: “They are?”

Brother: “Yeah. You should drink it.”

Of course, I drank it without a second thought (soda was restricted in our household). Then my brother started laughing.

Brother: “Ha! I was kidding. That was one of the nurse’s Cokes! Now you’re a fugitive because you stole a Coke!”

Naive and gullible me believed him because, of course, I believed two lies from my older brother one after the other.

For the duration of my stay at the hospital, I was a pain to take care of because I would run away from any nurses or doctors, thinking I was about to get arrested. 

Later that afternoon, the nurse came by to check on me, and:

Nurse: “Where’s [My Name]?”

Mom: *Already exhausted.* “Hiding behind the door.”

Nurse: *Closes door to see me facing the wall, trying to hide.* “So he is? What are you doing back there, [My Name]?”

Mom: *Deep sigh.* “Trying to outrun the law.

I did laugh after, though, when my mom told me that she’d made my brother buy the nurses a six-pack of Coke cans out of his allowance as penance for his little prank.