When I was a kid and was sick, the recovery was the reward, not getting a prize for getting healthy. There was one time I did get a gift however, and that was when I was around 8 years of age. We had guests over late and a brother and I who shared a room had been put to bed, but were still awake. We had these old, plastic fluorescent tube desk lamps and touching the tube while they were off would cause them to give a slight glow - great fun. My light fell and when I picked it up, I also grabbed the cord. --- *The lamps originally belonged to my eldest brothers.* --- I grabbed the cord and couldn't let go - I was being electrocuted. We lived in an old house prior to compulsory safety switch installation and the fuses were obviously thick enough to allow the slow cooking of children. --- *Years earlier, my elder brothers had tried to staple the light cords, missed, and left an exposed staple piercing the cord.* --- So, there I was - getting deep fried and unable to let go as my muscles spasmed, trying to talk but being unable to until somehow, I managed to wrench my hand away. My brother in the bed on the other side of the room was unaware of what was really going on as the "glow" from his finger touching his lamp didn't illumiate the room and it was pitch black. Me, smelling a lovely grill, ran from the room and to the top of the lounge room stairs to where the guests and my parents were sitting enjoying the evening and I tried to tell them what had happened. But I couldn't. The only thing that my mouth could manage was to open and close rapidly making a stuttering sound and t this day, the only thing running through my mind at the time was the realization that * I sounded just like Porky Pig saying - ## *a-be-a-be-a-be-a-be-That's all folks!* So, after being electrocuted heavily and my finger litterally burned black at the point I was connected to the matrix through a misplaced staple, my mother took me to the store and I was able to pick out a toy - which was a brown dog. --- My daughter who has been ill with a fever for over a week, got visited by her grandparents today and they had made a deal with her *directly* that if she drinks enough water, she will get a surprise. Now, I am not a huge fan of this kind of bribery, but grandparents are grandparents... I was also expecting some kind of little knickknack trinket kind of thing ... but no *A bloody bike.* Not only that - a bike that I was considering getting for her upcoming birthday!! Talk about getting *sniped.* The bike is something I wanted to get her as it is a peddle-less bike that will encourage her to improve her balance and coordination, plus it is a bit of fun that is easy to kick around the yard with. I don't think that these existed when I was a kid, but they are popular here and seem to get kids easily over the fears of learning to ride - not that I think that is necessarily a good thing either - but then, it only took me 15 minutes to learn how to ride a bike. At this point I should also mention that, most of the worst injuries I have ever sustained have come on a bike, and I used to jump down flights of stairs on rollerblades. So, I don't know if this is just the way grandparents spoil the little ones these days (it wasn't like this with mine) or if this is the kind of "new normal" where there is some kind of social pressure to give a reward for ordinary - but, my daughter is pretty stoked with the gift and after a minute or two, was happily pushing herself along on the grass.
Originally posted here: https://hive.blog/hive-114105/@tarazkp/on-ya-bike-girl
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