In order for me to share this story with you I must first let you in on a little know fact.  When I was a young boy I was a little husky.  Well that was what they called it back in my days.  This husky boy preferred shopping in the husky section with his mother then in the fat section.  So for me I was just a husky young boy.

Well now I should get on with the story.  I really do not remember just how old I was but one school morning I awoke and realized that I forgot to study for a test. This realization produced both fear and a giant pain in my tummy.  Well I could not tell my mother that I forgot about the test so instead I just told her about the pain.

In fact, the pain was so bad that I was not even hungry for one of the three most important meals of the day, breakfast!  Well my hard to explain tummy problem did not seem to concern my mommy but for her husky boy to not eat his breakfast that was of concern.  Soon my loving mommy decided that I was to stay home from school that day.  Just like that my tummy felt better.
I was young but even then I knew that if I told my mommy that my tummy felt better I would be sent to school.  So off to my room I went.  Oh yes, I went to my room without breakfast.

I was hungry.  I stayed in my room.  Fear of the test was stronger than the giant hungry pains.  I was going to be tough.  I could make it to lunch time.  Gosh would I need to skip lunch?  I sure hope not.  So in my room I stayed.  Now my tummy hurt from the lack of breakfast.

Shortly my mom came to my room and with a happy sound in her voice informed me that I had an appointment with the doctor today.  I could see that this made my mother happy.  I was happy too.  I did not need to go to school and take that test.  Soon it was time to go to the doctor’s office.  My tummy did not hurt but I was too sacred to say that so off to the doctors we went.

What a good doctor.  He had squeezed me into his very busy schedule.  So there in the waiting area we sat, Dad, mom and me.  Time seemed to move very slowly and my lack of breakfast just made the time move much more slowly.  Oh my gosh it was lunch time and it looked like mom and dad did not bring anything to eat.  Now I was not only hungry from missing breakfast, I would be starving from a lack of lunch.  All I could think about was me starving to death!

Finally it was my turn.  Mom and I went into the doctors treatment room and dad stayed in the waiting room.  In time the doctor arrived.

The doctor did all of the things a doctor does in the treatment room.  He talked to my mother, he took my blood pressure, he asked me where it hurt when he touched my tummy.  Once he had completed his tests he turned to my mother and said “Rose, I can find nothing wrong with your son, John”.  He knew that I had faked my tummy problem.  What could I do?

The next thing I knew was that I spoke up and informed the doctor that I knew what was wrong.  Both my mother and the doctor turned and looked at me.  The doctor then asked me what I thought was wrong with my tummy.  I was now on the spot they were both looking at me and they were waiting for me to give them the answer to my hurt tummy.  I was a smart child and this was not the time to tell the doctor and my mother about the test at school and how it had scared me and gave me a tummy problem.  But what could I say?

Into my mind popped the only reason I could think off.  Driven by hunger from missing both lunch and breakfast I said
“My mother is starving me to death.”

The look on my mother’s face told me I had made a mistake.  The doctor just looked at me in total disbelief.  My explanation was not the answer.  I was going to be doomed just as soon as I got home.  Yes it was a very difficult time for me at such an early age.  However, this event taught my beautiful mother to laugh instead of being embarrassed.  Yes this was the start of my mothers wonderful laugh.