I’m writing about pain because it’s what I’m feeling; I have a cold. It started with an incredibly dry nose, which led to a dry spot in my throat. As a kid I learned you could breathe through your pillow to deal with this while sleeping. I had enough colds that I understood the pattern: first one side of the head fills up and the other side goes dry and wide open. Then the first side drains spectacularly in sneezes and tissues and they switch. The other side fills up as if full of cotton; blowing just drives it further into the sinuses. While this goes on the first side switches to incredible dryness, leading to more pain. On rare occasions the two nostrils get confused and both block at the same time. This is why the mouth is attached to the lungs, besides talking I mean.

I grew up with aspirin and Vicks Vaporub. Nyquil did not exist, or if it did, my parents didn’t use it. My dad used Vicks all the time, for every respiratory ailment. He had been known, when thoroughly miserable, to put it in his mouth. He advised against eating it, but smearing it all over your neck and chest was fine.

Aspirin was wonderful in that it got rid of pain. For most of my youth, however, it was not available in a form I could stand. There was no liquid form. I remember chewing Aspergum, a form of gum coated with a layer of aspirin and then a layer of candy. It didn’t help all that much: aspirin is nasty!

Many years later I visited a woman who asked me to try out an odd herb tea she had. She couldn’t figure out why it tasted so; why would anyone buy this? It was highly recommended by health foodies, so she kept it. I agreed; she made me a cup. I winced, tasting it, and felt a burst of familiarity. It was white willow bark: the source of aspirin.