getting vitamins

when I was your age,
the man tells me as he's standing
in line
to get his prescription
filled
at the drugstore, when I
was your age
we made our own
medicine.
but you look around
my age, I tell him,
twisting my prescription
for rogaine and Viagra
in my hand.
we put mud on our wounds
back then,
drank castor oil.
if I was feeling ill
as a child
my mother put leeches
on my neck.
that's nice I tell him,
trying to ignore
him by
reading the directions
on a hot water
bottle. what are you
getting, he asks me,
tapping my leg with his
cane.
oh nothing. just some
vitamins. sort of low
on vitamin C and D
lately. and you I politely
ask. oh, you don't want
to know, he says.
i'm dying. in fact I
might be dead before
I get to the counter.
if I fall and start turning blue
could you breathe into my
mouth, and pump my heart.
are you serious? yes, he says.
please. promise me.
you know, I'd like to but
I just remembered
that I need some gum
at the front of the store.
i'll be back.