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come with me. I’ve got something that

will help.”

He brought the young lad inside and declared, “Here, try this.” He handed him a drink of moonshine mixed with hot water and sugar.

Gerard downed the concoction and soon high—stepped it back to the school, ready to confront the inoculation that now seemed not nearly so daunting.

My brother often remarked that, fortified with William’s prescription, he really never feared future visits to the school by the medical team.

School was rarely ever cancelled because of winter storms. This was long before the advent of school busing and school consolidation so most children lived relatively close to the school. If the weather was bad, fathers brought their