It was early in 1970, the Hyperborean Wanderer was about 6 months old, and MamaCharlie developed a muscle spasm in her back. HBW wasn't very heavy but MamaCharlie wasn't very big, either, so picking him up aggravated the back problem a lot.

We lived in Benjamin Franklin Village, right outside of Mannheim. There was a medical clinic in the middle of the housing area, a short walk from our place on Columbusstrasse. MamaCharlie packed up the Wanderer in his stroller and went off to the medics for relief. How do you spell "relief"? Well, in those days the Army spelled it "Darvon". I could go on for days extolling the virtues of Darvon, a wonderful pain reliever that was very popular with any who had a chance to use it. The medics gave an ample supply to MamaCharlie to ease her pain...and since there was a tweaked muscle involved, they included a muscle relaxer...I think it was Robaxin...in any case, whatever it was...it worked real good.

Now in her defense, in those days MamaCharlie didn't eat a lot. And being in pain for several days, she was anxious to get some relief. She took her meds as soon as she got home. Her stomach may not have been empty, but was near as. We had a "Kennedy" type wooden rocker in HBW's room, and that is where I found her when I got home that evening. She was rocking HBW, humming, and had a very peaceful look on her face...sort of a far off look...or a "Far Out" look.

I asked her how she was. In a soft, dreamy voice, she told me about how earlier she had given HBW a piece of bread...and you know what? He just ate it. It only took a little conversation to find out how her trip to the clinic had gone and how wonderful those capsules were. I said, "Why don't I take the baby and let you get some rest?" She thought that was a wonderful idea. To say that MamaCharlie had a low tolerance for drugs would have been an understatement. She hardly ever took anything. Aspirin made her ears ring, I had never heard of Tylenol at that point, so her system was a fertile ground for the workings of something as "wonderful" as Darvon.

Every now and then when old age pains creep in (more and more often, now days), one of us will wistfully ask where a body could come up with some Darvon. Like Milltown before it, Darvon seems to have upset the lobbyists somehow and disappeared. Too bad.