Cold Weather and The Itch It was a long time ago. Probably the winter season of 1965. The north winds had blown clouds of unwanted dust and snow and sleet down Allen streets and the wind chill factors were out of sight. A welcome spring eased our plight of the numbing north winds, but we still had an unwelcome enemy working its way through our school. It was scabies.

The dreaded “itch” mites were accompanied by fleas and other assorted pests. Yes, they thrive in the winter and spring. And yes, all our little kids seemed to have it. It was a national epidemic, and it was unwanted. And it was especially unwanted in our schools where many a little tender-skinned kid suffered their bites. What could be worse? The itch mite and head louses seemed to be first cousins. What made me remember all this? Well, I’ll blame it on Bruce Plunk.

You see, I was driving my golf cart down West Lexington Street the other day and I see Bruce is redoing his old homeplace and building new porches on the North and West sides. His old home place is still in good shape and it’s going to look really nice. But it made me remember when his mom taught Pre-K up at our school and those little kids all had head lice and the itch. A doctor told Mary Ann Plunk the only way to get rid of it was to treat the whole class at the same time. Soon I received a call at the pharmacy for several bottles of “itch” medicine in the lotion and the shampoo form—and she needed it delivered and some help.

She was at home with all her whole class. Reminded me of a little pig farm. She had them all stripped and ready to be shampooed and medicated in the bathtub. She had her assistant and then me doing some of the work. Two of the miscreants were my son Ron Bullard and little Bruce Plunk himself. I think it worked, at least for a few days. The whole incident reminded me of 1942. Another time that the little mites took over my 2nd grade class there in Centrahoma School.

We didn’t have a school wide program that I can remember but my mom got right on it. We lived in a small apartment in the back end of the grocery store dad ran. Yes, the north end. It was so cold that winter that had we had any plumbing it would have frozen solid. As it was, we felt fortunate to have electricity and a great “Sheet-Iron” heater. Mom decided to treat all three of us. Gerald, Sue and me. She heated up as much water as she could on the wood-fired cook stove and filled a washtub with ice water. She added enough hot water to knock the ice chill off a bit and told us three to strip. We did.

Mom bathed us and then applied the magic potion, a nasty lotion called “Itch O Cide” all over our bodies. She had several of those 8oz bottles on hand and more out in the store if she needed them. Directions called for the lotion to be allowed to dry on the skin for 20 minutes, which she did. She redunked Gerald and Sue but left me there to just shiver. “You are going to sleep in that.” She said I had a worse case, so I slept that cold winter night with the sheen of Itch-O-Cide on me. The next morning my side of the bed was coated with yellowish powder. I guess that treated the bed too.

I went to school the next day cured. Not so the rest of the class. I related this story many years later at a reunion and when I said the whole class had it, one girl piped up; “Not me.” And you know? I don’t think she did. And some of us hated her for it.

But getting back to the period, the next day at school my best friend (Letha Mae) asked me what that yellow dust was doing on my neck and in my ears. I replied with unearned pride that I had no idea. I’ve read in the Bible that “Pride goeth before a fall.” Thankfully, while I still hung onto my pride, my itch was gone. I had a hard time convincing Gerald of this. We shared a bed.

Hope your springtime goes great and that you find yourself in church next Sunday, I know we had a big and welcome crowd at FBC Easter Sunday.

Wayne Bullard, DPh cwaynebullard@gmail.com