Prior to C having his tonsils out, he had a string of strep throat cases. One evening, he overheard us talking about the tonsils issue and asked us about it: “Take my tonsils out?”

“Yes,” his momma said. “If you have strep too many more times, it means that your tonsils are sick and the doctor has to take them out.”

He didn’t like that idea one bit. Despite our assurances that he didn’t need them, he still didn’t want to lose them. So what did he do? He started hiding his sicknesses. Suddenly, his throat didn’t hurt any more. Instead, it was “just a little scratchy.”

I found him one afternoon, lying limply on the couch, staring at the television. It was turned off.

“Oh big guy,” I said. “You’re looking pretty sick.”

“No!” He rasped, sitting up and smiling to show how healthy he was. “I’m fine!”

I sat down next to him and put my arm around him. “I don’t know. Momma’s probably going to want to take your temperature later.”

He hugged me. “No! Tell her not to!”

“I will,” I said, ruffling his hair. “But she doesn’t always listen to me.”

He pushed away from me. “Distract her!” He shouted. “Tickle her! Put some food out!”

“Put some food out?” I laughed. “Does that work?”

He giggled and collapsed back into the couch – but he never answered my question. I’ve been trying to figure out how to test the theory ever since.