Elardo, Sarah

English

The College at Brockport, State University of New York: Digital Commons @Brockport

Jigsaw
Volume 2015 | Issue 1 Article 38
2015
Steroids and EpiPens
Sarah Elardo
The College at Brockport, selar1@brockport.edu
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Repository Citation
Elardo, Sarah (2015) "Steroids and EpiPens," Jigsaw: Vol. 2015 : Iss. 1 , Article 38.
Available at: http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/jigsaw/vol2015/iss1/38
Steroids and EpiPens 
 
 
were quickly injected by the Muslim doctor  
Nissiem into the biggest  
muscle in my body; my bare, white,  
glute. “There had to have been a circular  
sticker on the glass” said the guilty nutritionist.  
He was innocent, and I, while sprawled 
out on the hospital bed, red bumps taking over  
my body, causing every hole and opening  
that connected my inner organs to the real world  
to swell shut, was a liar. 
 
The purple onions, drizzled with warm oil 
sat in the grey serving platter behind the  
glass in the dining hall that Wednesday evening.  
Mixed in, the thick parmesan balls and the green  
beans in the dish looked surprisingly, 
edible. The rare commodity was too good to turn  
down for such an underprivileged stomach. 
 
“Are there nuts in this?”  
“I don’t think so!” 
The server made a simple mistake. 
 
After the first bite, 
the body was engulfed with the pricks of allergens as  
the walnuts squeezed every last bit of air out of the lungs. 
The oiled, purple onions that stuck to  
the green beans seemed safe as they  
all traveled down  
the esophagus smoothly,  
but after a few seconds I knew. 
 
The server had made a simple mistake. 
She probably didn’t know that the platter 
had tree nuts in it,  
she probably just chose to tell a white 
lie. But at that moment, when she thought she could 
quickly get rid of me, instead, she watched me get pricked 
and jabbed with needles helplessly, 
as I desperately gasped for survival. 
 
I listened to the nutritionist apologize 
for the missing sticker. 
This is not about the sticker, I said. 
This is not about the sticker at all. 
By Sarah Elardo 
1
Elardo: Steroids and EpiPens
Published by Digital Commons @Brockport, 2015


Steroids and EpiPens

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Steroids and EpiPens

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