He was coughing in the office next to me

His red cheeks, green tie, white hair

Gave off the ambience of a Christmas tree

To be fair, the doctor himself was fighting a cold

The coughing was the loudest he’d ever been

He didn’t ever seem bold

He’s one of those people who says little

But when he speaks, you lean in

Crunch crunch, uhh-huuhhh, uhh-huuhhh

He wasn’t eating lunch

I opened my drawer and pulled out the pouch

Then I trotted a few steps over and told him, “Sounds like you should be on the couch”

He smiled without showing a single tooth

I held up the bag in my hand

“Take one of these, it’ll break the mucus loose

I got them at Walgreens yesterday, the best cough drops I’ve ever had”

His eyes were wide like he didn’t know what to say

I told him, “The center is gooey and minty, it’ll heal your throat”

He reached into the bag and simply said, “I sure hope”

His voice was raspy

His cough quite nasty

I moseyed back to my corner on the other side of the wall

Simply heard, “They taste good” from the other side

For a moment the hacking stalled

The air smelled of sage and menthol

Maybe even a little like penicillin

The next day he came in with a strong voice and said to me, “I like how I’m feelin”