Flushed on the road

My mother in law gave enemas to her children whenever they had bowel issues, basically. Here is, for your enjoyment, a little episode involving my brother-in-law.

They were driving cross-country when he, then a young teenager, had stomach cramps and said he really had to go to the toilet. His mom and dad were talking of having him relieve himself in a ditch or behind a tree when his salvation came in the form of a gas station with toilets. At last! Diarrhea and gas.

The family stopped at a motel, and the mother left with the car for the drugstore. After she came back, she had the boy come to the bathroom. She had purchased an enema bag (the usual one had been left home), bicarbonate of soda and Vaseline. He was given an enema; perhaps two, my wife is now unsure.

It did not stop there. The mother wanted to avoid a repeat episode of diarrhea on the road, so first thing she did the next morning, before breakfast, was to summon the boy to the bathroom again and give him an enema (again, perhaps two) so that he was empty.

My wife recalls not making fun of that. She had been on the business end of the nozzle often enough, and was actually a bit worried about her brother.