The Pill Game

Watch out!  Fish oil pills wobble.  Ginseng pills roll.  Baby aspirins bounce.

Every Sunday it is my job to fill our pill containers for the upcoming week.  There are 2 containers, holding seven days worth of pills.

Because pills wobble and roll and bounce, I carefully pour them out of their jars and onto a little plate, making sure that no pill goes rogue and hits the floor, where the dogs will try to consume it.  From the plate, I put the pills one-by-one into the compartments of the containers.

Sunday after Sunday, it is the same routine – so, I made up the Pill Game.  The goal of the game: can I pour exactly 14 pills onto the little plate?  Each time I pour, I am hopeful.  Each time I pour exactly14 pills, I am exuberant --- Wow, I poured out 14 without counting!

We are told that there is a word for everything.   I found the word for getting the right number of objects without counting: subitize.

The goal of the Pill Game is to subitize 14 pills.

But now I worry that I will forget the word for getting the right number of objects without counting. 

No problem!  There is a word for forgetting a word: anomia.  If I can’t remember the word “subitize”, I can just say that I am having an anomia attack. 

Of course, that means that I definitely cannot forget the word “anomia”.

- . - .- . - . - . 

NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com