Purple Monsters Mommy was right, the doctor didn't give me any shots; he didn't prick my finger for blood, take my temperature or even touch me. Doctor Snyder just wanted to talk to me. So, I told him all about the cartoons, about Wally Gator and Aqua Man and how they sang my name in the Flintstones' theme song, "we'll have a Gael time." But I didn't like the Flintstones because Fred was so grumpy and mean, and I didn't like the Roadrunner either, because coyotes have to eat sometimes, too. And he asked a lot of questions about my monster family, like what did they look like and what did they say and did they frighten me, and I told him that they were mainly purple and glowing like cartoon characters and we talked about stuff and that they didn't scare me because they were my friends. I kept waiting for him to stick a tongue depressor in my mouth, but he didn't and I was glad for that, since it was hard not to choke on those things. When we left, Mommy said, "You were such a good girl! Here's a penny for you." It was a very shiny penny. I stared at it on the ride home, imagining what it would be like to live in that interesting house with the big chair. While we were at a stop light, I popped the penny into my mouth to see what it tasted like. Just then, the light turned green, Mom gunned the engine and I was thrown back in my seat which caused me to inhale sharply. I couldn't breathe, and the penny felt huge in my throat. Unable to scream, I began flailing my arms and legs around in total panic. Mom was quick though, she continued steering with one hand while the other hand reached in my mouth and groped around for the penny, which she soon got. She didn't give it back. It was nice to breathe again although my throat felt a bit sore and I could still taste the penny. I decided I didn't like the taste of pennies. When Mom asked, "Why did you do that?" I didn't have an answer. The more I thought about it the more it bugged me, since I had absolutely no reason; I just did it somehow. I'd never thought much about thinking why or why not before. Mom gave me a lecture on the importance of thinking before doing dumb things like that and I was so embarassed. I was happy when she quit talking. I just wanted to think about it by myself and if I couldn't figure it out, then I'd ask my monster family when they visited me in my crib that night.