Daniel didn’t know the first thing about doctor’s bags. He had been using old diaper bags to carry aspirins, icepacks, thermometer, bandages and band-aids, sterilizers, scissors, rubber bands, tapes, and towels--physical care items. At first, he hadn’t used a bag, just put stuff in his backpack or pockets, but he kept adding to the things he carried with him, so he wanted something to keep it all together.
First, he kept everything in a little lunch pail someone offered him since it had a handle and clasp, joking that his “elixir” and “fountain of youth” drink was in the thermos…of course, it was just water; Daniel felt it was the best thing for health anyway, and you couldn’t get too much of it. And it’s not that Daniel believed in having sweets for lunch; but he did sometimes see how having something sweet to suck on helped, so he kept candy in the lunchbox, too.
The “Candyman”. Daniel began to be known by that name. He kept a pack of melt-in-your-mouth candies, sometimes “prescribing” them to those he gave health advice, saying they would help them feel better. Of course they did. To undernourished city-dwellers, any caloric intake actually helped. It wasn’t medicine maybe, but Daniel distributed small energy boosts by raising blood sugar.
Besides, he knew some of his friends couldn’t afford costlier glucose tablets. Skittles and peppermint drops worked just as well. Daniel wanted everyone to stay strong and happy, so he wore the name “Candyman” with pride.
But when Daniel went from the lunchbox to a diaper bag some parents no longer needed, some kids started to tease him by calling him “Diaper Man”. Well, Daniel decided from then on he wouldn’t stop anyone from calling him “Doctor Daniel” instead. Absolutely not. Much better than “Diaper Daniel.”
There are many reasons people want to be called “Doctor”. This is one of the rarest of them.
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