Hoarseness has always been a problem for me. Several years ago my wife discovered a product that increased saliva in your mouth and it would give you a lot of saliva for a long time. So I would take this lozenge before a ballgame and I would have saliva for the entire game as my throat would stay moist for hours. I had no other remedy for hoarseness. It was driving me crazy. My friend Don Newberry once said, “Dallas was born hoarse and he’s been getting worse ever since”. He’s close to right. I’ve always battled hoarseness and it has forever been a problem. So, this stuff worked for me and worked real well and I loved it, but apparently they stopped making the product and I haven’t seen it for years. I guess they took it off the market. Maybe some people had choked on it because they couldn’t swallow fast enough or something like that.
Anyway, several years ago Carl Wayne was doing lady lion softball and I was doing the lion baseball games. The games were always, at that time, at the same location but the problem was the girls would play at a much earlier hour than the guys would. They would start like at 6:00 and the guys would start at 7:30, so Carl and I didn’t travel together except for one game up around the Metroplex one season. He had a girl’s game at 7:00. I had the guy’s game at 7:30 and the parks were side by side. So, we decided we would travel to the games together. Carl sets his equipment up. I set my equipment up and we waited for the ballgames to start. During that time we sat around and talked. He said, “Man, I hope I can make it through this game. I’m hoarse. I don’t know why I’m so hoarse tonight”.
I said, “Boy have I got a treat for you”. So over I went to my briefcase and I got one of these lozenges out. I said “Now you don’t chew this. You just put it in your mouth and it’ll make your saliva glands work a little bit extra and it will coat your throat. It’s worked for me and I think it will probably work for you”.
Carl’s game started a little before mine did so he’s already underway right next door. After the top of the first inning he had a commercial break and I heard him screaming my name and yelling for me. I went over there and he was practically foaming at the mouth. He was trying to wipe his mouth and spit the tablet out at the same time. I said, “What’s wrong”? He said, “I’m drowning! I’m choking! How do you talk with this thing?” I said “Well, I don’t have any trouble with it and I didn’t think you’d have any either.” He said, “I can’t stop getting all this saliva in my mouth! I can’t even talk! I can’t even breathe”.
I couldn’t help but laugh and eventually Carl did as well. It was Carl’s one and only experience with my throat lozenges. I took mine, as usual, and went over and did my game with no problems. Carl never took anything out of my of my briefcase again. Maybe he feared some of those saliva things might be laying around loose. I almost cry now that I don’t have those things any more. I can’t even remember the name of them. They were magic for me, but apparently, not for everyone.
Until next time, so long everybody.
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‘Out of the Box’ with Dallas Huston is published each Monday morning at BrownwoodNews.com. Dallas was the radio voice of the Brownwood Lions and Howard Payne Yellow Jackets for more than 55 years. He currently is Pastor of Center City Baptist Church and hosts a Men’s Bible Study in Brownwood on Monday evenings. Your comments are welcome at [email protected].