For my sister and I, getting our temperatures taken were a major part of growing up. Whenever our mother suspected a hint of illness she made sure we didn’t have a fever. Until I was about eight years old, I can remember having my pants and underpants being taken down and the thermometer being slid into my bottom. I didn’t like it at all but it was something that I was used to.
Then one day when I was about eight-years-old, I woke up sick. Mom came into my room holding a thermometer in her hand. I started to whimper as I rolled over onto my stomach. However, I was pleasantly surprised however to hear my mother explain to me that she thought that I might be old enough to hold a grown-up thermometer in my mouth. I proudly turned back over and opened my mouth to let mom stick the thermometer in.
From that point on I always got a feeling of superiority and pride when I watched mom take Lizzie’s temperature in her bottom (and she was never shy about doing it in front of other people). I would watch mom insert the thermometer into my sister’s bare behind and be so happy that I was eight years old. This went on for about two years when one day Lizzie and I came home from school with Lizzie complaining of a stomach ache. Mom felt Lizzie’s forehead and decided that she might be a little warm.
“Darn it,” she said. “I left my little medical bag at Grandma’s house when we went over there last weekend. It had the thermometers and everything in it.” Then she turned to me.
“Ricky I need you to watch your sister for just a few minutes while I run up to the drug store.” I nodded gladly, feeling like a very mature ten-year-old, who was babysitting his six-year-old sister. Mom grabbed the keys and ran out the door. About twenty minutes later, she came back holding a white plastic bag. She ran into the den where Lizzie and I were sitting and watching TV. Out of the bag, she pulled out a box, which I assumed held a thermometer and what was clearly a jar of Vaseline.
“Come here, Lizzie.” Lizzie obeyed mom and walked over to the chair that she was sitting in. “Arms up!” Mom said. Lizzie raised her hands above her head and allowed Mom to pull her dress over her head and off. Lizzie now stood only in her panties in front of Mom as she cried very softly. Mom stuck her fingers into her panties and lowered them to her ankles. “Step out,” she said and Lizzie stepped out of her panties. Mom then lifted Lizzie off the ground and laid her across her lap. As my sister laid naked across Mom’s lap, she unwrapped the thermometer, popped open the Vaseline jar and stuck it in it.
When the thermometer was in the Vaseline jar, I noticed it was a different type thermometer than she usually used.
“What’s that Mom,” I asked.
“It’s a digital thermometer,” she answered. “It should be more accurate to read than a glass one.” I continued to watch as she pulled the thermometer out and with her free hand, spread apart Lizzie’s bottom and inserted the digital into her tush. She held her palm flat on her behind and tap her cheeks with her fingers. The new electronic thermometer beeped after about three minutes and Mom pulled it out. “101.1,” she said. “Boy, this is so much easier to read.” She told Liz to get up. When she did, Mom reached for the plastic bag and pulled out what I recognized to be a Fleet enema.
“Come on Liz, this will be real quick.” She pulled my sister back over her lap and pulled out the enema. My sister did not like what was about to happen at all so she started crying harder. She started to kick a little when she was over Mom’s lap but quickly stopped when Mom threatened to give her little butt a good spanking. When Liz calmed down, Mom stuck the enema nozzle up her behind and slowly squeezed all the liquid out. She then carried Liz into the bathroom and allowed her to relieve herself.
Liz stayed home from school the couple days which made me a little jealous. Something I was not jealous of, however was being sick. This changed two days later when I came home from school feeling very hot.
“Oh, it looks like you finally caught Lizzie’s virus,” Mom said. She instructed me to go to my room and put my pajamas on. I did as I was told and waited for Mom to arrive. About ten minutes later, Mom came in and informed me that she would be taking my temperature. I opened my mouth in anticipation of an oral thermometer. I was soon corrected.
“Ricky, I only bought one thermometer the other day when I went to the store and since I already used it in your sister’s heiny, I can’t use it in your mouth now. So you’re going to have to have your temp taken like I used to take it and how I take Lizzie’s.” I furiously shook my head and yelled out “No!”
“Young man,” she said, “that was not a question! Now you roll over on your tummy this instant!”
“Mom, I’m too old.”
“There is no way that a ten-year-old boy is too old to have is temp taken rectally. And another thing you’re not too old for is a spanking. So you can have your temp taken with or without a spanking. You decide.” I decided that I definitely did not want that thermometer in my butt so I crossed my arms and refused to turn over. It was about three seconds before Mom turned me over and pulled my PJ bottoms and underpants down. Feeling merciful because I was sick, she only slapped my bare bottom about three times. It was by far the shortest spanking I ever had. I knew I had lost this battle so I decided to lay still.
“Sorry Mommy,” I said. She leaned down and kissed my cheek, then sat back up. I looked over my shoulder to see her dipping the thermometer in the Vaseline. She pried open my rear-end with her fingers and inserted the thermometer with her other. After what seemed like an eternity, she took it out and announced that I had a fever of 102 and needed an enema.
Mom left the room and came back with the Fleet. I was still laying face down on my bed with my pants and underpants wrapped around my knees. mom leaned down and pulled them completely off. “Why don’t you lay across my lap,” she said. I did as instructed, fearing another spanking. After taking the whole enema, I was carried to the bathroom just like my sister. I did start feeling better within days.
I was informed later that month that my Mom felt the rectal method with the digital thermometer was just too accurate to do it any other way. I had my temperatures taken rectally until I went to college and probably would have continued to get them that way if I stayed home. In fact, my sister did stay home and I know she still gets the digital thermometer to this day, and she is now 23 years old.