Grapes of Wrath
Writing Challenge 2024
Posted by Chris Sissons on May 22, 2024
Writing Challenge ยป Chris Sissons
My niece made the box in the photo when she was in school, some years ago. It has, I’m sure you can see a hinged lid. That means you could call it a chest. A chest is a box for putting things in and then securing them. A bride might have a chest for her trousseau and pirates have treasure chests.
So, why the same word as we use for the part of the body above the abdomen? This chest is a box; contrary to what most people think, it is the part of the body that breathes. The rib cage and diaphragm, assisted by the respiratory intercostal muscles, expand and contract the chest while the lungs respond passively. The role of the lungs is to take oxygen (and other things) from the air that enters the lungs as a result of breathing. The chest is also a rigid box, containing vital organs such as the lungs and heart, protecting them.
I was gripped by a radio conversation recently about the pros and cons of grapes. I was amazed that the debate was so heated, grapes have been around for a long while and even though they are a rich source of sugar and so a hazard for those of us with Type II Diabetes, I didn’t think they were such a threat to society that warranted this debate. Only at the end of the discussion did I discover I had misheard and the topic was Vapes.
Christmas during the 50s and 60s were easy as far as my grandfather was concerned. We always bought him cigarettes. He kept them in a small chest and there were loads of them. I don’t know how many he smoked each day but as the evidence of their link with cancer became well-known, he gave them up. He died of lung cancer but he said he thought he got an extra 15 years, giving them up so soon.
My father gave up smoking around the same time. His favoured delivery was the pipe. I don’t remember whether he had a chest but there was a lot of paraphernalia with a pipe. As kids we watched him prepare the pipe. The bowl unscrewed and there was a reservoir beneath which was filled with tar. This had to be cleaned out, including using pipe cleaners to clean the stem. The bowl replaced, it was filled with tobacco and lit. My father didn’t die of cancer and perhaps the pipe was a safer mode of delivery.
Looking back, it’s odd how we moved from smoking as socially acceptable to its disappearance from our lives. The impact of smoking on our chests is well-established. These days a safer substitute for tobacco seems to be a threat in itself.
This is Day 13 of Writing Challenge 2024. People all over the world take part in the WC. We write something every weekday for 4 weeks based on a prompt This year, I'll be sharing 21 articles based loosely on prompts about parts of the body. Do we fully appreciate the role things and stuff play in our lives? Each part of the body has certain things and stuff associated with it. (Probably!) I've no idea where this will go but hope you enjoy the journey. The introductory post was Things and Stuff. The last post was Saag, Gobi, Aloo and the next is Heart-Shaped Hearts.
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