Cankers Away 
Ever since I was a kid of 
wee about way down here, 
I’ve gotten these horribly 
annoying sores in my mouth. 
And right about the time I re 
member beginning to get 
these pesky annoyances 
is when I learned, from 
anyone I asked about 
these sores in my 
mouth (and from 
some who’d other 
wise volunteer), 
be they uncle or 
professional or 
classmate or 
whomever, 
that these 
sores are 
caused by 
none other 
than stress. 
These spitefully 
painful sores, known 
officially as aphthous 
ulcers (small shallow 
lesions that show up 
but just inside of the 
lip, on the tongue or 
the gums or just any 
where upon the soft 
tissues existing with 
in the cavity of the 
mouth), most often 
go away within a 
week or two, but 
I’m here to tell you 
that if you’d like to 
get rid of one lickety-
split, then here is how
to do it: just measure 
a teaspoon of baking 
soda and pour that in 
to half a teacup full of 
lukewarm water, and 
then you just swish 
and you gargle this 
not-so-tasty admix 
ture around in your 
mouth several times 
in a day, and before 
you know it, in twenty- 
four hours, or less, if 
you’re lucky (a bit more 
if you’re not) and that 
mean little sore will 
have vanished. Yep, 
no more canker sore 
after that, voilĂ , un 
til, of course, a short 
time after you’ve had 
yet another quite 
stressful day or 
three.
