Old Time Remedy for Upset Stomach and Diarrhea, Coke Syrup

Back in the days of my youth, our family’s remedy for a stomach ache was just a bike ride away. The corner store Chappel’s, which wasn't actually on a corner, held a variety of home remedies and cosmetics along with a pharmacy at the back of the store.

The pharmacy was set up a step above the store floor, giving shoppers a glimpse of the druggist's white coat flapping to and fro as he paced behind the counter.

Postal services were offered through a small window on the panelled wall next to the pharmacy where parcels could be mailed. Postage stamps could be purchased for just six cents apiece.

Besides its close proximity and useful goods, Chappels was a neighborhood favorite, popular for its soda fountain with swivel stools, where they made the best hamburgers around. Coca-cola was served in a real glass in nickel and dime sizes; a coke with a splash of cherry syrup made a fine treat on a hot day.

This is where we went to pick up home remedies for the family.

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If someone in our house had the stomach ache or diarrhea, my brother and I would hop on our bikes and ride up to Chappel’s to get a bottle of Coke syrup. That’s right, Coca-Cola syrup. We’d walk up to the raised counter, whisper to the pharmacist that someone in the family had the runs then wait while he prepared the remedy.

We were careful to behave while we were in the pharmacy, having watched the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmie Stewart many times. The scene where Mr. Gower the pharmacist prepares pills for young George Bailey to deliver to the family with diphtheria and George gets his ears boxed for not delivering them promptly; the lesson stayed with us and while running errands we kept our antics to a minimum. We knew better than to get in trouble or it would be big trouble at home later.

From our swivel stools at the fountain, we could hear the pharmacist clanking away on an old fashioned typewriter, as he prepared the paper label for the small glass bottle fitted with a metal screw-on lid. Soon our name would be called and the pharmacist would hand us the white bag containing the miracle elixir: It was a concentrated solution of Coca cola syrup without carbonation. We’d hop back on our bikes, peddle as fast as our legs would go and speed home clutching the package like a bag of gold.

Once we got home with the syrup, Mom would send one of us to the silverware drawer to get a small tablespoon. Armed with the bottle of coke syrup and spoon in hand, she would ascend the stairs to the bedroom of the ailing family member.

If Dad was ill, we kids would quietly slink up the stairs behind our mother then hang around outside the door of his bedroom by the landing. If one of the children were sick, the rest of us kids would march in procession behind Mom right into the bedroom of the afflicted. We'd surround the bed watching as she cracked open the bottle and poured out a spoon full of the syrup. The patient, sitting up in bed with lips trembling and puckered, would swallow the brown liquid syrup smooth as silk, leaving the rest of us licking our lips vicariously at the sickeningly sweet taste.

Ahhhh, blessed relief.

Even now with a multitude of remedies available - TV commercials singing to us about heartburn, stomach ache, diarreah! I still turn to the old family favorite. I haven't tried asking the pharmacist at WalMart for coke syrup, I'm sure he would think I was nuts. But I do reach for the real thing, a nice glass of coke; not Diet Coke, or Coke Zero, or Cherry Coke but the original classic coca-cola. It never fails me.