Cough & Sneeze Etiquette

 Written by: Abdul Sabour Janbaz

First Lane:

Some children are sitting beside the wall in the sun and they are waiting for the peddler to come.

Maqsoud is sitting beside his sister, Nadima. Maqsoud is coughing. Nadima blames him for spreading his cough salvia droplets. Meanwhile, the peddler arrives and after greeting, he asks about their argument.

Nadima shares the issue with him. The peddler says that Maqsoud’s cough in front of others is against social etiquettes and then he brings out the magic mirror from his bag.

In the mirror, the children see some microbes in the cough which transmit to the nearby person.

The peddler takes back the mirror into his bag and says that transmit of microbes and viruses of coughing in front of others could be prevented. Maqsoud asks how he could prevent them.

Peddler replies that when Maqsoud coughs or sneezes, he should cover his mouth and nose with tissue paper and throw used tissues in the trash. If there is no tissue paper, he could cough or sneeze into his elbow and after coughing and sneezing, he should wash his hands.

Children thank the peddler for his information.

 The peddler gives a napkin to each of them to use in coughing and sneezing and then he goes to the next lane.

Second Lane:

 Nasir and Atifa are playing with snow. Peddler comes and they welcome him. The children complain about cold weather and say that their hands got cold from snow.

Peddler tells them a puzzle and wants to find the correct answer. The puzzle is, “What is it which has five fingers but doesn’t have a hand and foot?”

Children find some wrong answers but the peddler wants them to find the correct one.

Finally, Atifa says that the object is a glove. Peddler accepts and gives each of the children a pair of gloves and wants them to wear them when they want to play in cold weather. When the peddler wants to go the other lane, Nasir stops him and tells the following joke, “A boy was diving in a stream in his clothes. His friend asked him why he is swimming in clothes. The boy replied that he wants to wash his clothes in this way.”

Children and the peddler like the joke and then he goes to the last lane.

Third Lane:

Jamila and Mudasir are waiting for the peddler and Golden Wing fairy to come and tell them a new part of the serial story.

The fairy wants them to repeat the previous part first. The children do it and the fairy tells the third part of the story.