"Really hic…?
"Yeah, my grandmother used to make me do it all the time when I had the hiccups. A rapid and unexpected change in flavor or temperature is supposed to override the "hiccup" signal." Abi insisted, handing Riley the concoction she'd just gotten done mixing.
Riley gave Ben a pleading look but the older man just shrugged. "It's worth a shot. It's one of the few cures we haven't tried yet."
Sighing deeply, Riley walked over to the sink and took a drink for the glass Abigail had handed him, immediately spitting it back into the sink. "Ugh! Hic! That's disgusting!!"
"Oh, come on. It's not that bad."
"Abigail! I don't hic know what possessed your hic grandmother to think that gargling hic iced pickle juice would work for hic hiccups but I think my throat just hic tried to forcefully evacuate hic my body…!"
Abigail sighed and moved the glass, pouring its contents down the drain. "Well, it used to work for me. That's all I know."
"Try jogging in place."
"What?" Riley turned to Ben with a questioning look, one eyebrow arched sharply.
"That or jumping. Either way it's going to cause a change in your breathing pattern and it might cause them to stop."
Riley shrugged and began jumping on one foot, occasionally switching legs when the other would get tired. "I don't hic think its working."
"Sing the national anthem." Abi suggested, taking a seat at the computer and pulling up a search engine.
"I hic tried that-"
"In Latin."
"What?! Both Ben and Riley looked at her incredulously, confusion and surprise clearly written across their faces.
"Well, almost everyone in the United States knows the song by heart so by singing it in a language you don't know, it causes you to concentrate on something other than your hiccups." (1)
Riley thought for a few minutes before he began to sing. "O hic Narro… can vos animadverto… per hic diluculo… mane lux hic lucis…?" Abigail and Ben watched in stunned silence as Riley managed to sing the entire song with very few pauses or stops, his hiccups still interrupting occasionally. "O narro does hic ut astrum spangled vexillum hic etiamnunc undo. Pro terra hic of solvo quod domus hic of fortis."
"I…had no idea you knew Latin." Ben admitted after a few seconds, a new respect beginning to form for his best friend.
"Yeah, well hic it's not like I had many hic friends in high school or college hic so it was something to pass hic the time." The younger man joked, smirking a little at the impressed looks he was getting.
Ben shook his head in awe and Abigail giggled, pulling up a website on the computer. "What are you doing Abs?" Ben asked, peering over her shoulder at the well researched and neatly typed article she'd found.
"Using ye olde Google website to find a cure we may not have thought of yet." She answered simply, winking at Ben and scrolling down the page. "Ohhhh…" she breathed after a minute. "These are good…"
Hehe, cliff hanger :D Okay, the singing in a different language thing is something I picked up from my Spanish teacher in high school. Anytime someone in our class had the hiccups she'd make them stand up and sing the National Anthem in spanish. Needless to say, we became very good at hiding our hiccups [grin
