Chapter 1: The Curious Case of Litmus Paper

It seems that nearly everyone is familiar with litmus paper. But have you ever encountered the concept of a "litmus person"?

Photo by Amanda Jones on Unsplash

Bobby's father suffered from a peculiar condition known as hyperventilation, and his mother, a nurse, naturally worried about his health. There were instances when Bobby's dad would experience dizziness, weakness, and difficulty breathing. Occasionally, he would even have muscle twitches. While these symptoms didn’t always occur together, it was common for Bobby’s dad to experience more than one at a time.

On a particular day, when my cousin Kit and I visited Bobby, we spotted an eye-catching stack of brightly colored paper on the kitchen table. Bobby explained to us that it was called litmus paper. Whenever his father felt dizzy in the morning, his nurse mother would have him urinate into a cup and dip one of the colorful strips into the sample. The paper would change colors, which she would then compare to a chart to deduce something—though Bobby wasn’t sure what.

As our eyes met, Kit and I were on the same wavelength, as usual. Almost in unison, we asked Bobby if we could take a few of those colorful strips. There were plenty on the pad; surely his mother wouldn’t miss four or five. After a brief pause, he agreed, and we quickly snatched a couple, tucking them into our pockets.

With excitement, we dashed over to Kit’s house. At that point, I had only used the bathroom in three places: my own home, Kit's, and school. I admit, I felt uneasy about using the restroom at Kit's and at school, but sometimes it was unavoidable—those were special occasions.

I carefully tossed one of the blue strips into the toilet, making sure it landed on the porcelain and not in the water. Then, I proceeded to urinate, transforming the paper into a pleasing pale red—not quite pink. Kit's strips changed to a slightly different hue, but they definitely reacted.