In defense of the first lady, pickles are kind of grotesque looking, as though they came from some plane of existence ruled by monsters. (One might think that and then wonder what other horrors exist in such a world.) I can imagine how the appearance of them can make a bad impression on a little kid such that it persists into adulthood.
The second lady had better steer clear of Alabama. Cotton grows alongside the highways there.
Both those ladies must have had traumatic experiences involving pickles and cotton balls at a very young age. Any of y'all ever seen Giuseppe Andrews’ short film named Dribble? That would explain one way someone might develop a fear of pickles, or certain items that might resemble them. The cotton ball lady must have had an early bad experience in a doctor's office, like maybe they used a cotton ball to swab on antiseptic before a painful shot.
