Testing a Drug

Chapter 1
Texas handshakes can get you in trouble

Chapter Description: Sammi and Dr. Julian meet and decide to make the deal.

“Hello? May I help you?” asked the woman in the lab coat as she opened her front door. Funny, I expected she’d look a lot older. And fatter.

“Hi, Dr. Julian,” I said back. “My name’s Sammi. I called up yesterday about the job, remember?”

“Oh right. Sammi. The girl. Yes please come in.” Dr. Julian ushered me in and shut the door behind her. I was a bit surprised by what I saw. I would’ve expected a living room or something in the front of her house but all that surrounded me was what looked like a laboratory. The walls were white and there was a bunch of technological gizmos everywhere. In fact I didn’t even see a door to any other room, although from the outside it looked like a fairly big house.

She wheeled two red swivel chairs over. I sat down in one as she sat down in the other. “So you saw my notice, eh?” she asked.

“Yes I saw the flyer on the bulletin board at my high school,” I answered. “I didn’t know they let people not affiliated with the school post things on there.”

“They don’t,” she responded flatly. “However I have my ways. You know that I asked for a girl that was at least sixteen years old, right?”

“I’m seventeen, thank you very much!” I exclaimed feeling insulted.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Your eyes make you look like such a little cutie. But anyways the job, the job.”

“You said something about trying some sort of drug?”

“Well ?drug’ is such a bashed word these days. I’ve been developing a tablet that supposed to give you a bolt of rejuvenation but without any energy crash a few hours later. What you do is let it dissolve in water and then you drink the solution. So I’m looking for someone to try it.”

“It’s safe to do this right?” I asked a bit cautiously.

“Of course! I tested on Burton, my monkey.”

I looked around the room and saw an empty cage in the corner. “I don’t see a monkey.”

“Yes, unfortunately he died a few days after trying the tablet.” I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t worry, Sammi! He didn’t die from the tablet. After the autopsy I saw he had choked on my scented credit card. Not one of my better inventions... ha, you should have seen the look on your face when I said that... but don’t worry, it’s safe and there should be no side effects. Burton reacted to the tablet just as I expected he would. But now I want to test it on a human being.”

“Is it legal to do this with a minor?”

“I won’t tell if you won’t tell.”

“Well, you said there’s a cash reward, right?”

“By the end of the day, you’ll have enough money to buy that iPod you wanted... and an iPod for each of your friends.”

I disregarded the fact that she knew I needed a new iPod and immediately agreed to do it. “Do I need to sign any paperwork or something?”

“Sammi, have you ever been to Texas?” Dr. Julian inquired.

“No.”

“Well neither have I. But we can settle this with a Texas handshake.” The doctor stuck out both her hands. I noticed at this point she was wearing a blue glove on her left hand and red glove on her right. “You shake the blue hand and this journey ends. You shake the red hand and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”

“Huh?”

“Just shake my right hand, Sammi.”

I figured I had nothing to lose by doing this so I shook her hand. Her serious face then changed to a smile. “Wonderful, please follow me, Sammi.” I was expecting her to get off the chair and walk over to wherever she had been planning on going. But instead, she used her to feet to push herself across the tile floor while still sitting in the chair. Not wanting to offend her ways, I did the same thing. We ended up at a counter with a sink built in and a cabinet on top. She took a Dixie cup from a dispenser and filled the cup with tap water. She then opened up the cabinet and took a small bottle from the top shelf. Quickly she unscrewed the lid of the bottle, took a tablet, and dropped into the cup. I could the water fizzle as she handed the cup to me.

I looked inside the cup. The tablet disappeared and the water bubbled. There was no color, no scent, it just looked like water. I looked up at Dr. Julian, who motioned me to drink it. Although I hesitated, I drank the solution in one gulp.

“Well, how do you feel?” Dr. Julian asked.

Nothing seemed different. “I feel just fine. Is something supposed to happen right away?”

All Dr. Julian did was smile at me. I thought it was a bit creepy. All of a sudden I felt dizzy. The room started to spin around. My legs felt weak and I couldn’t stand any longer. I dropped to all fours on the ground, but luckily the tile didn’t hurt me. I tried to say something but my tongue felt swollen. I’m not sure if I was dying or what. I felt a strange pain in my stomach. After a few moments the pain moved down to a lower spot in my body. Then pain started to wane and I felt something wet. Then I blacked out.