Til Death Do Us Part?

Chapter 1
Chapter 1

Joanne was sitting at the kitchen table engaging her best friend Linda

in small talk. The afternoon sun streamed in through the window.

Joanne was the elder of the two women by about 10 years. Joanne and

her husband Stan had moved into the neighborhood a number of years

back. Moving from the East coast to the West coast had cut Joanne off

from her friends there. She was very happy to find someone like Linda

to be her new neighbor. In the ten years that they had lived next door

to each other Joanne had grown quite fond of Linda. In the ensuing

years Joanne completely lost contact with her friends from back east.

Stan was employed by an up and coming pharmaceutical company. NuWorld

Pharmaceuticals had fast become a player in the lucrative

pharmaceutical business. It was their growth that had brought Stan and

Joanne to California and to the then new West coast division of the

company. Joanne and Stan were 29 when they arrived in California. Now,

approaching 40, Joanne felt a little out of place. She envied Linda

who was still ’only’ 29! Linda’s parents had died in an accident

leaving Linda with a considerable inheritance while she was still a

teenager. Even with their differences in age and circumstances, Joanne

felt a strong bond with Linda. With Linda being only a teenager when

they moved in, it was as if Linda was the younger sister that Joanne

had never had.

As the two women talked and laughed a car pulled up into the driveway.

It was Stan arriving earlier than usual.

"Jo....? Joanne? Are you here?"

"I’m in here! Linda and I are in the kitchen..... and YOU’RE early!

Nothing wrong is there? I hope you weren’t expecting dinner this

early? " Joanne asked as Stan made his way into the kitchen.

"No, nothing wrong. G’ afternoon Linda. Everything’s fine.... but I

tell you what....I’ve got something I thought you might be interested

in. Heck, you might be interested in it too, Linda!"

Stan had their attention. Joanne turned to Linda and shrugged

quizzically in anticipation.

"NuWorld has really been busy on some stuff. As a matter of fact, if

you thought Viagra was something wait until you see this!" he said

pulling a vial out of his shirt pocket.

"Honey, you’ve got some problems but you’ve never been a candidate for

the next Viagara!" Joanne joked.

"It’s not like ’that’ at all! And it’s not for ME! It’s something for

YOU! Something that mankind has searched for centuries for. It’s just

now been released for some in-house testing but it has passed all the

preliminary tests with flying colors! It basically tricks your body

into rejuvenating!"

"REJUVENATING!? Ok...sure.... We’ll bite. What’s the punchline?"

Joanne smirked

"No, really. It’s for real....And I figured you’d want to test it.

There is only a limited amount of the formula available for testing.

It is pretty much a wonder drug. And it’s completely safe! Linda,

there’s plenty here if you’re interested...."

"Are you serious?" Linda asked.

"Stan, Linda is hardly ’old’. For heaven’s sake she’s only 29! I’d

LOVE to be 29 again! ...Ok.... I’m still waiting on that punchline!"

Joanne added.

"I think I’ll pass on your youth potion, Stan" Linda told him.

"Ok, your loss! What about you, Jo? Are you interested?"

"You’re serious? That stuff really is supposed to work? It can’t....

that’s impossible...." Linda shook her head in disbelief.

"Nothing’s impossible. Science is expanding the boundaries of medicine

all the time.Here try it...."

"Stan.... I’m not sure. This isn’t a joke is it? How young? Maybe a

little younger.... I don’t know about it. Everyone always says they

wanna be younger, but no one really expects it to happen! Maybe being

40 won’t be so bad? I think I better pass. Why don’t YOU use it if

it’s for real?"

"Jo... I can’t use it because employees aren’t eligible for the

program. Family members are though. As far as how young?.... We’re not

really sure if it reacts the same on every subject. Just don’t use

much and see how young you get."

"No way am I using something like that without knowing EXACTLY what

it’s going to do! I don’t want to end up some kind of adult in the

body of a 10 year old!"

"Well, it’s only temporary. It’s not permanent. Give it a shot. It’ll

be fun to have a young wife around for a few days. You’d enjoy

it...you know you would!" Stan explained

"Temporary? Now that makes it a bit more tempting.....hmmmmm"

"Try it Jo.... Maybe you can be my kid-sister for a day!" Linda laughed.

"Ohhhh...against my better judgement.....Ok....sure...I’ll try it!"

Joanne said.

Stan handed her the vial "Just a small drink at first, if you want to

test it...."

Joanne took the vial and let a small amount drip on her tongue

"Mmmmm.... great taste... sorta sweet... I figured it would be bitter

for some reason. Oh well.... ’Here’s to ya!’" she said as she

swallowed a bit more of the formula.

"Linda, you sure you don’t want to join me?" she asked with a wink.

"I think I’ll just watch you!" Linda told her.

"I don’t ’feel’ any different..... this IS a joke isn’t it?"

"No...give it time. It took you 39 years to get like you are. Surely

you can wait a few minutes to lose a couple years!"

"Ok, I guess that makes sense. It’s all so weird! You know if Viagra

made that other company’s stock rise....then THIS will shoot NuWorld’s

stock through the ROOF!"

 

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