“A box full of unknown intoxicants?”
Silence.
“I’ll bet they are.” I said darkly.

A box full of unknown drugs, the before-and-after picture, the after-images of the great man himself, and of course, the innumerable variations thereof, are as fascinating to a non-stop fiend as all the jewels of the empire.

But I digress. And in a voice that echoed the squeaks of my own innermost notes, I offered them to the Queen. She took one at her lips and swallowed it in one gulp. “Ah-h,” she said, licking her lips. “Yes, thank you.”