Intoxifresh

Chapter One

Twickenham, London

During his mile long walk to work that morning an unusually tetchy and nervous George knew he hadn't studied anywhere near as hard as he should have for his hour-long presentation to the board. Something was desperately wrong with him; something just didn't sit right in his mind. Deep down he knew that middle age was looming, waiting for him around a not too distant corner. He pondered for a while as he strolled through Marble Hill Park, the same route he'd taken to work since moving to Richmond.

In an effort to improve his mood George thought about what he'd achieved in his 44 years. He loved his job as a senior manager at the firm of Merrick and Smyth. Money was never a problem for him as he always saved a healthy amount each month by not owning a car. He'd recently paid the final mortgage payment on the four bedroom detached house he shared with his wife, Catherine, with whom he was still very much in love. With all this in mind he looked up at the sky with a smile. He felt its heat as the sun shone morning beams of bright warm colours, filling him with positive energy. 'I can do this. I know everything there is to know about this. I'll convince them, persuade them. They'll be putty in my hands.'

He soon arrived at work relaxed in the knowledge that he just needed to prove to Greg Smyth, Marvin Merrick and the rest of the board what he already knew, that it worked. The new medicine he'd been working on day and night was one of special power; a small orange oval shaped pill.

This hangover cure would be a favourite around the world and the fortune his bosses would make, just from licensing alone, could be worth hundreds of millions, if not more! The tests had been extremely rigorous and, after a few tweaks here and there, George had finally perfected the perfect pill.

The human body would still suffer the usual damage from alcohol consumption but once the pill had been broken up, absorbed into the bloodstream and pumped towards the brain, any feeling of dizziness, nausea, headache symptoms or other associated after effects of alcohol consumption would simply drift away, leaving a feeling of complete and utter sobriety. The pill could be taken by drinkers to instantly sober them up. Workers could get pissed at lunchtime and be perfectly productive in the afternoon with no feelings of lethargy or drowsiness. People could drive home safely after an evening at the pub.

Looking out of one of the many large windows situated around his main workplace at the company's headquarters, George was going over the words in his head, silently mouthing them. Not being a great public speaker he was thankful that these presentations were rare but was worried about the possibility of getting his words completely mixed up when he felt a sudden sharp tap on his shoulder. 'Yo! G-man. Who you talkin' to, dude?' Startled, he quickly looked up from his seat at the postman doing his rounds. 'Oh, hello Karim,' he said to the Jamaican guy while wiping the perspiration from his forehead. 'Do you have some mail for me?'

Karim gave him an innocent laugh. 'Haha no man, not today, you just looked like you was goin' mad there for a second or two, that's all.' As the postman went on his way George gazed out of the window once more and noticed the sun fading slightly as small clouds began to build. He had to get to the conference centre by noon but, as it was only a ten minute walk, he'd have plenty of time to regain his composure. He breathed deeply and told himself that everything would go perfectly as planned.

Feeling more confident he took a peek at his digital watch which showed the face of a green dragon, appropriately a present from his mother-in-law two birthdays ago, the time was 10:44. He looked around the room and his colleagues seemed fairly busy doing their own research so, with nothing more to do before his presentation, he decided to prepare himself in the best way possible. He was going to get drunk!