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Chapter 5 continued...

Beeba helped Mrs. Rose pour a glass of water and to take the pill. Then, stepping with the walker, she turned and hobbled over to the wheel chair. She backed up to the chair, reached back to grab the arms of the chair, and slowly dropped herself into the chair.

Meanwhile, Beeba went into the kitchen, took another glass from the cupboard, and poured himself a glass of water.

"Happiness Pills," he thought. He wondered what it would feel like to be perfectly happy. He had a pretty happy life already, but it was not perfectly happy.

He remembered the big smile Mrs. Rose had on her face earlier. It was starting to come back to her again, little by little. She turned to him and said, "You will never want anything ever again. It is perfect happiness!"

That sounded pretty good, he thought, and she must know. He popped a pill into his mouth and swallowed it.

He didn't notice any change immediately, but soon he began to feel a little bit light headed, as if he wasn't fully aware of things around him. He walked over to the sofa and sat down.

As he relaxed, he heard a sound coming from the doorway, and observed Dr. Melcher and XL coming into the room. The doctor was carrying his medical bag as before, and XL was right behind him.

The doctor had a worried look on his face. He could see that Mrs. Rose was no longer in the easy chair, but in the wheel chair, so he walked over to the chair and crouched down.

"She appears to be conscious now," said the doctor to XL.

He turned to the lady. "Do you remember me? I am Dr. Melcher," he said.

"Yes," she said. "You can call me Florence. I am Florence Rose."

"How do you feel, Florence?" asked the doctor. "Do you have any aches or pains?"

She leaned back into her chair. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and then opened them. She smiled. "I am fine. I was worried about my medicine earlier, but I am fine now."

"Florence," said the doctor, "how many of these pills have you taken?"

"Only the amount prescribed on the bottle," she replied. "Except last night. I was feeling tired but I couldn't sleep, so I used two more pills that night."

"Tell me why you called my office this afternoon," said the doctor.

"It was when one of the pills wore off. I was worried," replied Mrs. Rose. "But I am fine now." She turned her head away from them, toward the wall, and slouched down in her chair.

"What happened after you called my office?" asked Dr. Melcher.

There was no answer. She had fallen back into her former state.

The doctor turned toward Beeba. "What happened while we were gone?" he asked.

But Beeba did not answer. He just sat on the sofa, his eyes wide open staring into nothingness. His mouth was closed, but there was a little hint of a smile beginning to form at the corners of his mouth.

Meanwhile, XL had walked over to the table. "Doctor" he said, "the second bottle has been opened. And there is a second glass on the table."

Doctor Melcher was alarmed. "Oh no!" he exclaimed. "Not him too! It is risky enough for an adult, but he is half the weight of an adult. One pill will be a serious overdose. We must act quickly!"

The doctor picked up his bag and rushed over to Beeba. XL joined him as he pulled a bottle out of the bag and poured some of it into a small cup. He held the cup to Beeba's lips and said, "Drink this."

Beeba turned a bit, to face the doctor directly, and said "What?" He made no attempt to drink.

XL had an idea. He tilted Beeba's head back, and said loudly "Hey Beeba!"

Beeba opened his mouth again, but before he could say "what?" the doctor had poured the drink into his mouth. Instinctively, Beeba swallowed.

"XL" said the doctor, "go check in the kitchen or bathroom to see if you can find a pail."

XL was about to ask why, but the doctor added, "Don't ask, just run!"

In a moment XL was back with a dishpan, and none too soon. The doctor grabbed it and held it in front of Beeba. Suddenly, Beeba leaned forward and made a retching sound. Then Beeba barfed into the pan, and a moment later he barfed again.

"Now we wait," said the doctor. "The ambulance should be here soon, that we phoned when we were in Saucer 1."

"When you got internet access in the saucer," said XL, "what did you discover?"

"I found some research papers on the active ingredient" said Dr. Melcher. Instant Happiness is a good name for this pill, because that is what it does."

XL was confused. "How so?" he asked. He didn't see how a stupor could be the same as happiness.

"Let me explain," said the doctor. "For many years there has been research on mind-altering drugs" he said. "There are pills to calm a person, pills to thrill the person, and pills to cause hallucinations. But in general there are problems with them. Often they cause brain damage, and often they are addictive. The person's brain habituates to the chemical, and if the person stops taking it they suffer."

"However, this new experimental drug promises wonderful results without those problems. It satisfies all of the person's motivators, removes all feelings of pain or distress, causes no brain damage, and there are no physical withdrawal symptoms."

"But the lady must have been distressed, because she called you." said XL.

"True" said the doctor, "but only when the medication was wearing off. Whoever designed this medicine failed to fully understand human psychology. They didn't give adequate consideration to how the mind works. You see, the brain is a learning machine guided by motivators. Each person has a variety of motivators that take effect under various conditions, including hunger, thirst, sleepiness, curiosity, and various joys from being with friends and undertaking activities."

"When a person regularly satisfies all their motivators," continued the doctor, "that produces happiness. Happiness is the aggregate of the satisfactions."

"This pill produces happiness by sending signals into the brain to indicate that all the motivators are satisfied. If the person had any pain, it's gone. If they had any hunger or thirst or sleepiness or fear, it's gone. Not only that, it substitutes for curiosity so the person doesn't need to explore. It substitutes for friendship so that the person will not be lonely. All desires are satisfied."

"To give you an analogy," continued the doctor, "think of the motivators as being like status indicators. They are like the gauges and warning lights on the dashboard of a car, that indicate the fuel level, oil pressure, battery voltage, etc. And now imagine that you could suddenly alter all the indicators, so that they all show that everything is O.K., no matter what. You could be running out of gas, but the fuel indicator will still show full. The battery could be dying, the coolant boiling over, but to the driver everything looks O.K."

"That is what happened to Florence," said the doctor. "She is so perfectly happy when she takes the drug that she wants nothing. Her normal brain functions are so satisfied, that activity drops to nothing. She isn't asleep while taking it, because even sleep involves brain activity. No, her motivations are so fully satisfied when the drug is in her bloodstream, that apart from the autonomic activity of breathing, there is nothing going on; it is as if her mind is dead. Or at least, all thinking and learning functions are shut down."

"I guess there is a disadvantage to perfect happiness," said XL.

"Not when happiness is achieved by normal means," said the doctor. It is when you try to achieve it by cheating the mind, that you get this problem" said the doctor.

"So," said XL, "when the drug wears off, they will be fine."

"More or less," said the doctor. "Florence will be just as lonely and miserable as before, as she may have been in her life. Whatever led her to take this medicine will still be as it was before. And also she will be very hungry, because apparently she has not eaten for a long time."

"As for Beeba," continued the doctor, "I think we caught the problem just as the drug was beginning to take effect. The pill is designed to gradually dissolve for a slow release of the medicine. The drink I gave him to make him barf will have taken out most of the pill."

As if to confirm that theory, Beeba turned toward the doctor. "Wow, do I ever feel weird," he said.

"Are you O.K.?" asked XL.

"Yes, I think so," answered Beeba, "except my stomach feels really awful."

"Thank goodness!" said XL. He was glad that his friend was O.K., but also he was dismayed. "By the way, Beeba, didn't your mommy and daddy teach you anything when you were little? If you don't know what it is, don't put it in your mouth!"

Beeba felt very embarrassed. He hadn't quite understood the problem, because his thoughts were still a bit hazy, but he figured the doctor wouldn't have made him barf out the pill for no reason. And he knew he shouldn't take a risk on a drug he didn't understand.

He wondered if XL would ever trust him after this. "I'm very sorry!" he said. "You can be sure I'll never do anything like this again!"

As Beeba finished that sentence, the sounds of a siren could be heard getting closer.

"That must be the ambulance that we ordered for Mrs. Rose," said XL. "We didn't think we could easily take her in her wheelchair in the airship."

"Yes," said the doctor. "I have admitted her to the drug rehabilitation unit. XL, when you found my cell phone and returned it to me, very likely you saved Florence's life."

"And what about Beeba?" said XL, turning to the doctor. "Is there room for two patients in the ambulance?"

"I'm O.K. now," said Beeba, standing. "Mrs. Rose is the one who is most in danger. I discovered that she hasn't eaten in two weeks or more. I guess I didn't catch on that the pill was the cause of that problem. In any case, the last edible food in this house reached its expiry date two weeks ago. When she revives, she will need food and someone to console her."

"We should call her closest relative," said XL.

"Check the address book by the phone," said the doctor. I think she has a cousin in a nearby city."

As XL was checking the address book, the ambulance workers entered and wheeled Florence toward the doorway.

Copyright Arthur de Leyssac, 2017. All rights reserved.