Intoxifresh 1

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 had taken to work since moving to Richmond.

   In an effort to improve his mood, George thought about what he had achieved in his 44 years. He loved his job, and was 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, and he had 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 his soul with positive energy. ‘I can do this,’ he said to himself. He often had little conversations with himself on his way to work. ‘I know everything there is to know about this stuff. I’ll convince them, I’ll 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 - it worked. The new medicine that 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 got the perfect pill. The human body would still suffer the normal damage, as is usual 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. 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 headquarters of the company, George was going over the words in his head. Not being a great public speaker he was thankful that these presentations were rare. He was worrying 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. He noticed the sun fading slightly as small clouds began to build. He knew 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 focus. 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 possible way. He was going to get drunk!

  

   Walking along the dark and miserable looking hallway laden on both walls with pictures of men and women wearing shiny white jackets and holding trophies of various sizes and colour, he turned to Sandra on reception. ‘Hi… you ok?’ he asked, trying to smile but still feeling very nervous. She was typing away, swaying her head from side to side as she listened to music; she paused the player every time a call came in. ‘Great, well I’ll be away for two or three hours. If you could just take any messages, that’d be cool.’ Sandra simply looked up as though she hadn’t seen him standing there and gave him a quick smile before getting back to her typing. George headed towards the main doors; they squeaked a little as he pushed them open.

   The sky sprinkled light rain, more of a sparse haze than rain but still enough to slowly dampen anyone below. He walked for a couple of minutes towards the conference centre, the temperature had dropped and the cold wind was gusting from all directions. He shuddered as he felt a chill run through him. He looked up and straight away noticed the Red Lion public house that seemed to shout out with a magnetic force towards his eardrums. ‘Ah… I’ll just have a few, it’ll do me the world of good,’ he told himself hoping it would help to calm his nerves as well as serve its purpose. This was the same boozer where he’d been drinking while experimenting on the pills ability to respond in a positive way. He knew the Red Lion attracted the ever-growing amount of London drunks – spending their ill-gotten gains to feed their own habit.

   George entered the thick wooden-lined building and was instantly hit with a putrid stale smell of warm beer. Chairs were still stacked on top of one another on tables making the only positions available at the bar. George stood there for the duration of his stay with the buildings resident Alsatian sleeping under a nearby table.

   After fumbling around to see what coinage he had in his pocket he looked at the loose change in his hand and realised he only had enough, well nearly enough, for one drink, and he needed several for the experiment to work properly. ‘Bollocks,’ he angrily whispered to himself as the nearly pretty barmaid made her way over.

   ‘Morning sexy,’ she said, while chewing her gum and flicking at one of her overly large earrings. ‘The usual today is it?’ He didn’t want to appear to be on the same level as her main clientele; he was worried that the taste for alcohol was becoming rather addictive lately.

   ‘You know what?’ he let out a light-hearted chuckle, ‘I foolishly only came out with change this morning; I honestly have only £2.13 on me. I’m so sorry.’ He felt even worse after that little speech, but the drug of alcohol was something he’d been accustomed to for the past few months while his experiments continued. She poured his usual double whisky. ‘No coke in it today, thanks.’ She smiled as he waited patiently. He wanted to drink neat alcohol, to make sure his amazing display would work and be a huge success; perhaps he’d even see a promotion?  Linda walked back towards him with the whiskey; he noticed her large blue eyes surrounded by layers of make up in several colours as she handed him his drink.

   ‘George, it’s ok… I know you well enough to know you’re good for it.’ She gave him a saucy smile and handed him his drink. He tried to pay what he had but she refused. ‘Listen Mr T, I’ll just make a note of what you order and you can come back to settle your bill when you have time.’ Linda was a nice looking girl, in a way, but much too young for George to have any interest, and on top of that her sense of fashion was awful. His thirst for the beverage was apparent as he reached out for the glass.

   ‘Thanks Linda, I’ll settle up with you soon,’ he blurted out quicker than usual, eager for the taste he craved. He knew all along that it was wrong, that it was slowly destroying him along with the rest of the clientele who frequented the ancient building. He looked around the bar at the other drinkers; they all seemed far more carefree than he was. ‘Lazy bastards,’ he bitterly whispered under his breath as he took another gulp of his whiskey. Why was it that he had so much to do? So much to worry about and yet, these people… these strangers could relax and sit there all day long if they pleased, so long as their benefit money stretched far enough to keep them in drinks each and every day of their lives. He knew they were doomed, and that they were too far-gone to make any kind of change. ‘Another whisky please Linda,’ he demanded with a feigned smile in her direction. He felt slightly more relaxed but still anxious about the immanent speech he’d have to give in front of the old cronies on the board. He drank several more glasses of neat whisky and held a nearly empty glass in his hand. As the last few drops of the liquid swam down George’s throat he, very out of character, slammed the thick patterned circular glass on the solid oak bar with a loud knock. ‘Linda… Linda come on, another drink?’ Lifting up his wrist, he looked at the green dragon and was hit by the realisation that it wasn’t his mother-in-law staring back at him after all. He shook his head to try and force some kind of reality back into his vision, but it didn’t make any difference, the sudden shock of the current time being a little past 12 o’clock made him turn around to leave before giving Linda a quick glance. ‘I’ll be in later to…’ the floorboards suddenly came into view as he tiredly tried to refocus, he managed to look up and finish his sentence, ‘I’ll drop the… later on, the money in later on.’ She hurriedly dusted the bar as his glazed eyes left hers.

   A whole new set of feelings were instantly thrown at him as he opened the double doors to be welcomed by swirling gusts of drizzle as the wind kicked up green and yellow leaves that seemed to attach themselves like little post-it notes to his clothing as he headed towards the conference centre. George’s rate of blinking had increased and he had to continually remind himself of where he was and what he was doing. He still held onto his expensive briefcase as tightly as he could; he knew that what was inside would prove his work over the past year and a half had been worth all the effort. All the testing, all the changes, all the drunkenness and the quick zap back to reality as the sobriety sensation took place time and time again.

   The fresh clean air outside had helped him a little, and part of him wanted to take an orange pill right there and then, but he knew he needed to be in a drunken state in front of the ageing board members to prove the amazing effects of his invention.

   Stumbling along and squinting at signs to focus, George eventually found the steps of the conference centre. Hugging his briefcase to his chest while re-working out, like a child, how to walk up the concrete shapes, he soon found the handle and forcefully swung the doors open. He’d been to the building a few times before, mainly for lectures, and knew where to go, but first he’d have to sign in.     Precariously arriving at the main desk he saw three members of staff eyeing his every move. ‘Are you ok, sir?’ one of the middle-aged ladies asked. He noticed her quick sympathetic look towards one of her colleagues.

   ‘I’m here… I’m George Thorn…’ he managed to hold on to the far edge of the desk to keep standing. One of the ladies had a look of complete disappointment as she shook her head.

   ‘He’s obviously a drunk; we really need to escort him from the building.’ They all seemed to agree, and two of them started to walk around from behind the desk. He slammed his fist with a loud hard thump on its shiny surface.

   ‘I’m here to see them… the board members. I have to do a speech about my …’ after checking the days schedule a shocked woman looked up.

   ‘Are you George Thornley?’ He managed to nod his confirmation. ‘I think we better get you some water, and quickly, you’re late.’ George was speedily shown to a seat and handed a pint of water.

   ‘I could fix… fix this myself if I wanted to,’ he said between large gulps of the water. He was made to wait a few minutes while one of the front desk staff signed him in and called to let the waiting board members know of their main attraction’s slight delay. George finished the entire pint of water and nodded off for a few seconds before he was woken and handed another pint of water.

   ‘I don’t know if you should see them in this state.’ The lady seemed very concerned for him. ‘Greg and Marvin, and the others, have a very professional reputation, George. You don’t want to go in there and mess everything up now do you?’ George took a sip of his second pint of water.

   ‘This is huge…I need to be drunk to… to prove that it works,’ he smiled, ‘I’m not usually like this of course.’ He glanced down at his green mother-in-law and saw that it was 12:26. ‘I have to get in there right now, they’re waiting for me.’