"Excellent—you're here," Rosie greeted us, but there was no warmth in his voice. He seemed stressed, and danced anxiously from foot to foot.
"Yes, but as I say, if you want to get much from Luke, you might have to break your rule about letting the self-inflicted suffer."
I was expecting a long, drawn-out argument with Rosie to convince him.
"Eh? What?" he blurted, quite distracted. He scowled deeply as his eyes flitted erratically about the lab.
"Hangover?" I reminded him. "He has the mother of all hangovers."
Rosie's eyes flicked back to me and then swept over Luke's ashen face.
"Oh! Yes!" He seemed surprised, which was odd as he knew all about it.
"Right ... um ..." He chewed nervously on his bottom lip and continued to look around as though searching for something.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"Wrong! Wrong! No! Whatever could be wrong?" He tried to be casual, but there was a distinct note of apprehension about him.
"No ... right ... hangover cure. Yes. Of course."
His speech was clipped as he snapped the words out at me, and within seconds, a inaprovaline-based cocktail of drugs had been administered. "Right—done—off you go," chirped Rosie, taking both of us by the arm and herding us unceremoniously out of the MedLab.
"But—"
"No buts. First day of coherence for Luke, so I recommend R and R. Take him out, Jenny. Make sure he enjoys himself!" and with that the door shushed shut behind us ensuring we had no opportunity to argue.
How utterly bizarre! Not only was Luke not going to suffer his hangover, but he was being instructed to go and have fun! This wasn't like Rosie at all.
"Is it me or was that just downright odd?" I asked Luke, but he simply shrugged, equally as bemused as I was.
"Yep, but I'm not complaining. I'm ready for a day of fun. Heck! I've been ordered to enjoy myself—and you've been ordered to ensure I do," but I wasn't listening.
The shush of another door made me turn, and I saw Rosie leaving the MedLab by the far exit. He was huddling a rucksack against his chest and scurried off down the corridor with great speed, mumbling under his breath. He was definitely a man on a mission.
"Now, where's he off to?" I asked myself aloud, my eyes narrowing with suspicion.
"Don't know and don't care," grinned Luke.
"Come on," and I grabbed Luke by the arm.
"Where to? NO! We're not going to follow him!"
"Oh yes, we are!" I bullied, dragging him off down the corridor after Rosie.
"Can't we go swimming, or lie on a beach, or learn water polo or something? I think you'll find that's what Rosie really meant," he whinged.
"No."
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