Shortly before I retired, Groat stumbled into my cube asking for help.
Yeah, there actually was a guy at work named Groat. It was his last name but we used it as his first – because, well, he was a strange duck
As a forensic scientist, Groat was a star, a real supernova.
But socially…. he was more of a black hole.
Which was hard on him.
It is difficult to be so good at one thing and so terribly bad at another, but he kept at it and not a week went by that he didn’t come up with some new scheme to crack the social code.
So he visited my cube often – but this time when he came by, he looked like he had just stuffed a tiger into a cage full of cranky lions – single-handed.
“I created a love potion,” he said, picking at a bandage, “but I can’t get it to work.”
“That much is obvious.”
I had no doubt what he said was true because Groat is a genius, clever enough to concoct a love potion and he is also the most honest person you could ever meet. If he says he did something, he did it.
“I tried it on Sally Driscoll,” he said.
I groaned. In many ways, Sally had it worse than Groat.
Oh, she was popular – mostly because of her stunning good looks. But Sally was, to put it gently, cursed by beauty. Beauty maybe something everyone yearns for but too much of anything is an affliction and the current manifestation of her affliction was a guy named Ralph McFadden.
Now…. what can be said about Ralph?
That he was a creep? No…. if Ralph could work his way up to being a creep, he would be a much better person.
“Groat, you are a nice guy but face it, Sally doesn’t go for nice guys.”
“That’s why I made the potion,” he said.
“Ah yes, the potion. The one that doesn’t work.”
“But it has to,” he said.
And there was the riddle. While Groat knows everything there is to know about human biology, he knows nothing about the human soul.
“How is it supposed to work?” I asked.
“Pheromones,” he said.
“Like the chemicals that bugs use to attract each other?”
“Yeah, it’s how perfume works too.”
“What perfume did you use?”
“Ralph McFadden’s,” he said, looking a little sheepish, “I derived it from his gym towel.”
“OH MY GOD!”
“But my theory was based on established science and I had the protocols down cold.”
“Let me guess,” I said, “you figured the bad-boy scent would arouse a primordial instinct in Sally?”
“Exactly.”
“What happened.”
“She attacked me, ” he moaned.
“Again, that much is obvious.”
“She kicked me. She scratched me. She bit me. She punched me. It was horrible. I can’t understand it. The pheromones should work for me the same way they do for Ralph.”
“Uh, Groat…”
“What?”
“Have you considered that Sally is not attracted to Ralph at all? That she totally hates him?”
“Huh?”
“Sally is gorgeous,” I said, “She gives the guys whiplash just by walking down the hall…but let me ask you this, who is the one guy who never drools over her?”
“Ralph?” he said.
“That’s right,” I said, “Ralph is a creep who has a sixth sense for people’s insecurities. Sally is so gorgeous that it upsets her when a guy, even someone like Ralph, does not find her attractive and that his why she is obsessed with him.”
“So if I could develop a potion to make her feel secure…”
“Give it up,” I told him. “The secret to love is not a potion, or something you wear, the secret is finding someone you need, not someone you want. Find a person who is good for you.”
“You are very wise,” Groat said.
“Yeah,” I joked, “and the closer I come to retirement, the wiser I feel.”
“You still drinking that tea I gave you?”
“You bet! The stuff is fabulous” I said…. then I caught myself. “GROAT! What was in that tea?”
“Wisdom,” he said, quite matter-of-factly.
“How can you distill……”
“It is rather simple,” he said, “I saw how philosophical you get after your second pitcher of beer and I figured if I could eliminate the deleterious effects of alcohol yet maintain the same level of dopamine…. that you could help me out with my love-life before you retired.”
“You have got to be kidding.”
“No, actually not at all…”
Almost Iowa 
Lol…if only a potion can cure much of what as all of us. But hey….maybe one day😊
If Shelton on “Big Bang Theory” can get a girl friend, there’s hope for Groat.
Which is more insightful, beer goggles or philosophical tea? It seems you’ve gained wisdom from both.
Oh boy! In the pursuit of wisdom, I better start drinking beer. But, is it too late, I’m old! Love the humor in this post! Christine
Maybe wait for Wisdom potion #9. I love the analysis of why the love potion should and didn’t work.
A groat over here in Limeyville is a 13th century coin worth 4 English pennies.
I’m not sure how many you would need nowadays to be assured of success with the opposite species though. At least 3, I should imagine depending on the quality of the target.
Poor Groat! I’ve known people like him, although they didn’t make potions (that I know of, anyway. I’m going to have to try to remember if I ever drank anything that was offered by one of them.) I know it’s not particularly moral, but I can’t help but wish that he could invent a common sense potion, and stick it in the water supply. For the entire world.
I don’t think the world needs a common sense potion – because most of us have that. What we need is the discipline to use it. 🙂
That’s probably true!
If Groat continues to use his talents wisely he can perhaps eliminate many of the issues which currently trouble our country. He can never retire.
[Tales a long deep sip of Groat’s tea]
Naw, our troubles aren’t Groat’s to fix, that’s our job..
Wow! I never thought about marketing a magic potion. Since I’m both beautiful and wise, I’m going to start cooking something up asap to get on the market. I don’t do anything to induce sweat so I’ll have to rely on plucked chin hairs for the base ingredient.
You are indeed both beautiful and wise… but then why ask for more? I’ll have to ask Groat about the plucked chin hairs, I certainly hope that is not an ingredient. It was’t on the label…. you bet I checked. 🙂
Great post!
Thanks Jennie.
You are welcome.
Thanks for that laugh. Hat was a good one. I’ve been cursed by beauty too. But I try not to let it go to my head.
You are a handsome, Mark. [blush] I don’t often say that to guys……
Love a potion idea. Could Groat work on a reader attraction potion? Good post, Greg
I talked to him about a reader attraction potion – but I didn’t like his answer. It was all the usual stuff, a whiff of puppies, a dose of teens doing stupid dangerous things – and of course a heaping helping of the Kardashians.
OOPS. Guess I’d better work on attraction without it.
Groat couldn’t have named it Love Potion #16, or Love Portion #4, could he? No, he had to choose Love Potion #9. Now I’ve been hearing that song since early this morning. It’s not the worst thing in the world, and besides — who doesn’t love a happy, bouncy little number now and then? Well, except for the cop at 34th and Vine.
That song has been going through my head for days, I’ll have to talk to Groat about an antidote.
Anything with a ‘good’ beer is great, and I do feel wise sometimes when I’m enjoying one. But, I’m thinking you need an Etsy shop to sell that tea. 🙂
Actually, I would probably need a pharmaceutical license. 🙂
Groat needs to give that tea to the whole human race. As a species, we are nowhere near wise enough!
Ain’t that the truth!
Bwahahahahaha! Once again, funny and wise.
Groat IS a genius. Apply the right treatment to the right person. Or to use your words:
“Find a person who is good for you.”
We all benefit!
It is the old, get what you need, not what you want.
Thank goodness there’s no such thing as magic potions… um… I think there’s no such thing. Right?
Magical potions are not a thing of the past, anyone who watches the evening news can tell you that. At least half of the network news is devoted to magical potions and most notably their deleterious effects.
I was thinking that Groat’s wisdom potion could make him a billionaire about now.
It could, if not for what is known as “captured regulation’. It is a term used for regulation written to protect the monopoly of an industry rather than the consumer, in this case, the Beer & Beverage Distributors lobbying groups.
Welcome to wisdom – I always knew it came from beer, but I think it requires those “deleterious effects of alcohol” to really establish itself.
Now that I am retired, I have devoted myself to the pursuit of wisdom – from brew pub to brew pub.
An admirable goal – I wish you continued success.