Joe’s passport arrived only a week later, and he immediately went to his bank to obtain a new card. The bank manager saw to him personally and he was in and out within the hour. He took a look at his balance and was pleasantly surprised, seeing that he was making good money on the interest alone. He headed directly to the shops and went on a shopping spree that would cause his grandad to turn in his grave. He felt a sense of satisfaction as he knew the money, which had primarily come from his dad’s passing, was now paying for Joe’s outfitting as he prepared to seek, maybe not justice, but at least understanding for his dad’s death.
Upon returning to Peckham to his brother’s flat, Joe fell onto the sofa, pint of water sloshing in one hand. With his other hand he withdrew a plastic bag from his inside pocket and held it momentarily aloft in front of his face. “What are you?” he murmured. Removing the blue plastic bag, he exposed the mottled clay amphora once again to the world. If it wasn’t in front of him, he knew he just couldn’t believe that this thing existed. The Stone of Memory’s amphora. What was inside? There’s no way whatever is stored inside can be good for me right? I mean even Augustus said it had likely been millenia since he had stored this in the stone. If it was organic, surely it can only be dust now?
Joe examined the amphora from all angles, rightly nervous that whatever was contained within could be fatal to his poor life. Still, the curiosity was too strong and finally he attempted to remove the stopper. As soon as he felt the intent to open in his mind the stopper disappeared from the amphora, as if it had never been. Joe was shocked, but before he had a chance to react a strong medicinal smell hit his nostrils, causing them to tingle. ‘What on earth?’ His brain felt faster, his sight sharper, his hearing stronger and that was just a whiff from whatever was in the bottle. “Good stuff!” he exclaimed.
Maybe it was from his life on the streets ingesting whatever was handed to him, or maybe the medical scent had caused his reason to flee, but without regards to his own safety he chucked his head back and swallowed the liquid that was within the amphora, leaving only a few drops. He sat there expectantly, looking inwardly to see what he could feel. After a moment he began to feel nervous, "What if I just unknowingly ingested a potent poison, or an aphrodisiac or…” before his mind began to unwind he suddenly began to feel hot. His stomach was boiling as if a volcano had taken root near his belly button. “Oh shit” he cried, dashing to the toilet.
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Needless to say, what occurred over the next 15 minutes was not Joe’s proudest. From both ends he expelled waste, like a deflating water balloon. Even his pores seemed to act like miniature exhausts, pushing forward a foul black substance akin to tar. By this time, Joe was shivering on the floor of the shower, naked except for his shirt and socks he had failed to take off in his haste, writhing like an obese snake. Somehow he had managed to turn the shower on, so slowly Joe’s discharge was washed away. Joe didn't actually feel pain, more something akin to severe nausea, like he had eaten something so poisonous the body had reacted in the most extreme of manners. He thought about the amphora and groaned “why was I so impulsive?”. Yet still, he actually felt, post evacuation, really quite good. He felt stronger, lighter even, that one made sense. Once again his clarity of mind had risen like it had done in the cave not so long ago.
After scrubbing himself down fully, leaving his sodden clothes in the shower basin, he looked in the mirror, wiping away the condensation. His appearance had altered slightly, the few spots he had seemed to have disappeared. The faint laughter lines that appeared around his eyes were also gone. Even his skin felt softer, cleaner. “Was that some sort of ancient beauty potion? Why would Augustus leave me a beauty potion? Surely there must be more to it?”
He robed himself in a dressing gown and returned to the amphora that had rolled under the sofa. He pulled at the sofa to look beneath it and found the sofa to be surprisingly light, almost launching the sofa at the opposite wall. ‘Well that’s new…’. He picked up the amphora and inspected it in the light. ‘Hmm, there are a few drops left, maybe I can analyse the substance to find its chemical makeup. I’ll need a lab with a centrifuge at least though’. An image of a woman, resplendent with long flowing black hair popped into his mind. ‘Looks like I can’t avoid her forever’.