“What is that?”

“What you came for. A touch of magic in this world obsessed with science. A tonic. A potion.”

“What does it do?”

“How old would you guess I am?”

“I wouldn’t. . . .”

“C’mon. Don’t try to flatter me.”

“Thirty-eight? Oh, twenty-eight! Three – twenty-three?”

“I am seventy-one years old. That’s what it does. It stops the aging process dead in its tracks and forces it into retreat! Drink that potion, and you’ll never grow even one day older! Don’t drink it, and continue to watch yourself rot.”