The Adventures of Oliver Button

At a street corner near the docks in Southampton, England, a small crowd of people had gathered around two boys and a medium-sized bag.

"Ladies and gentlemen," one of them said, "Our new medicine will prevent over-excitement and nervousness. Observe my friend here—he is a most excitable fellow, do you agree?"

His friend looked nervously through the small crowd, wringing his hands, bouncing slightly.

"He is in great danger of contracting some sort of disease, for his humors are all out of balance. I shall put him out of his discomfort and risk by giving him some of this medicine. In only a few minutes, you will observe that his behavior changes dramatically." The boy took a small bottle of yellow liquid from the bag and gave it to his friend, who opened it and took a swallow.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as the medicine does its work, I would like to tell you that you can buy this medicine for yourselves for only five pounds a bottle. For this cure of nervousness, reducing your risk for contracting some diseases, only five pounds. That's a low price for the safety it brings you, wouldn't you agree?"

The boy who had been so nervous before was beginning to calm down. He had held onto the bottle tightly after swallowing his medicine, but now he loosened his hold. He watched his friend with a steady but relaxed gaze.

"Yes, only five pounds a bottle. And look at my friend now! His behavior has altered most profoundly. What do you think?"

The small crowd of people murmured among themselves, their tones impressed.

"I'll have some," one man said, stepping forward.

"Thank you, good sir!" the boy said. He pulled another bottle of yellow liquid from his bag and traded it for five pounds from the man.

"I will, too," said a woman from the crowd.

"Oh, thank you!" The boy traded her a bottle of medicine for five pounds, too.

Almost everyone in the small crowd started talking at once, all of them waving their money at the boys and asking for the medicine. The boy doing the sales happily took their money and put it in the bag, giving the people medicine in exchange.

"Oy," said a man's voice near the back of the crowd. "Who made this stuff? Did you?"

"No, no," said the boy, "we are but humble salesmen. This was made by the doctor Oliver Button." He took more people's money and handed it to his friend, who put it into the bag.

"Oliver Button, eh?" The man stepped to the front of the crowd. "I heard he was a violinist."

The two boys looked at each other. The one who had been nervous closed the bag of medicine and money.

"No, I am pretty sure he's a doctor," said the other boy.

"Good people, you have been swindled," said the man.

The nervous boy picked up the bag as the people gasped.

"People, people, we are not swindling you," said the salesman. "You saw the effects of this medicine on my friend. It works!"

"Get them!" said the man.

The two boys darted out of the crowd just as the astonished people processed what the man had said. They ran through the docks as some of the men from the group chased them.

"Oliver Button!" said Obedience, the nervous boy, as they ran. "I like that name, but I guess it's time for a new one." A rock whizzed between her head and her friend's.

"I agree," said her friend Constance, the salesman. "It seems about time." Another rock flew past her, inches from her ear. "We should probably hide."