"It's quite a puzzle to me, all these medical tests," said Agatha, " I mean, suppose you were sick with some obscure disease and they were trying for a drug to cure it. Well, the drug has to be tested doesn't it? So they test it on patients but use a placebo on others. They don't tell the patients what they are getting. Well, I wouldn't want to be one of the others, would you? Of course there may be horrible side effects with the new drug, losing one's sight, paralysis, deafness or depression. Then of course one would be happy to be one of the others, to have had the placebos. It's a puzzle, Geoffrey, isn't it?"
"What did you say, Agatha?"
"Oh Geoffrey,you haven't been listening to a word I've said. I'm talking about placebos."
"Placebos," he said, "I know about them, that tribe in Africa that was on Fox; they all have bottoms like shelves and bosoms like trays. You could carry a tea service on a bosom like that. I was quite struck by it."
Agatha looked pained. "I worry about you, Geoffrey. You did take those pills today didn't you? You know what Doctor Gibson said."
"Yes, of course I remember what he said. I know too that you said they might be a placebo."
Agatha sighed deeply. Sometimes she thought, Geoffrey was going to push her over the edge.
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