Vince darted about the flat in a state of rising panic, "Naboo, Bollo, have you seen my hair straighteners? I've put them somewhere and I can't find them…"Initially Naboo and Bollo both paid Vince no attention because they were both too busy getting high.

"Naboo," Vince said again getting right in Naboo's face and pulling at his own hair, "my hair is going fizzy already- you can't leave me in this state- please help me"

Naboo drew deeply from his pipe, looked up at Vince's fizzy hair with stoned eyes and nodded mystically, "There may be a way…I've been wanting to try out a new truth potion"

Vince sighed, annoyed, "How will that help? I'm not lying about where the hair straighteners are"

Naboo shrugged and answered, "This is no ordinary truth potion. With this potion you tell truths that you've hidden even from yourself. If you know where your hair straighteners are, on any level, you'll tell me"

Vince grinned widely, liking the plan, "Sounds genius"

"Only thing is," Naboo clarified, "you won't remember it yourself after the potion wears off so I'll need to tell you"

Vince shrugged and continued to grin, "fine"

Bollo shook his head and mumbled, "I've got a bad feeling about this"

Naboo ignored him. He'd learnt long ago not to take Bollo's bad feelings too seriously, "Bollo, get me that potion we made yesterday will you?"

Bollo stomped off to Naboo's bedroom and quickly retuned with a glass bottle filled with a bubbly pink potion.

Naboo checked that the bottle was the correct potion and pulled the stopper out, "Now it doesn't last long…not long at all. Just enough time to answer a question or two. It was one minute wasn't it Bollo?"

Bollo nodded "one minute"

Naboo handed the potion over to Vince who grinned widely and downed the potion in one go. Instantly, Vince's eyes became glassy and his jaw slack.

"Vince, where did you put your hair straighteners?" Naboo asked.

"They are behind the counter at Nabootique" Vince replied in a monotone.

Naboo sighed, "All this fuss and you didn't even look in the shop?"

"No"

Naboo shook his head, "Well, why not you ball-bag?"

"Well I'm not really that bright, am I?" Vince replied.

Suddenly Howard came bursting into the room from the shop downstairs looking absolutely furious, "Where are you Vince you little shitbox?"

"Right here, Howard", Vince replied, still looking glassy eyed and speaking with a slight monotone.

Howard directed his tiny-eyed gaze right at Vince – coming at him like a beam of anger, "Where is my jazz collection? What have you done with my records, you little bitch?"

Vince met Howard's death stare and gave him a characteristic cheeky grin. He giggled slightly as he answered, "Gave them to Leroy..."

"You gave them to Leroy? What's Leroy want with them? He hates jazz." Howard exploded.

Vince giggled harder, "I dunno. Didn't ask. He said he wanted them so I gave them to him."

Naboo glanced up at the clock. It'd been nearly one minute now. The giggling must be a sign that the effects of the truth potion were wearing off.

Howard looked like he was trying to decide between punching Vince in the face or giving himself a chinese burn, "My whole jazz collection…great…just great…some friend you are Vince. You are meant to be my best mate. Why are you always doing things like this to me?"

Vince stopped giggling. By now his eyes had lost the glassy vacant stare but his face had turned deadly serious at Howard's question, "Because I'm secretly in love with you."

"Well that's not good enough little man," Howard continued to yell, "you can't go around treating your friend like that just because you're secretly in love with…wait…" Howard's thoughts seemed to stop dead in their tracks, "what? What did you say?"

Naboo glanced back up at the clock. It was well over a minute now. He swallowed back his own laughter. Vince was certainly quick at seeing an opportunity to put one over Howard. It one of Vince's best features, really.

Vince replied still with a deadly serious expression, "I've been secretly in love with you for years…I can't even admit it to myself…"

Howard continued to stare at Vince with his mouth hanging open… "I, er…what? Er.." Finally he glanced over to Naboo as if looking for some kind of explanation.
Naboo smiled patiently, "truth potion"

"T..T…Truth potion?" Howard stammered "you mean this is true?"

Naboo didn't answer, he just glanced back to Vince. Howard followed his gaze and began to stare at Vince again- his busy face, his wide blue eyes, his perfect mane of hair- Howard felt his knees buckle slightly, "Vince, I…er…I don't know what to say…I never expected…I never thought I'd hear you say….but, I guess…I think you know that I'll..well, what I mean is…wow you say you are in love with me and I…"

The serious expression on Vince's face was suddenly gone again and Vince was laughing furiously, "What's this? Naboo? You think I'd fall for this? I know you said I wouldn't remember anything but jeez as if I'd fall for that…where's the hair straighteners?

"Behind the counter at Nabootique," Naboo replied.

"Cheers," Vince said as he walked down to the shop, "I'd better go get them before I start to look like you, Howard."

Howard was left standing perfectly still and staring at the space where Vince had just been, confessing his love. Eventually he managed to blurt out, "What happened?"

"A joke, Howard…." Naboo replied to Howard's question, "The truth potion had already worn off. Only lasts a minute"

"Ah" nodded Howard, "I see…a joke…I think I'll…um…maybe I'll see Leroy…get the jazz back and er…" Howard stumbled out of the house, still looking shocked.

Naboo sucked deeply on his pipe and turned to Bollo "That worked really well. Get me my notes, would you Bollo?" As Bollo fetched his book of shaman secrets Naboo kept talking about it, "would have lots of uses that truth potion. The giggling seems to be a sign that the potion is wearing off…I wonder if that happens with everyone? Oh, thanks Bollo…now truth potion…which one did we make? Oh here it is…no it says here the giggling is a sign that the potion is fully activated…but that doesn't make any sense…"

Bollo shook his head and mumbled, "I've got a bad feeling about this"

Naboo continued to scan the pages of notes trying to make sense of the differences between his notes and his experimentation with Vince. Finally, he scanned the ingredients for the potion, "Bollo- you did remember that we'd doubled the batch and you needed to pour the potion into two bottles?"

Bollo looked nervous, "Um…two bottles?"

Naboo sighed in frustration, "Bollo you ball-bag you put it all in one bottle didn't you? You've just given poor Vince a double dose then. You'd better hope that's not toxic." Naboo continued reading to figure out the effects of a double dose, "You're in luck it isn't toxic it just doubles the time it is active for so…" Naboo froze, "so…the potion was active for two minutes…"

Bollo was oblivious to the conclusions that Naboo had just reached, "So it wasn't toxic that's good isn't it? Why you looking shocked?"

Naboo shook his head, "Nothing…just…Vince is an idiot"