Just Because you can, Doesn't Mean you Should.
Charlie sat staring at the innocent-looking pill sat innocently in his hand. He glanced up at his mentor. "Willy, am I looking at a cure for Cancer?' he enquired.
Willy shifted, uneasy.
"No, not exactly, Charlie," the older man responded. "Cancer is a tricky one." he continued explaining. "If it is age related, and you take Wonkavite, then yes, you will no longer have Cancer — at least until you get older again. If it's just sheer bad luck, and a tendency to develop tumours, then you can take Wonkavite, or its counterpart Vitawonk, and the Cancer cells will be exactly as they were before you took it. I wouldn't want to take Vitawonk if the cancer is age related either — you might just take enough that you age to the point you die, and death is not reversible."
Seeing that Charlie continued to frown, Willy found another example.
"Say you broke your arm the day before you took Wonkavite. After taking it, your arm would still be broken, you would just be able to heal better, for being younger. Wonkavite would reverse the effect of age related memory degeneration, but it wouldn't have any impact on a brain injury. Do you really believe that if I had a viable alternative to pharmaceutical medicines, that I would sit on it?"
Seeing the light of understanding and excitement starting to grow in Charlie's eye, Willy continued.
"We couldn't use Wonkavite to cure your malnutrition, well, unless we reduced you to at least the age of two and let you grow up eating properly. Forgive my selfishness, but I would miss you too much for that.
Charlie sighed, before looking at Willy again.
"Such power in such a small thing."
Willy chuckled. "Wonkavite is hardly small." he pointed out. Charlie raised an eyebrow.
"They ain't no tic-tac, that's for sure," he conceded, "but they are still awfully small for something that can reverse your body clock. I mean, if one of these can make you twenty years younger, it wouldn't take much for me to send myself to Minusland."
"Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should, Charlie," Willy retorted. "Do you remember how I told your grandparents that I didn't waste this stuff on me?" he enquired. Seeing Charlie acquiesce, Willy continued. "I don't have a need to lose twenty years, I just want to remain the age I am, so every year, on my birthday, I have a special drink, with a fraction of the powder, one twentieth of what goes into these pills, and my body doesn't age more than that year. That's what I'm offering you. Not for today, or even tomorrow, but when you're ready, we can start planning. You just need to know now, so you can get used to the idea."
Charlie smiled, as he saw Willy slipping out of the room. He certainly had a lot to think about now.