From the front of the class Mrs. Sakei can be heard explaining today that the lesson is about reactions, she says " Today we have a treat for all of you, practice today is not going to be like very other one today it is going to be more about the chemical reactions when some substances are mixed together." She looks at a old green bottle on the table and then says " I have a bottle of Absinthe for all of you, this stuff is very old. And some of them contain a bit more alcohol then others. It should be noted that you should pick up a small container of water, as well as a silver spoon and a few cubes of sugar."
So the students including yourself, go to the side and grab the bottle with your name on it. As well as a box of sugar cubes and a container of water from an ice bucket and a cup that is see through your not sure why this is but you figure your teacher must have a point.
Mrs.Sakei can be heard from the front saying " Today class, I am sorry to have to tell you even if you don't want to drink what you mix you need too. The fact is that stuff costs to much to waste it, in past we were working with watered down and cheap stuff. But this stuff, it costs a lot. In case most of you don't know drinking of Absinthe was illegal in many parts of the world. And drinking is often refereed to as chasing the green fairy. It should also be noted that Absinthe contains a chemical called Thujone which can come from many kinds of plants but in the case of Absinthe it comes from a plant called wormwood. It is thought that the affects of Thujone acts much like that of THC in other words like smoking Weed, and as we all know sadly the only legal drugs in the Free Zone are alcohol and tobacco products and the meds the doctors give us. So any how students, if you were to constructed a mix drink to represent Thujone like you have with many other chemicals you would mostly end up dying from alcohol poisoning from the number of shots it would require to make it, the chemical make up reads as C10H16O so that would be 27 shots? I mean seriously that would be bad mojo for me and for you. So instead we will watch the chemical reaction of the sugar and cold water has when mixed into Absinthe. First put some Absinthe into, into your cup please, put the sugar onto the spoon and please pour ice cold water over the spoon. It should be 1 parts Absinthe to 3 to 5 parts cold water. Thou some of you might use more or less of one or the other this is fine. The sugar should turn the Absinthe milky white, the sugar should crystallize and float around the fluid contents and look a lot like snow. If you do this properly."
You start to do what your told but you do 2, to 1 on the Absinthe to water. And use just enough water to melt the sugar on the spoon, your teacher of course is coming back to watch how you guys do your drinks simply because she is interested mostly in seeing how you react to the drink, since she has yet to see you drink any of the past practice lessons. As your about to finish your mix, your teacher watches as the water just barely with the sugar and the oils of the Absinthe responds in the manner she said it should.
She steps toward you and says " You may want to use a bit more water, your bottle was tested a bit stronger then the others. Not to say its bad I just expected I might be the one drinkings it."
Your fellow students look at you as they hear your teacher say this and you say " Well, it should be fine it is what? Two shots or so? maybe equal to 4 shots? right?" you nod to yourself and then add a little more water.
Ms.Sakei smiles and says " There you go, that might be suitable. If not you might want to add a bit more sugar."
You look down and watch to the swirling reaction of the Absinthe and the water and sugar and your amazed as a whole the way it looks, it really does look a lot like a snow storm. Ms.Sakei checks the other students around you and a few on the way up front and says " Well, it looks like all of you have got it finished. You noticed how the cold water with the sugar reacted instantly with the Absinthe and turned it milky white correct?" The whole class is nodding to the teacher and she finally says " now watch it for a few more moments, now drink it."
Every last student downs the mixture, and Ms.Sakei says to them " Now relax students, this is mostly going to be stronger for some of you then you might expect. I will tell you this bottle will be stored in the back room for you, and you will get the rest of it when the school year is over as a gift, from the school to you. But til then you can enjoy a bit more of it today, it is as I said primarily to show the reaction time of some processes that we will or should expect in future lessons."
About this time a student comes into the class with a few passes and hands them to Ms.Sakei, she looks at them and looks back at Cora And Dzaya and yourself. Your just smiling and pure a little Absinthe into your empty cup and drink it to see what it is like, its not horrible it just a little rough going down. The ice cold water really does help make it easier to drink, Ms.Sakei comes to the back of the class and points at the three of you.
She says " Leave the bottles on the table I will have, Help me take care of these three, you other two should head to the gym as the pass says too." You shrug and stand up picking up your bottle, and Cora's as you pass Dzaya's table you grab hers and follow your teacher into the back room. |