Dr. Karen Thomas, accompanied by her friend Carol, was in the offices of Prof. Joel Schnabel to see the new medical miracle he had invented. Not interested in such things, Carol looked for a magazine to read when she spied some candy on a desk. "Free samples, just like when I was a child and went to the bank with Daddy, or visited the dentist," Carol grinned as she grabbed one and began sucking on it.

Prof. Schnabel was all aglow about his latest discovery, a natural chemical that reversed precocious puberty in children ­ especially girls. "Now parents won't have to deal with their daughters maturing physically before they are ready. But the chemical tasted bad. So to get girls to take it, I had to mix it with other ingredients. And I plan to offer it in the form of a product all little girls love to eat," he said. "And what is that?" Karen asked. "The lollipop," Prof. Schnabel said.

Karen suddenly remembered those "free samples" her friend Carol had found and ran to the outside office. She found Carol, happily working on her third lollipop, looking no larger than a 6-year-old girl standing in only her adult-size T-shirt. "Ack! I made the pops too strong," the professor said. "Drop that lollipop. Stop eating it," Karen advised Carol. "No! It's mine! It's my favorite flavor," the reduced and noe juvenile-acting Carol whined.

Karen walked over to Carol and tried to pry the medicine-laden lollipop from her hand. But Carol reacted with cries, tears, a kick to Karen's shins, and a fast getaway. Karen chased Carol outside and up the street, watching her friend hurriedly eating the remaining candy, and hoping she caught Carol quickly before anyone noticed. It would be bad for her professional standing to be accused of "taking candy from a baby."




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