He said, I am an MAO Inhibitor.

Pardon? she replied.

An antidepressant. Also, an anti-panic agent.

This is your effect on the world?

Well, mostly on the circle of people with whom I interact regularly—but, yes.

How does it happen, a person becoming a prescription drug?

I’m FDA-approved.

Oh, certainly.

You should know—I do come with warning labels. (Pulling from his breast pocket a tightly folded wad of minimum-font writings.)

(Scanning under his watchful eye.) There’s a lot of different foods I won’t be able to eat anymore.

The sauerkraut and brown bananas are no loss. (He said, conspiratorially.)

The alcohol and caffeine are, however. (She said, laughing in disbelief.) Ha! Ha.

Would you believe me if I said I’ll make you stop desiring them?

“Sometimes this medicine must be taken for several weeks before you begin to feel better.” (She read aloud.)

It’s better that way. I don’t like sneaking up on people. But notice it’s only a Sometimes. Take heed of the side effects, too. Often I cause dizziness and queasy tummies. But there’s more. (He said, his face slowly turning down.)

Like what? (She said, concerned.)

Well. There’s some strange ones. That go beyond the common physical ailment, like your diarrhea or your tension headache. I’ve been known to cause slurred speech and a staggering walk. I don’t really understand it, but it’s been tied to me. It frightens me that I can affect people in ways I don’t know about. That sometimes I create exactly what I intend to defray.

(Her eyes widening.)

(Quickly, to assure.) But we’ll take care of that, if it happens. (Quickly, again.) It won’t, though.

It seems a lot to ask.

To take me in?

To risk so much that I know and understand.

It’s not a gamble, not one life or the other. I want to help you recognize what you already have.

I feel like nothing would be the same, though. That it would, from that particular point, that point of acquiescence, always be about “Life Before You” and “Life That Had Been Altered by You.”

I would prefer “Life Enhanced by Me.”

Fine. “Life Before You” and “Life Enhanced By You.” Fine. I believe that. What I’m trying to say, though, is that I don’t want to forget what it is to live by my own means.

Oh, but you won’t. I’m an enabler. You’ll be living by your own, better-enabled means.

(With a quickly expelled breath.) I don’t like that I might be relinquishing any control to you. I don’t like that my head might be mired in a fog&mdasha fog that’s foreign to my own, normal fog. I don’t like that I’m scared. So, tell me, MAOI, what is worth turning everything upside down? (She challenged.) What am I doing this for?

For quality of life. For this hand, to steady you. For the surety of your pill schedule.

(She looked to that hand—a broad, proud hand allowing its fingers to curl on her shoulder.

She smiled, pocketing the warnings.)