----- An Aside ------
Vince sits at the bar, nursing a glass of beer that is going warm and regaling a flask in front of him with a confused sigh.
"I know it was a wondrous trip... and everyone seems so pleased with the results. It's just my luck that the glass of my memory had a crack and all the delightful liquor has seeped out along the way."
The flask does not respond, other than to glimmer faintly, iridescent and tempting.
"What secrets do you hold? Did I find the fountain of youth? The bubbler of lust? The Spring of Sleepless Nights? A healing draught? A poisonous puddle? Delicious tea, or deadly poison?"
A sip at his beer and he leans on the bar. "And why did I come home with a skin that doesn't even contain a plump selkie lass to keep me warm through the nights? I wouldn't even mind if she 'wet' the bed..."
Downing the last of the beer and gathering up his flask.
"And WHY do I feel like writing a book? I'm a chaser of tail, not a teller of tales. Fah! and Humbug! " And he wanders off to look for answers elsewhere, not having found them at the bottom of his glass.
-----