Apothecary Curiosities Postcard

One can only wonder what manner of strange concoctions Emile Henrard must have sampled to result in not one, but three horned offspring, but the 1830 Revolution had turned Brussels into a rather stressful place. No matter; by the turn of the century, the old apothecary had retired and turned his business over to his three sons, Anatole, Alphonse and Alcazar. The young men wasted no time in packing up their potions and elixirs and boarding an ocean liner for America, believing that, in the land of the free, where all men were created equal (even those with horns), their collective peculiarity would prove less of a hindrance. Of course, they could not have been more wrong, as they realised when they were abruptly awoken in the middle of the night by a drunken Texan rancher wielding a branding iron and hooting “Yee haw!!”. Narrowly escaping, they forged ahead nonetheless and set up shop in a charming Victorian building in Brooklyn where oddness was, if not exactly embraced, taken in stride. They named it Emile Henrard Pharmacy in honour of their poor father, whose wife still had not spoken to him in 35 years. Even their good looks and charming natures could not obscure their peculiarities and the brothers remained bachelors. That is not to say they were not much beloved and wildly successful, however, as the quality of their colognes, tinctures, patent medicines and cosmetics have never been equalled. Ramona Szczerba © 2008 All Rights Reserved