Northbound, Spadina and Queen

Caucasian woman, late 20s, with long brown hair, wearing black coat, orange scarf, red knit cap, and carrying a large canvas book bag.

The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World, Michael Pollan (Random House)

Page 114:

Yet it turns out that it is some of the bitter, bad plants that contain the most powerful magic — that can answer our desire and alter the textures and even the contents of our consciousness. There it is, right in the middle of the word intoxication, hidden in plain sight: toxic. The bright line between food and poison might hold, but not one between poison and desire.

She idled, hands at 10 and 2, and loosened her grip on the wheel, skin stretched tight in a mountainous ridge across the top of her knuckles. She pried two pieces of gum free from the foil pack, and popped one into her mouth, the other fumbled by the gas pedal. She undid her seatbelt and reached out toward the mat, her foot off the brake, retrieving the second piece of gum with less effort than it takes to drink and drive.