Chapter 3 - The Defiant Feast
Back at the barbecue, the atmosphere was toxic.
My mother-in-law, Susan, was frantically dabbing a wet cloth on Diane’s cheek.
"That woman is insane," Susan muttered. "Mark needs to divorce her."
Diane was seething.
Her pride was damaged more than her face.
"Did you hear what she said to me?" Diane yelled.
"She cursed me! She threatened my food!"
To prove a point, to show she wasn't intimidated by me, Diane did what she always did.
She doubled down.
She walked over to the grill.
She grabbed the biggest, thickest, juiciest ribeye steak.
She slapped it on a fresh plate.
She took out her phone and started a live stream.
"Hey guys," she said to her fifty thousand followers.
"Dealing with some crazy family drama today. Haters gonna hate."
She took a massive bite of the steak.
"But nothing stops me from enjoying the best cuts of meat. Nothing."
She ate the whole thing.
Then she had a pork sausage.
She wanted to prove my "threat" was pathetic.
She wanted to show she was the one in control.
The family cheered her on, mocking me in my absence.
They laughed about Evan crying.
They called us weak.
They finished the party in high spirits, convinced they had won the battle.
The sun went down.
The guests went home.
Diane went to sleep, feeling triumphant.
But her immune system was already at war.
The Alpha-gal carbohydrate from the meat was entering her bloodstream.
Her body, now sensitized by the tick bite, was preparing an army of antibodies.
The clock was ticking.
May you like
Midnight was approaching.
And the joke was finally over.
