The scenario:
I have two friends, A and B. A lives close but B, who was originally a work friend to both of us, lives a few hours away. B’s birthday was last month and mine is next month. Today is A’s birthday. Usually we get together to go out once for all birthdays.
B has gone full blown MAGAbot, QAnon conspiracy theorist. A is not one to stir up trouble so I try to hold my tongue when we go out with B. I didn’t comment when she complained about the restrictions on plastic straws and brought out her Trump branded disposable or when she complained that Facebook had banned her because they “thought she was a Russian bot” and she was only posting what “ they” told her to. I go out with her for the sake of A, and I suspect she does the same although she is a genuinely nice person, just with a tendency to fall for the latest conspiracy theory.
Today we met for dinner to celebrate A’s birthday. As is our custom, A and I brought gifts for B and B brought me a gift. We did OK through dinner with only a brief mention by B of how we hadn’t seen each other in two years because I was reluctant to go out and a brief impasse on whether to eat inside or outside ( I lost because it was sprinkling off and on).
Anyway, we retired to some outside tables for dessert-which we had brought-and gifts. That is when A asked B if she had been vaccinated and B proceeded to tell us that she cannot even touch anyone who has been vaccinated because it causes the scar from her smallpox vaccine to open up and cause open sores. When she mentioned that 70% of those dying from Covid had been vaccinated, I lost it a little. I think I quoted her statistics for about 20 minutes without stopping to breathe and only being interrupted by B stating that “ You can’t trust the CDC” and that VAERS “ scrubs their data” and that vaccinated patients were treated better than unvaccinated ones in the hospital because they were given ivermectin while the unvaccinated ones were not and when I tried to change the subject to monoclonal antibodies which I assumed we could all agree on, she complained that unvaccinated hospitalized patients were not given them and I had to remind her that they are only approved for people with mild symptoms not requiring hospitalization.
I managed to rein myself in enough to change the subject and commence gift giving. Usually there is some overlap in the gifts in that we will often get some of the same things for the other two. That was when I realized that one of my gifts to each of the others was a couple of portable bottles of Purcell that could attach to a purse or keychain is some really nice scents ( one lavender and one orange-unfortunately misplaced the mint that was supposed to complete the trio). I felt a little bad even though she did inform me that vaccinated people shed spike proteins in their sweat, and breath and she cannot even touch them without breaking out.
So after all this, what did she get for me and A along with a story about how she had tried it at her mother’s place and found how wonderful it was? A Mypillow! I honestly don’t know if she was trolling me or was sincere. She is a doctor, but I can’t help thinking she is not the sharpest tool in the shed with all the conspiracy theorizing. BTW- she hugged me goodbye. I hope her smallpox scar will be OK.
Tl/dr: celebrated a birthday dinner with an antimask, anti-Covid vaccine Trumpist friend. I gave her hand sanitizer. She gave me a Mypillow…
