Chapter 3 - anticipation pt3 ch 3

Sitting in my seat preparing for our flight I watched as the other passengers shuffled into the plane like cattle. One by one they entered all with the same lifeless look on their faces. Even though they were all different shapes, sizes, races, and genders they all looked the same to me. Miserable. I can't say that I blame them, flying has become a pretty awful experience but I do try my best to not let life's drudgery get to me. I let Luke have the window seat because he really enjoyed the view. That meant I was stuck with the middle seat. I never had bad luck with the middle seat on previous flights so I didn't really think much of it but of course my luck was about to end.

The first thing that came into my line of sight was the woman's enormous stomach. As the rest of her came in to view I could see the woman was well over three hundred and fifty pounds. There were still plenty of seats behind me on the plane so I was hoping that she would continue down the aisle. Instead she plopped her huge body in her seat right beside me. As she sat next to me her body folds overflowed the armrest and fell into my seat. As I said previously, I would never judge anyone on their weight and I wasn't judging her either, I have seen other big people on flights handle it with consideration and class. What bothered me was that her body was invading my personal space and she didn't really seem to care about it. I could feel her body heat as she grunted and wheezed next to me. That was when I felt Luke tap me on the arm. Not wanting to offend the woman he just crossed his fingers at me, asking me if I wanted to switch seats. I declined but I appreciated the offer. The stewardess came by and discretely gave the woman a seat belt extender. As she struggled to get the belt on she whacked me with her elbow in my arm. It hurt. I didn't expect and apology and didn't get one. By the time our flight landed I was literally ready to climb over the seat in front of me to get off of that plane. The whole experience showed me exactly what I didn't want to end up like as I continued putting on weight.

Finally getting off of the plane we made our way to the pickup area and waited for my parents to get there. I was excited to see them. It had been about seven months since I had the money to afford the plane tickets. About three years ago they decided out of nowhere to move across the country to the west coast. It had been my parents....ok my mother's life's dream to live out in California. I didn't have any problem with them living so far away but what bugged me was how they expected me to buy my own plane ticket just to see them.

As I saw my parents car approaching us I could see my mother's expression change as she saw me. Her jaw droop slightly and her eye brows rose up, there was no doubt she was shocked at my appearance. She quickly corrected herself as the car came to a stop in front of us. "Hi there, you must be Luke. It's very nice to finally meet you" my mom cheerfully said as she got out of the car and gave Luke a hug. Next she came to greet me but scanned me from head to toe first. "Good to see you" she said coolly as she gave me an awkward hug. My dad almost squashed me as he pulled me in for a big hug and kiss on my plump cheek. Then with the same green eyes as me he looked Luke in the eye and gave him his notorious iron grip handshake. Luke didn't flinch. "Alright guys let's get out of here, mom has dinner waiting for us at home" dad said as he took our bags and put them in the trunk.

This was Luke's first real Thanksgiving and this being my favorite holiday I was glad to share it with him. I love everything about Thanksgiving. First obviously the food, second it takes place during the fall, my favorite season. Missing out on the foliage was kind of a bummer but I made the best of it. The second the front door opened, the aroma from all the wonderful food hit my nose. My mom was a great cook and I couldn't wait to dive in. But first Luke and I had to put our bags away in the guest room and take showers. "Thank you for bringing me to your holiday and introducing me to your parents it means a lot to me" Luke told me as we headed to the dining room. On the table was an amazing spread of food. All the usual suspects where there, a large turkey, a mountain of stuffing, cheesy green bean casserole, fluffy biscuits, buttery mashed potatoes, a dense pecan pie, and cranberry sauce. It was a large amount of food for just four people. "Mom why didn't wait for me I would have helped you bring this stuff out." I said as she brought out the gravy boat. "Sit down and eat, you two had a long flight. Enjoy yourselves." she responded without looking at me. Luke and I loaded our plates and dug in. The turkey was juicy and seasoned perfectly. My mom had made the stuffing Italian style for Luke by adding pieces of sausage and mozzarella to it, it was amazing. I poured gravy all over everything except the cranberry sauce.

"So Luke how would you like to go out with me on the boat tomorrow morning and do some fishing?" my dad asked him. "Mr. McCann....Clark, I'd would love to. I haven't been fishing in years. Also thank you Sandy. This dinner is amazing I have never had anything like it before" Luke said smiling at my parents. They were infatuated with him and his charisma. All night they asked him questions about everything from how he got to the US to how we met to his mother. They wanted to know everything. He was a trooper though and humored them.

Sitting there stuffing my face at the dinner table I could sense my mother's judgment. While she was all bubbly and cordial with Luke, she was cold and distant towards me. I knew she had a problem with my weight but I didn't know why she did. Back when I was in high school she was heavy too, heavier than I was at that point even so I didn't understand what the judgment was about. If I knew she was going to act like this I would have warned her ahead of time. I could feel her displeasure with me and it made me feel uncomfortable eating in front of her. Don't get me wrong though I still put a sizeable dent in Mt. Stuffing, I just couldn't bring myself anywhere near capacity. After a few glasses of wine some subtle things started to slip out of her. Most notably when the pecan pie was being passed around for desert, I was last inline and instead of handing it to me she put it down on the table. No one else had noticed the slight but I did and it pissed me off. I cut a large slice out of the pie and plopped it down on my plate while giving her a nasty look. She had basically ruined Thanksgiving for me and I was steaming but I played nice so Luke could enjoy himself. Sitting there pissed off and getting drunk all I could think about was what Luke had in that bag for me back at home. Whatever was in there, I was going to eat myself out of the second we got back.