Chapter 6
Lying in bed pumped full of Klonopin, I waited for sleep to come. It was nerve-racking to think that the very next day ten strangers would be arriving at our apartment for our outrageous dinner party.
What kind of person pays three grand to eat a human being?
Rich people, no doubt. I pictured them as eccentric, alluring, maybe a little dangerous. In the darkness of my bedroom, I imagined guests with alligator shoes, gold cigarette holders, fur coats, oversized sunglasses, wide-brimmed hats, and affected laughs.
Imagine you have money. Not the kind of money that pays the bills, that lets you order out on the weekend or take annual trips to Europe.
I’m talking about real money. What would you do?
If I had that kind of money, I’d be at a loss, I wouldn’t even know how to spend it.
That’s exactly what happens to some rich people: They lose themselves, go crazy, and spend their money on bizarre things.
They buy ugly mansions, stupid cars, private jets; they pamper their dogs with themed outfits, nannies, special kibble, and cool toys.
They undergo a barrage of cosmetic procedures, lip fillers, Botox, microblading, laser hair removal, extravagant haircuts, designer clothes, exotic dinners.
The other day, I read a story in a magazine about a husband who spent millions to make his wife look like an inflatable doll.
It wasn’t because he had a thing for sex dolls or because she was ugly.
He did it because he had more money than he knew what to do with.
In the US, a woman paid a small fortune to look like Jennifer Lawrence.
And there was that guy who did the same to look like Justin Bieber.
Justin Bieber, for fuck’s sake! Having money is nice, but having a lot of it might just suck.
I began to see the next day as some sort of psychedelic dream.
Those people only wanted to eat human flesh to inject some adrenaline into their rich, monotonous lives.
Cora was right: There was no point in being a hypocrite.
I’d been eating meat since I was a kid, right?
I never cared about the suffering of a cow, the torture of a goose; I never lost sleep thinking about all the pigs and chickens I’d devoured throughout my entire existence.
Deep down, those people weren’t so different from me.
Finally, I managed to fall asleep.