CHAPTER FIFTY TWO – DISASTROUS DINNER

Not wanting to be rude, Claire tentatively raised her glass and took a tiny sip. She immediately blanched and gagged, sputtering into her napkin. "Wow...that's, uh, certainly...potent stuff," she choked out, looking equal parts impressed and nauseous. Gary positively beamed, mistaking her reaction for delight. "Indeed, indeed! Quite the elevated palate, aren't we?" The evening rapidly descended into a comedy of errors as Gary relentlessly subjected his captive dinner guests to one idiosyncratic holistic regimen after another. Much to Claire's ill-disguised astonishment, Jasmine stoically endured his ramblings with the thousand-yard stare of a soldier who had been through too many battles. At one point, Gary insisted on administering a scalp massage to help "balance their cranial energies." A bemused Claire tolerated his ministrations for all of thirty seconds before batting his hands away. Unfazed, he then produced some sort of ceremonial clay mask and attempted to slather it a