A few days later.
The United States.
San Francisco.
Afternoon tea time.
Eddie Lewis sat at the dining table in the lounge, comfortably enjoying the coffee in his hand. There was also a plate of blueberry waffles on the table in front of him.
The mist that had filled the air for a long time finally dissipated. The afternoon sun shone in from the window behind him, enveloping his body and making his newly shaved bald head shine.
Mark Twain was said to have said that the coldest winter I have ever encountered was the summer in San Francisco.
The California cold current blew from the Pacific Ocean, and the summer hot wind blew from the interior, blocked by the northern and southern mountains. The two air currents, one cold and one hot, could only meet at the bay of San Francisco, which was often filled with fog.
The summer weather in the San Francisco area was very complicated. While Silicon Valley in the Southern Bay Area enjoyed the sun, the residents of San Francisco may have to wear thin down jackets.
The food at the Matthew Davis Cancer Research Foundation was very good. Although it was not as good as the Manchu Han Imperial Feast of the Internet giants in the Southern Bay Area, it was delicious and provided additional afternoon tea.
Eddie's eyes fell on the wall on one side of the lounge. It was a photo wall with photos of the foundation members. His eyes fell on his own photo. In the photo, he was wearing a sportswear with the foundation's logo on it, grinning at the camera. This was taken by his colleagues when he participated in the annual Bay to Breakers San Francisco Bay Marathon in May this year. This race was also an important charity event that the foundation routinely participated in every year.
I seem to be fatter than last year … He looked at his photo and stared at the sweet waffle in his hand. After a little hesitation, he took a big bite.
The news was playing on the TV in the lounge. Usually, he treated the sound of the TV as background sound, but today's news guest was a person he had met several times, so it caught his attention.
"Today we have Dr. James Murphy of the CDC to explain to us the recent worrying chronic wasting disease," said the news host. "Hello, Dr. Murphy."
"Hello."
A middle-aged fat man with a Mediterranean hairstyle and glasses sat in the guest seat and nodded somewhat cautiously to the host and the camera.
"Dr. Murphy, recently, mule deer infected with chronic wasting disease have been found in some areas of the central United States. Because of its strange symptoms, especially the aggression that will appear in the late stage of the disease, people call it zombie deer. People are worried that this disease will be transmitted from deer to humans. What can you tell us about chronic wasting disease? "The host led the conversation.
"Uh …" Dr. Murphy pushed his glasses. "First of all, there is no evidence that chronic wasting disease can be transmitted to humans …"
"However, it is said that Canadian researchers have done experiments on monkeys, and monkeys, which are primates like humans, have been infected." The host's job was to dig deep into the news and use it to arouse the audience's interest, increasing the program's ratings and personal popularity. Of course, he didn't want the program to be too dull, so he interrupted.
"Yes, I've heard of this experiment. To put it simply, the process of the experiment was to feed five monkeys infected venison. Three years later, three of the monkeys were found to be infected with chronic wasting disease." Dr. Murphy nodded. "But I need to emphasize that monkeys being infected doesn't necessarily mean that humans will be infected..."
"But the possibility of humans being infected exists?" The host clung to this point. "Should we warn people not to hunt deer and eat venison in the near future?"
Dr. Murphy's speech was always interrupted. He looked annoyed and raised his voice. "I can't rule out the possibility of human infection, but that experiment was based on the premise that monkeys were fed a lot of venison every day. Under normal circumstances, humans can't eat so much venison, so I think eating a small amount of venison sold through regular channels will not cause danger, but we should avoid eating wild venison as much as possible, especially the deer's brain and spinal cord. I've never heard of anyone who likes to eat deer's brain and spinal cord."
"It's okay to only eat venison?" The host asked.
Dr. Murphy was dissatisfied with the host taking his words out of context. "I didn't say that!"
"You said that eating venison will not cause danger," the host pointed out.
"Listen to me, I didn't say that!" Dr. Murphy was so angry that he almost pounded the table.
"Haha!"
Eddie Lewis put a waffle in his mouth, chewed it easily, and took another sip of coffee to relieve the sweet feeling.
He had a good memory. He had seen Dr. Murphy at previous events organized by the foundation and had a few words with him. He knew that this person was not good with words and was a straightforward person. However, today, he met a sharp-tongued … No, a sharp-tongued host. He was really unlucky.
He ate the waffle with coffee and stared at Dr. Murphy's embarrassment on the TV with a wry smile. He regarded the program as a talk show and had little interest in the news itself. As Dr. Murphy said, who would like to eat deer's brain and spinal cord? He had never even eaten venison before.
Living in the United States, he had long been accustomed to the sensationalism of news programs.
A few years ago, he was invited by a friend to go on vacation. His friend and he hiked into the forest to hunt, and they met a beautiful doe. He raised his gun and aimed at the deer's heart.
However, the deer suddenly turned its head and met his eyes.
He saw the doe's watery eyes, as if begging him for his life.
In addition, he noticed that its belly was a little big. It might be pregnant, but he wasn't sure.
He hesitated for a long time, but in the end, he couldn't pull the trigger, and he and his friend could only go to bed hungry that night.
That was the closest he had ever been to venison. After that, he fell out with his friend and never went into the forest to hunt deer again.
On TV, the war of words between Dr. Murphy and the host continued, but Eddie's afternoon tea time was over. He packed up his coffee cups and plates and planned to call his friend who he had not contacted for a long time after he got home from work in the evening.
Back in the office, there was a stack of unsent invitations on his desk.
In order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the foundation, they were going to invite some guests. The invited guests were either people who had made significant contributions to the foundation, or people who were highly respected in society, or people who had left moving stories in the history of the foundation. They had witnessed the growth and progress of the foundation.
Eddie checked the invitations one last time and planned to send them out before he got off work.
The furthest invitation would cross the Pacific Ocean and be sent half a world away.
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