Plants And Animals

Little Emily walks to the dinner table, having come back from a very interesting visit to her neighbor across the street, her Auntie Melanie.

Little Emily's mommy is cutting up carrots. It looks like they will be having salad and veggie burgers for dinner tonight.

"Mommy?" she asks.
"Yes, dear?"
"How come we never eat meat?"
"Because eating meat is bad."
"Why?"
"Because it came from an animal, who had a family and a life, like you. Like me. Like everyone, you see. You wouldn't eat your friend Sara, or Tommy, would you?"
"No."
"And you certainly wouldn't eat Melanie's cat Fluffyface, would you?"
"No."

But Little Emily is not satisfied with this answer. She had asked Auntie Melanie earlier today the same thing; why didn't Emily and her mother ever eat meat?

"Auntie Melanie told me that Fluffyface eats birds and mice sometimes."
"Fluffyface is a cat; he doesn't know any better."
"But he's an animal too, and so are birds and mice. If it's not wrong for him, why is it wrong for us?"
"Because we aren't animals; we are people, and people know what's right and wrong."
"Auntie Melanie told me people are animals. She said we have really big brains, bigger than other animal brains, which is why we do things different from them. But we eat things, and we sleep and we go poop, just like animals."
"Please don't say that word at the table; it's rude."

Little Emily ignores her mommy's scolding, and continues.

"Do you know what else Auntie Melanie said?"
Her mommy sighed. "What?"
"She said plants are alive too. But they're not like animals. They can't talk."
"Neither can animals."
"Yes they can; they can talk animal. Cats can talk cat, dogs can talk dog. Even bunny-rabbits squeak if they're scared. But plants don't talk, because they don't have voice boxes. Auntie Melanie told me. They also don't poop, and they eat sunlight. But they're alive, and they have feelings, and they can hurt."

Emily's mother continues chopping the carrots. "You certainly know a lot for a four-year-old..."

"So if eating animals is bad because eating living things is bad, why do we eat plants?"

The knife in Emily's mommy's hand stops dead in its tracks.

"And you're cutting that carrot. Isn't the carrot hurting?"
"Even if the carrot was alive at some point, it's dead now, isn't it? So it's not hurting."
"It's still alive, because it's not all dried up. Auntie Melanie said so. It's hurting right now. Poor carrot."

Her mommy's hand begins to tremble.

"Dear, I think I'm done with this conversation. Let's have a different one. How are Mrs. Fieldnight's bushes?"
"She trimmed them today, like you said to. I think her bushes hurt too when she did that."
"Dear, let's not talk abou-"
"Do you know what else Auntie Melanie sai-"
"I don't want to hear anymore about Auntie Melanie, do you understand?"

Emily is taken aback.

"But Mommy, Auntie Mela-"
"Go to your room. I'll take your dinner up there."
"What?! But Mommy-"
"I said go to your room!"

Little Emily runs to her room, tears streaming down her little cheeks. She had never been told to go to her room before. Not like this.

"AND I NEVER WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOU GOING ANYWHERE NEAR AUNT MELANIE'S AGAIN, DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

----

It is midnight. Little Emily has long stopped crying, but she cannot sleep. She could not eat her dinner, still sitting on her nightstand, cold. She could not bear to eat the innocent little bits of carrot, or lettuce, or any of the plants of her food. But she cannot eat animals either, because they are also living things, and mommy would yell at her again.

Emily's tummy groaned.

"Maybe I could eat rocks. Auntie Melanie said those aren't alive."

But she soon remembered the day Little Sara had tried to eat a rock in a game of Truth Or Dare. The rock was so hard, she broke two of her teeth, and she nearly choked on it. She had to go to the hospital.

"Could I eat clothes?"

No. Clothes are made from either plants or animal skins, so said Auntie Melanie. She couldn't eat those; it'd be no different from eating meat or plants. And besides, they taste bad. So do rocks.

She then remembers Fluffyface, and the birds and mice. She remembers as well what Auntie Melanie told her before she left for home.

"We are all animals. We all eat plants, other animals, or both, to survive. To eat anything else is not natural. You can eat only plants, if you like, but there is nothing wrong with eating what you were born to eat. It is sad, but it is how the world works. Lions eat zebras. Bears eat fish. Fluffyface eats birds and mice. I eat hotdogs and steak. If it is all we can do to live, how can we say it's wrong? Eat what you like, as long as you eat in a healthy way, because there is nothing wrong with eating what we, you, were born to eat."

Comforted by these words, Little Emily takes her dinner plate and starts munching on her salad, slowly, nervously at first, until she wolfs them down, so hungry she is. As she nibbles on her now cold veggie burger, she looks forward to tomorrow, to sneaking over to Aunt Melanie's to try, for the first time, hotdogs she said she'd cook for lunch.