The Veg

Pizza Pizza pie, oh my my my my.

What are you doing?

Nothing why?

You’re going crazy! You need to straighten up before you get in trouble.

Who’s going to get me in trouble? Are you going to send me to my room?

No, but mom will. She’s not in a very good mood and your poor excuse for singing won’t make it any better. Just quiet down, take a chill pill, start doing homework.

I never do homework at home. What would I do at school? And besides, I’ll take care of mom, don’t you worry.

Whatever.

(Door from house to garage closes. Billy quickly turns radio off.)

Oh, hey mom. Didn’t hear you come in. I was just about to get back to my homework.

You didn’t mow the lawn today.

Yeah, um, I’ve had a lot going on. You know, homework and practice, I’ll have some time tomorrow.

That’s what you’ve been saying for a week now. It better be done by the time I get home tomorrow or else you’re missing practice on Thursday.

But mom! I’m getting so good! And Coach Jackie will be so mad! I promise, I’ll have it done tomorrow. But Jill can’t be tanning out back. She always gets in my way. What does she do around here anyway.

Not much. That’s why she doesn’t get paid for anything. You know your sister, she’s better at spending money than making it. What’s for dinner?

I’m making soy burgers with spinach and protein shakes for dessert.

Sounds delicious.

How was work?

You know, same old same old. It seems to be getting worse recently though, people are acting strange.

Stranger than usual? I swear mom, I don’t even understand what the big deal is. How could people be this out of control? I mean, you grew up just like them didn’t you?

Yes son, but it’s hard to explain. People didn’t really understand the changes that were going to be made, why they were going to made, they felt like their freedoms were being taken away. I, fortunately, wasn’t affected like they were and realized that it was the best for society.

What if it’s not the best for society? Didn’t we spend a good hundred years trying to put a chicken in every pot? We thought that that was going to solve all of our problems and in many cases, it just made it worse. Maybe the government should just stay out of our lives and let us make decisions for ourselves.

But that’s the problem. When we make decisions we tend not always to do what’s best for everyone. The idea that everyone should have wealth and be in a better position is very subjective. We tried giving people their freedom and they ended up just slowly destroying the planet and themselves.

Now they just destroy each other. Besides, we’re still killing the planet.

Yes but where would we be if we stayed en route?

Well, we’d still have homelessness, and of course starvation. I know this kid at school who said that he wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for the change. He gave a whole presentation on it.

And it’s affected many more people around the world Billy. It’s more far reaching than we can imagine.

But aren’t there other things we can do? People still have gas driven cars, and they still are cutting down the rain forest. And think of the brutality that has come about since the big change.

Yes, but it was something that was changeable very quickly. It would be harder to tell someone that they’d have to find another way to commute to work each day…

But the rain forest. Aren’t they still being chopped down just to suite the needs of the wealthy. I mean, there are other sources of renewable wood. And you know that they are not living by society’s dietary rules…

And that’s why none of them live in the US, because there are people like me who work hard to stop these criminals. Look Billy, I know this is a touchy subject and you’re probably going to have a hard time keeping yourself convinced that it need be this way. But you have to think of the alternatives. It’s never going to be a perfect world, but we can try to make it a better one.

But these people. What if Jill’s next?

She won’t be.

Or nanny, or the kid down the street? What if the kid from class who feels that the law has saved his future is destroyed by the consequences?

Billy, it really isn’t that bad. Incidents are up but they’re still manageable. And every criminal that we catch…

You mean kill.

I mean stop from killing, is one more that we don’t have to worry about.

But they say it’s in our blood. That it’s our animal instinct that we are trying to suppress. That’s why these criminals are so insane. They say that once their done they calm down. It’s like they’ve gotten their fix and they won’t need to satisfy it for a while longer. Why don’t we just find a drug to help them?

There is only one drug for them unfortunately. When we decided to inoculate the animals we sealed are fate. We didn’t know we’d be creating these monstrous outbursts.

Shouldn’t we find a way to administer the serum to ourselves? Wouldn’t that stop the problem?

All testing to this point shows that it would kill us. We just have to control ourselves. I have no pity for them. Just the thought of it makes me sick.

Not hungry?

Billy! I don’t want to ever hear you say anything like that again! If they heard you, Billy, I know if I heard you!

Isn’t that why people complain? There freedom of speech is even taken away.

That is not something that shouldn’t be spoken about. This isn’t a game.

You’re right. It’s a real issue. Shouldn’t we put ourselves in their shoes?

We are in their shoes! There’s no difference between us and them, that’s why I have no pity. I can control myself why can’t they?

I just sometimes wonder what animal flesh taste like.

It’s not worth it! Now go to your room!

I sometimes wonder what human flesh taste like.

(tears in her eyes) Go to your room right now!