19 June 2015

PROMPT:  Animals (love/hate/indifferent, any special ones to you, are they relevant to modern city-dwellers?)

Ellen Stader, dancer/choreographer/writer

Julia, 17, comes into the kitchen.  Fred, 54, cooks dinner.
JULIA
What’s for dinner?
FRED
Pig.
JULIA
(confused)
What?
FRED
Pig.  Well, not the whole pig, just a small portion of the pig’s buttocks.
JULIA
(slightly disgusted)
Pig butt?  We’re eating pig butt?
FRED
Best part of the pig.
JULIA
Come on.  What are we having?
FRED
Pig butt.
Julia strikes an annoyed pose.
FRED
Alright, you call it carnitas.
JULIA
(happier)
You make great carnitas.
FRED
Thank you, but it’s still pig butt.  Carnitas is made out of a piece of meat that comes from a pig’s butt.
JULIA
Really?!
FRED
Yup.
JULIA
I’m not sure I wanted to know that.
FRED
It’s important to know where your food comes from Julia.
JULIA
Why?  Can’t I just eat it and enjoy it and not think about it?
FRED
No.  Knowing that one of the things you eat and like comes from a pig is important so that we don’t take it for granted.  Some animal was sacrificed so we could eat tonight.  We need to remember and be grateful and I like to say a little prayer of praise and thanksgiving for that animal’s life and the gift it has given me.  It’s something my mother taught me.
Silence.
JULIA
That’s kinda... cool.
FRED
I don’t know whether it’s cool or not, but I do think it’s a sign of respect.
JULIA
Okay.
FRED
And not knowing where your food comes from is kind of living a lie.
JULIA
But it’s kinda gross.
FRED
Yea.  A little.  But we don’t see the really gross part.  Some human had to deal with the blood, and guts, and... all the grossest parts that you and I never see.
JULIA
That’s not a little gross, that’s a lot gross.
FRED
You’re eating an animal, Julia.  An animal that someone raised for a baby, that was killed, butchered, and sent to market so you and I and our family could have dinner tonight.
Silence.
JULIA
I never thought about it.
FRED
You can’t live in ignorance about one of the most basic aspects of living.
Silence.
JULIA
Maybe I’ll become a vegetarian.
FRED
Good!  That means more carnitas for me!
JULIA
(wistful)
I do love your carnitas... Maybe I’ll become a vegetarian tomorrow.
End of play.