Pt 2

It took very little prompting for the twins to repeat everything they had talked about before about their desire for a cannibal-themed party at which they would be both the star guests, main attraction and main course!

“You do know if you get cooked and eaten you’d be dead, right?” Mrs Marshall coaxed gently, wondering this this bizarre request had come from a lack of thinking things through from the girls who had once asked for a real elephant for Christmas, insisting it could live in the garage, and suggested selling the house to pay for a holiday to Disneyland.

“Of course we know that!” Natasha rolled her eyes in a distinctly teenaged manner, despite being only eight years old. “We’re not stupid!”

“It just seems a strange thing to want.” Mr Marshall observed, trying to back his wife up a little despite how intrigued his internet searches had made him at the prospect of cooking his two young daughters. “If you’d said you wanted us to find some other girl for you to eat at your party then we might understand better…”

“And let someone else be the centre of attention at OUR party?” Hannah sounded quite indignant.

“Okay, okay!” Mr Marshall laughed in a placatory style, putting a reassuring hand on his wife’s shoulder. He knew that she would still have her reservations about the plan but it was clear that the girls were determined and they really did have to crack on with the planning, whatever form the party was going to take. At the very least, he thought to himself, if we go along with what they want they can always change their minds nearer the time, then we can still go with the theme but cook a couple of pigs instead and turn the whole thing into a joke.

“Well,” he grinned at the girls, “I guess if that’s how you really want to celebrate your birthday then we’ll make it happen!” The pyjama-clad cuties had practically exploded out from under their duvets, sending their clandestine comics fluttering to the ground, in their eagerness to shower their parents with hugs and kisses for agreeing to their request.

“They seem happy!” Mr Marshall joked to his wife once they had finally got the girls settled back into bed and closed the door, instructing them that they needed to make sure they got good nights’ sleeps from now on if they wanted to make sure their meat was juicy and not too stringy! Even his wife, as unsure as she still was about the whole idea, had to admit how heart-warming it had been to see their excitement.

Minutes later, Mrs Marshall poured herself a glass of wine and settled down in front of the TV to catch up with her favourite panel show while her husband returned to the computer. Setting the date was easy enough – the twins’ birthday would fall on a Friday so the next day, Saturday, was the obvious choice. That way they could have a nice final family celebration on their actual birthday before feeding themselves to their school friends the next. The location was not a problem – they were lucky enough to have a fairly large garden with patio and modest-sized swimming pool. A perfect location for what was planned.

With that confirmed, he returned to the site which hired out spitting equipment and requested two for the chosen day. Fortunately, the devices he needed were available that day and he opted to pay a little extra for delivery the evening before, just to be on the safe side. He was pleased to see that, including with the hire of the spits, was a set of butcher’s knives and other tools for, gutting, carving and dismembering of the carcass, should any meat remain at the end of the event.

Next on the agenda was invitations and he already had an idea for what he wanted to do. Searching back through their photos from their Christmas vacation, he found the picture he was looking for. The cabin they had been staying in had included an outdoor hot-tub, delightfully warm even ‘though surrounded by snow on all sides. Due to the remote location with no near-by neighbours, the Marshalls had had no issue with allowing the girls to skinny-dip as if taking an outside bath. This was something both girls had enjoyed greatly and he couldn’t help but wonder if the allure of outdoor and semi-public nudity was at least in part behind their birthday request. The picture he had in mind was taken from the side, showing the girls sat in the tub and grinning broadly with steam rising around them. At the time he had opted not to share this particular one on social media as if showed their bare chests a little too clearly and he wasn’t sure they would like their friends to be able to see it, not to mention the hassle of falling foul of the site’s increasingly over-cautious rules. He used the site quite extensively for work and could not risk getting banned. For this purpose, however, the photo would be perfect!

Half an hour on Photoshop later and they were no longer sat in a hot-tub but a large cannibal stew-pot over a cartoon fire and the background had been subtly edited to look like a jungle rather than a Scottish highland forest. He was sure the girls would be pleased and that it would get the point across about what to expect from the party even if it was not a strictly accurate depiction of how the girls would be cooked. He added the relevant text and printed out a sample copy for the girls to approve in the morning before he printed out the rest for them to give out to friends.

A fun idea then occurred to him and he visited the website of a party supply store. It took him only a couple of minutes to find exactly what he wanted – a pair of stereotypical explorer hats the right size for the girls! He was fairly certain they would not be expecting to wear any other clothes for the party but thought they would enjoy looking the part. He added them to his shopping cart then browsed the other bits and pieces on offer, deciding to order some flower lays and grass-skirts for the guests to wear if they wanted to and some inflatable palm-trees. For good measure, he clicked on the Halloween section and purchased a couple of skulls and one complete skeleton. Deciding that he would have time to order more if he needed to, he completed the order then wandered over to the window to look out at the garden and see if there was anything else they might need.

Returning to the computer, he found the website for a local hardware store and ordered three large bags of sand, a pair of tall fence posts and a length of rope advertised as soft and suitable for tying back curtains. He knew it was inevitable that the girls would experience some pain in the process of being prepped and cooked but there was no need to inflict more discomfort on them than absolutely necessary – the party was supposed to be fun for them too, after all!

Picking up and looking at the sample invite again, a thought occurred to him and he checked his phone for the number of an old friend of his he knew worked for a company that supplied props and sets to theatres. After brief pleasantries he explained the situation and what he was looking for. It turned out his friend had access to just the thing and was happy to let him hire it for the party at “mates’ rates”. Mr Marshall was delighted – he was sure his girls would get a kick out of it and their guests would have lots of fun. It would make a great photo opportunity! Feeling proud of his own creativity and fairly sure that he had done as much as he could do that night evening, he switched off the computer and went to join Mrs Marshall on the sofa for the end of the episode.

Before leaving for work the next morning, Mr Marshall went into the twins’ room to show them the invitation he’d designed. It was half an hour earlier than they would usually be woken up but he was sure they wouldn’t mind under the circumstances. Especially as, if they agreed the design, he could get the invitation cards printed at work on the industrial printer and they would be able to start giving them out the next day. As predicted, they giggled at the idea of giving out photos showing their bare chests but he pointed out to them that, at the party, the guests would be able to see everything! This made them giggle even more and blush a little. After a short conversation about the details and his reassurance that they would get cooked like pigs, not in a pot, and that the pot picture was just a sort of joke, the twins approved the design and he headed out to work.

After dinner that evening, the girls sat at the table with the stack of invites and a note-pad, discussing who they wanted to invite. After weighing them in the bathroom and checking a website for guidance on how much edible meat could be gleaned from girls of various heights and weights, Mrs Marshall had told them that they could invite twenty friends, allowing some food for her and their dad and the few other parents who would be invited to help out and would likely want a taste of the birthday girls. To be on the safe side, Mr Marshall had printed an extra ten invites in case of smudges, misspellings etc.

The box from the party store had come while they were at school and they were both wearing the explorer hats that would be all they wore for the party. They loved the lays and grass-skirts their dad had ordered and suggested that they tell all invitees to bring swimsuits so they could enjoy the pool while the meat was cooking.

Eventually, they settled on the twenty five friends they wanted to invite with a backup list of ten, in order of preference, in case anyone on the main list couldn’t make it or cancelled closer to the day. Walking past the bathroom later that evening while the girls were in the bath, their mum couldn’t help but be amused at hearing them appraising each others’ naked bodies and speculating how each different bit might taste! The next day at school, the invitations were given out and then the excitement began in earnest!