“Wait!” Beth called and, to her pleasant surprise, the pair did. “Just one second…” With an apologetic glance and Samantha who smiled to tell her that it was okay, she grabbed a square of paper from the pad near the telephone and, with a pen from the small metal pot, wrote her phone number down along with the message: “Call if you need to talk. I listen well.” Quickly, she folded the paper into four so the actual writing would not be obvious and ran over to Maddie.

“Here.” She smiled and held out the folded piece of paper to her friend. “Here’s my number for when you remember the name of that movie you were talking about. You know? The one you said I should see while I still have the chance?” Maddie looked confused for a split second but quickly caught on.

“Oh! The movie! Yeah I’ll look it up when I get home and give you a call. Thanks and good luck next Saturday!”

“Are you done now?” Maddie’s mother practically snarled at her daughter. “Can we go?” Maddie nodded meekly and allowed herself to be dragged out the door but, just before getting into the expensive-looking car which was parked outside, she looked over her shoulder and waved at Beth with a grateful smile.

“Any idea what that was all about?” Beth asked as Brenda and Carolyn emerged into the main part of the salon. “I left my robe hanging in the changing room by the way, I hope that’s okay?”

“Of course.” Brenda smiled. “I hope you enjoyed your first visit with us?”

“Oh I did!” Beth grinned. “Worried about Maddie ‘though.” She looked back out the window where the car was long gone, frowning a little. She knew it was strange to be worrying for the safety of a girl who was two weeks away from having her throat cut and her body cut into pieces ready to be cooked but she couldn’t help herself. Even meat-girls were entitled to live happy lives after all. That was part of why the Thomas family had given her the money to treat herself in her final week.

“We all are.” Carolyn stepped closer and spoke softly. “I honestly don’t know what that phone call was about but I’ve never seen her more furious! And that’s saying something…”

“You know, I don’t often say things like that, but I can’t help but wish someone would kidnap that little girl.” Brenda sighed. “Anything would be an improvement over that monstrous woman!”

“I gave her my number and told her to call me.” Beth told the three ladies gathered around the desk. “I don’t know exactly what I can do to help but it might be good just for her to have someone to talk to, even if it is only for a week! Oh well,” she sighed and fixed her smile back in place. “I really did have a great time and can’t wait until my next appointment! See you in a few days!” She grinned at all of them and made her way out onto the street.

On her way home, Beth stopped at the supermarket and stocked up on the kinds of foods a meat-girl like her should be eating in her last week before cooking. In truth, Beth felt a little disappointed that she had not known earlier and had more time to prepare her body and perfect her meat but she was determined to do the best she could with the time available to her. The troubling incident with Maddie’s mother had snapped her brain firmly back into reality but her body still had the lovely, relaxed, almost floating feeling from her treatments and it felt strange to be in a normal place doing normal things.

Of course, as soon as she got home her parents wanted to hear about everything that had happened, how she felt about being asked, what she had been doing since and what she planned to do with her final week. Preferring to keep some elements to herself, Beth summarised her day for them and explained about the diet she wanted to follow, pointing out the relevant pages in the guide which had remained rolled up in her jacket pocket and was looking a little dog-eared for the experience. She told them about the remaining treatments she had booked at the salon and how she had agreed to a special birthday sleep-over with the twins Friday night.

Later that evening, after a light dinner consisting mostly of lightly-steamed vegetables, Beth lay on her bed flicking though the guides aimed at older and younger meat-girls and seeing where they differed from the one aimed at her age-group. For the most part, the difference seemed to be in the ages of the girls in the photographs and the style of language. The drawings and diagrams were a little different too with those in the guide for older girls looking like something that would be at home in a medical textbook whereas the one for small girls had illustrations that reminded her of the books about “Growing Up” she had been shown at school to prepare her and her classmates for puberty. There was maybe a little less emphasis on hair-removal for the youngest girls and the suggested exercises varied somewhat but the advice seemed more or less consistent which Beth found quite reassuring.

Beth was half way though an article on the best exercises for toning meat, rather pleased to see that cycling was very close to the top of the list, when her phone buzzed. Picking it up, she saw that it was not a text but a contact request on an app popular mostly with pre-teens that she had downloaded out of curiosity and never really bothered with. The user requesting to message her was called MadMadz86 and she had a reasonable idea who that would be. She pressed the green icon to accept.

“Hey.” The message popped up on her screen. “Didn’t wanna call. Don’t want Mum knowing lol. She checks my phone but doesn’t know I have this – got it disguised as a game haha.” This was followed by an emoji with its finger to its lips and the word “SHHHH” in pink bubble-writing.

“No worries” Beth messaged back, cringing slightly to see that her username was GinjaNinja82. “So what was up with your mum? She seemed pretty mad!”

“Her butcher bestie was on the news. Caught selling cheap imported meat from China as locally sourced (like me lol) so instead of bragging rights she’s now tied up in his shame.” Beth pondered what the issue with Chinese meat might be and why it was considered inferior? Maybe the diet the girls were raised on would change their flavour a little bit but surely not by much. She made a mental note to look it up after the conversation.

“So now she has to find another butcher to sell you to?” She asked. “Sucks to be her I guess!”

“Yeah but as he did my grading, none of the good ones wanna touch my meat in case his bad reputation rubs off. She’s probably gonna just have to sell me direct to some restaurant or family. You don’t know anyone looking for a cute meat-girl do you?” She ended the message with an emoji with over-sized, fluttering eye-lashes.

Beth felt so bad for Maddie. Being sold to the prestigious butcher seemed to be the only value her mother ever assigned her and, with that taken away, she was nothing more than a useless burden to her and the teenager was very worried that the youngster’s mother would take her anger and frustration out on her daughter. An idea occurred to her.

“I might actually.” She replied, “You gonna be around for a bit? Need to make a call.”

“Sure. What you got in mind?”

“I’ll let you know if it works out.” Beth sent the message then realised she was missing some pretty vital information. “What’s your mum’s name btw? And her phone number.” Molly supplied the requested information and Beth jotted it down on the receipt from the book shop. She then looked up the number of Mr and Mrs Thomas and gave them a call.

It was Mr Thomas who answered. At first he was surprised to hear from Beth and worried that she might have changed her mind now that she’d had a little longer to reflect but she quickly assured him this was not the case and gave a brief overview of her time at the salon, thanking him very much for making it possible.

She then asked to be put on speaker-phone so that Mrs Thomas would be able to hear as well, knowing that the twins would already be in bed, and explained Maddie’s predicament.

“What did you say her mother’s name was?” Mrs Thomas asked. Beth told her. “Ah yes I thought so.” Beth did not have to see Mrs Thomas’ face to know the expression on it. “I do know her, very vaguely. Vile woman! And yes, that poor little girl of hers deserves so much better. Of course we’ll buy her!” Beth let out an audible sigh of happy relief. “Tell that little sweetie her mum can expect a call any minute now! At least that’s our Christmas plans sorted!” Mrs Thomas added with a chuckle, “But of course we’ll take her in until then. Bye for now, dear!”

Happy to have found a solution to her friend’s issue, Beth went back into the app and saw that MadMadz86 was still showing as online.

“Hey! Want the bad news or the good news?”

“Umm… bad news I guess?” Maddie replied, followed with a worried emoji.

“Bad news is you’re gonna have to wait more than two weeks for your big day.”

“Okay? What’s the good news?”

“You’re gonna be Christmas dinner for the lovely family who are eating me on Saturday and they’ll take you in to live with them until then too! Want the even better news?”

“Oh wow awesome!” Maddie replied with an emoji with large, pulsing hearts for eyes, “Even better news? Go on?”

“It means that you’ll most likely be there on Saturday to watch me cook and maybe even get a slice of my juicy ass if you’re lucky!” She followed this up with a winking emoji that was also sticking out its tongue. Maddie replied with a string of three emojis – Shocked, delighted then drooling hungrily! “They’re gonna call your mum any minute.”

“Wow thanks!” Maddie replied. “I hope she agrees!”

While she waited to hear the outcome of the negotiations to buy Maddie, Beth looked up the issue with Chinese meat. China, it turned out, had been one of the very few countries not to temporarily ban cannibalism when there had been the big scandal a few years ago. This was largely because the state benefited from the practice so well financially.

It had been a cultural issue in China for at least two centuries that boys were far more highly prized than girls which, in the past, had led to many baby girls being abandoned to die in rural areas or women pressured into dangerous, late-term selective abortions by their husbands. China’s orphanages had been filled to capacity with unwanted little girls, many of whom simply died and, of those who survived, many became prostitutes or “servants” to wealthy families who treated them as little more than slaves. The legalisation and acceptance of cannibalism around the world had, however, presented a new solution.

The Chinese government mandated, in the first instance, that any girl, regardless of age, who had been in an orphanage for more than two years be slaughtered and her meat sold with the profit going to the state. At first, the sale had been restricted to home markets but, as time went on, trade deals had been struck and Chinese girl meat, frozen soon after slaughter and delivered under often inconsistent refrigeration, began to show up in less reputable dining establishments throughout the world, as well as in sausages and burgers sold to the public. Over time, as the supply of unwanted orphans was depleted, the government had begun offering small financial incentives for families who surrendered their daughters for the exported meat trade. This had, over time, led to women actually seeking to get pregnant with girls as often as possible – a total reversal of the situation only a few years previously.

There was, as Beth had supposed for herself, nothing inherently inferior about the meat of Chinese girls. The issues came from the lack of quality control where the meat of a starving orphan who may well have died from some transferable illness was sold next to and at the same price as that of the well-raised, healthy daughter of a middle-class family. Of course the official publications from China showed happy, healthy meat-girls going as willingly to slaughter as any British or American girl, happy to have a role in supporting their beloved country and its government. Covert filming by journalists and activists, however, had told another story and even those who were not moved by pity at the way the girls were kept and slaughtered were given pause by the potential health risk Chinese meat posed.

Although she had not quite finished the article when the message notification popped up at the top of her phone screen, Beth now had a fairly good idea about the issues surrounding Chinese meat and how a prestigious butcher being caught selling it would pretty much end his career and certainly lose him all his high-profile clients. The savings involved, she reasoned, must be really amazing for someone to be willing to take that risk! Oh well, it certainly seemed to have worked out for the best in Maddie’s case! She opened the message.

“SHE AGREED!” Maddie’s message was in all caps to express her excitement. “Call me Maddie the Christmas Turkey!” This was followed by happy emojis, a Christmas tree and a roast turkey followed by a pulsing heart. Before Beth could reply, another message came through. “I need to ask a favour. That okay?”

“Sure” Beth replied, adding a smiling emoji.

“She’s taking me to their house in the morning. I know this is your last week and I don’t wanna intrude on your time but is there any way you could be there? Might make things less awkward and easier to get to know them.”

“If they don’t mind, I’d be happy to.” Beth replied, truthfully. She had not really made any plans for the next day other than maybe taking her new books out into the woods within easy biking distance of her house and losing herself in them for a few hours but she could always do that afterwards. It would be great to see Maddie again and she was quite excited to tell the twins about the things she had done at the spa to make herself extra tasty for them!

“Thanks!” Maddie sent a string of hearts in various different colours. “You’re the best!”

The next morning came and, as she had arranged with Mr and Mrs Thomas, Beth biked round to their house a little after 9am, ready for the drop-off which had been arranged for 9.30. As a show of good faith, Mrs Thomas had transferred Maddie’s mother half the agreed amount the night before and had an envelope with the remainder ready to be handed over. This arrangement benefited both parties as it ensured that she would actually turn up and the deliver the girl as agreed but also meant that the self-obsessed woman could decide for herself just how much she would admit to selling Maddie for. If she wanted to brag about the premium price paid by her wealthy friends then she was well within her rights to do so but if she wanted to report the lower figure to the revenue services, there would be very little evidence to the contrary.

As she had hoped, the twins were very excited to hear about Beth’s experiences of the day before and seemed to be looking forward more than ever to her meat! They were also, understandably, very excited to meet the girl would would be staying with them for a while, taking over some of the fun things Beth used to do with them, although she was still a little too young to look after them unsupervised and a new babysitter for the three of them would need to be found in due course. But while she was with them, at least, it would be a lot like having a new big sister and they could not wait to meet her.

At almost exactly the arranged time, the familiar fancy car pulled up in front of the house and Maddie practically flew out of the back seat. The family and Beth, whom they considered close to family anyway, especially now, went to stand in the front door to greet the new arrival. Beth noticed that Mrs Thomas was carrying the envelope as if she was not too keen for Maddie’s mother to set foot in the house.

Beth had not really been sure what to expect but she had certainly expected some display of emotion from a mother surrendering her daughter to people who planned to cook and eat her, yet she showed no more feeling in her extremely brief farewell hug to Maddie than if she had been dropping her at the park to meet friends. Fortunately, the young girl did not seem remotely bothered and looked as if she would be the happiest she had ever been once her selfish bitch of a mother was out of her life for good!

“We’re so happy to meet you!” Mrs Thomas gave Maddie a hug filled with far more genuine warmth than her mother’s final goodbye. The obnoxious woman had practically snatched the envelope out of Mr Thomas’s hand, made a show of ostentatiously counting it, even seeming a little disappointed that the full agree-upon amount was there giving her no excuse for a scene, and stalked back to her car, speeding off without a second glance at her daughter. Percy and Jennifer ran forward next and embraced her from either side.

“Are you our new sister?” Jennifer asked. “You’re very pretty!”

“Thank you!” Maddie blushed a little, “I guess I am? For a few months at least?”

“Oh yes, we wanted to talk to you about that.” Mr Thomas pushed the door open and invited Maddie inside with everyone else filing in behind. Maddie looked confused but Beth couldn’t help grinning, knowing the nice surprise her little friend was about to get.

“What do you mean?” Maddie asked as they all made their way into the living room. “Do you want to cook me sooner? I guess it’s fine with me! You did buy me as meat after all, but we’d been talking about Christmas and I…”

“Oh no, don’t worry!” Mrs Thomas smiled, “We wouldn’t spring something like that on you. Why don’t you sit down?” Maddie looked relieved and took a seat in the middle of the sofa. The twins immediately bundled in either side of her and Beth was able to squeeze in beside Jennifer. “See, Mr Thomas, James, and I, we talked it over last night and we know that your mother has been raising you as meat since you were a baby.”

“Yeah, pretty much!” Maddie nodded with a resigned shrug.

“Well we understand it must be very difficult, under those circumstances, to think of your future any other way. You’ve been told you were going to be probably since before you could talk.” Maddie nodded again, still a little confused but certainly feeling more relaxed. “Well we thought… James?”

“We don’t think that’s very fair.” Mr Thomas joined in with a smile every bit as warm as his wife’s. “So here’s what we want to suggest. Christmas is a few months away yet and if, closer to the time, you feel like you want to be our Christmas dinner then I’m sure you’ll be absolutely delicious and we’ll enjoy you very much. However, if you feel like you don’t want to, then that’s more than okay too! We have plenty of space for another daughter, in our house and in our hearts, and you’re welcome to stay for as long as you want to!”

“Wow!” Maddie didn’t know what to say. She could feel the tears pricking her eyes. It was not that she did not want to be eaten – as the Thomases had correctly guessed, she’d been so used to the idea that she didn’t really have an opinion about it any more, it was simply something that was going to happen. What was moving her so much was the fact that they were prepared to give her the choice, to put her destiny back into her own hands. The young girl could honestly not remember a time when she had been allowed to make a decision for herself, even down to what clothes she was going to wear that day.

“We can even get you de-registered if you like.” Mrs Thomas continued, “This afternoon, if you want to! Just so you know that we’re serious. If, come December, you feel like being our turkey, it’s a simple matter to register you again but in the mean time you’d be a regular girl. Of course you’d probably have to start going to school!” She gave a cheeky smile. Maddie realised she wouldn’t mind this at all! She had not been to any sort of school or even club with other children since she turned six and really missed it.

“Don’t think it has to be a once-and-for-all choice either.” explained Mr Thomas. “Let’s suppose you decide you don’t want to be cooked this Christmas but in a few years, when your body is a bit more mature, like Beth here, you feel like you want to volunteer your meat, that will be absolutely fine. It will be just as fine if you never ever want to be cooked and decide to grow up and live your life. The choice really is totally yours, and will be forever. We promise!” Maddie couldn’t contain herself any more. She leapt forward off the sofa, practically launching herself through the air at Mr Thomas, hugging him so tightly he could barely breath, before leaping from him to Mrs Thomas and hugging her equally tightly. Her tears were flowing freely now, as were Mr and Mrs Thomas’. Watching the scene, Beth couldn’t help joining in.

“What’s the matter?” Jennifer asked softly, her little face full of concern. “Are you sad?”

“No, I’m crying because my friend is so happy!” Beth explained, smiling and wiping away the tears to show the little girl that all was well. “What about you? Are you happy to have a new sister?” Jennifer nodded very enthusiastically, as did Percy.

“Maybe I should leave you all to it?” Beth suggested gently, standing up and stretching her arms behind her head. “Let you all get to know each other a bit better? Do the grand tour and that sort of thing?” The parents smiled at her but Maddie, who was sat on Mrs Thomas’ lap, suddenly sat bolt upright, her eyes wide.

“Hey, even if I’m not sure about being cooked, can I still go to the salon with Beth?”

“Yes!” Mrs Thomas smiled, “Of course you can! If that’s okay with Beth, of course?”

“Oh yeah!” Beth grinned, “It was so much more fun having company and I bet the ladies there will be so happy to hear about what’s happened for you! I know they were as worried as I was the way your mu…” she caught herself, Mrs Thomas was Maddie’s mum now and she didn’t really want to remind her two much of the horrible woman she had finally managed to escape, “The way that woman was carrying on! Maybe more, even, as it sounded like they’ve known you for years?”

“Oh thank you!” Maddie flung her arms around her new mother once more and gave her a big kiss on the cheek, something she had seen other children do with their parents but her old mother had always discouraged in case it smudged her makeup!

“That can be your first job as a member of the family!” Mrs Thomas suggested, winking over Maddie’s shoulder at Beth, “Since you’re the expert and all! Keep and eye on our prize piggy and make sure she’s all ready for Saturday!”

“Yeah!” Beth grinned as Maddie turned to look at her, “Then you can help prep and cook me at the party. If anyone knows how to make sure a meat-girl is as delicious as she can possibly be, it’s you!”

“Awesome!” Maddie grinned, her tear-stained cheeks bulging outwards appealingly, “It’s a deal!”