“One officially certified meat-girl ready for inspection!” Samantha grinned, brandishing the envelope as she rejoined her dad and friend. “What are you guys up to? Showing my dad your nudes?” she teased but, seeing the sheepish way Amelia quickly lowered her phone and turned off the screen, Samantha narrowed her eyes. “Wait, were you actually?” She asked, a little shocked.

“No, no!” Josh chuckled, his cheeks burning. “Just holiday pictures from the Summer. Want to show me your certificate?”

“I want to see those photos first!” Samantha insisted, holding out her hand and repeatedly folding her fingers back in the “give it to me” gesture. Her suspicion was not alleviated when she noticed Amelia shoot a worried glance at her dad who gave a small nod, a look on his face that was a cross between terror and mortification, like a small child who has just been caught stealing cookies from the tin and knows that he’s in trouble. Giving a little sigh, Amelia unlocked her phone and passed it to her friend.

“They really are just holiday pictures!” she insisted quietly. Feeling curious and trying to hide how amused she was at the pair’s discomfort, Samantha started to scroll through the pictures in the open album. They were indeed from Amelia’s Summer holiday, showing her on a sunny, quite crowded beach wearing only a pair of orange bikini bottoms, her slightly budding chest on full display with no trace of tan-lines. There were several like this then a couple in the family’s hotel room with Amelia completely naked this time, shown from behind and with wet hair as if she had just got out of the shower, clearly intended to show the contrast between her dark, mostly even tan and almost dazzlingly white bottom. In these, she was grinning over her shoulder cheekily, clearly posing for the amusing photos but after these came some more candid shots, still taken only from angles that would preserve her modesty but showing her stood on the hotel room’s balcony, looking out over the beach below and the ocean beyond.

“Looks like you had a nice time.” Samantha observed a little primly, passing the phone back. “So,” she turned to her dad who seemed to be trying to shrink into his chair. The others in the room had all stopped their conversations and were watching the drama unfold, some more discretely than others, “did you like what you saw?”

“Amelia was just asking if I thought she’d make a good spit-roast.” he replied sheepishly. “That’s all it was!” Seeing Amelia on the verge of tears and feeling guilty for upsetting while really just trying to tease her dad, Samantha could not keep up the pretence any more and burst into giggles.

“Oh Daddy, you’re so silly!” She kissed him on the top of the head in affectionate parody of the way he kissed her when they were joking around together. “Relax! I saw all these pictures a month ago, they’re on MyPix if your want to get a closer look later! I already showed Mum,” she informed Amelia with a grin, “and she said you had a very cute bum! So, are you really thinking about being a spit-piggy?”

“Maybe…” Amelia admitted, feeling incredibly relieved and hoping that the nice man sat beside her was not about to have a heart attack. “For my niece’s Christening in the Spring!”

“Oh awesome!” Samantha beamed. “Those legs of yours would be a real treat I’m sure!”

“Amelia was asking if she could come with us to your health inspection,” Josh explained, taking the envelope from her and inspecting the certificate inside, “is that okay with you?”

“Of course!” grinned Samantha. “In fact that would be awesome! Hey,” her shoulders sagged and she looked a little deflated for a moment, smiling apologetically, “sorry for teasing you both, I shouldn’t have taken it so far. I didn’t mean to upset either of you.”

“That’s okay!” Amelia hugged her. “And I’m sorry too, there’s just something about being here, you know, the place where girls get officially certified as meat? It just made me feel kinda…”

“Careful when we get to the butcher in that case!” Samantha poked her dad in the belly. “She’ll be giving you a lap-dance! Anyway,” she winked at him, “I promise to make it up to you later!”

A few minutes later they were in the car on the way to their next stop, the woman at reception having not even looked up to acknowledge them as they left. Josh had been pleased to find a tired-looking young woman with a baby in a carry-cot approaching the ticket machine just as they were getting ready to leave and had given her their ticket which was still good for more than enough time to get her shopping done, saving her a couple of pounds that could instead go towards the groceries.

“So what was that poster about?” Amelia asked once Samantha had finished telling them about her interview.

“The one with the marked-up girls on it?” Samantha asked, a little puzzled.

“No, the other one.” explained Amelia. “Until the chop you can still say stop? What’s that all about?”

“Oh right!” smiled Samantha, having done a lot of research into the laws and customs surrounding girl-meat and happy to share what she had learned. “There’s a law that says you can’t be forced to be meat if you don’t want to be. Whatever kind of contract you’ve signed of whatever money has changed hands, you can basically change your mind right up to the point you’re killed.”

“Oh right!” Amelia nodded, glad that such legal safeguards were in place. “But I guess you’d have to give the money back?”

“Well, yeah!” Samantha chuckled. “Or your parents would anyway.”

“But what if you’re not getting killed first?” Amelia frowned, tilting her head quizzically. “Like you, right? You’re going in the oven. Does that mean you can get out any time until you’re actually dead?”

“Well, yes and no.” Samantha admitted. “In practice it means up until the point where you would need medical intervention to recover, if it’s even possible at all. Like, for me, it would mean until I’ve been stuffed, especially if I’m gutted first. In your case it would be up until the moment the spit makes some sort of hole in your insides.” Amelia gave a little shiver of excitement at hearing her friend talk as if her future as a spit-roaster had already been settled. “Not sure where they draw the line if you’re getting boiled…” Samantha pondered. “Probably once you’ve been scalded so badly you’d go into shock if you got out the pot?”

Parking outside the butcher’s shop was far easier than at the council offices since it was part of a parade of shops with parking bays marked along the side of the road. Intrigued, Samantha looked through the car window at the shop front as her dad parked. The sign above the window made it clear that this was a family business that had been established shortly before the outbreak of the first world war, declaring them to be “Purveyers of High Quality Meats Since 1913!” and the gold lettering on the window proudly bore the family name. Behind the window was a display of fresh meat displayed on a bed of ice including some parts that were unmistakably from young girls like herself. More stuck-on letting in the corner of the window advertised their wares in a list: Beef, Pork, Chicken, Turkey, Girl, declaring them all to be “Fresh Every Day!” The car stopped and all three of them got out.

“Presumably up until nineteen twelve they just sold cheap crap and offcuts?” Josh joked, reading the painted sign. Samantha giggled and punched him on the arm.

“Come on, let’s go in!” Samantha urged. “Are you gonna come and watch?” she asked Amelia, “Or have you got some videos you took in the shower you want to show my dad?” Amelia blushed but giggled.

“Oh drop it already!” Josh chuckled. “We’ll all go through if we’re allowed. I’d like to see what they do too, if you don’t mind?”

“Not at all!” Samantha grinned, knowing that the more she was able to help her dad see her as meat, the easier it would be for him to help prep and cook her when the time came. “Let’s go!” Inside the shop, there were two ladies shopping and an older woman with the look for a stereotypical farmer’s, or butcher’s, wife, charmingly plump with grey hair in a bun. She acknowledged the newcomers with a smile while she finished serving her current customer.

“Oh wow!” Samantha exclaimed, wide-eyed, looking at the cuts of girl-meat in the window case as well as the one atop the counter.

“Imagine just being anonymous meat in a shop like this!” Amelia observed in a breathy whisper. “Ready for people who have no idea who you were to buy you for their dinner!” Both girls looked at the displays in silent awe for a few minutes before the lady behind the counter finished with her customer and turned to them.

“Is one of you Samantha?” she asked. Samantha put up her hand to identify herself. “Lovely!” she beamed. “Do you have your consent confirmation with you?” Samantha looked over to her dad who passed her the envelope that he had brought in from the car. She took out and unfolded her certificate then handed it to the lady. Putting on the librarian-style reading glasses she wore on a chain around her neck, she studied it then smiled and handed it back. “Lovely!” she smiled. “You can go through to the back room if you like, my husband has someone with him already but they should be nearly done and I’m sure she won’t mind!”

“Is it okay if we go too?” Josh asked, putting a hand on each of the girls’ shoulders. “Give Sam some moral support?”

“If she’s happy with then, then of course!” the woman smiled warmly. She lifted a flap in the counter and ushered Samantha through, Amelia and Josh following close behind. There was no actual door in the doorway she directed them through, just a beaded curtain, on the other side of which they found themselves in a tiled room with a variety of hooks hanging from the ceiling and an altar-like, marble-topped table in the middle. What really caught everyone’s eye, however, was the girl who was sat on the table, talking to a man who had to be the butcher.


To be continued...