Although they were all hungry and eager to enjoy their lunch, Josh insisted that they go find somewhere to sit first. When they had visited previously, it had been the Summer and plenty of families had sat on the grass but it was far too cold and damp for that now. Fortunately, a young couple with a baby in a pushchair were just getting up off a bench as they passed so the trio were able to nab it, Josh sitting in the middle between the two girls.

“This is your first girl-meat, right Daddy?” Samantha asked, excited to witness her dad’s first experience and hoping against hope that he would not suddenly decide that he didn’t like it.

“It certainly is!” he grinned. “Amelia’s too, I think?” She nodded. “I know it’s not yours,” he turned to his daughter, “but how about we all take the first bite at the same time?” The girls both agreed that this sounded like an awesome plan and, all three of them grinning from ear to ear, they counted down from three then took a big, simultaneous bite.

As Josh bit down, he experienced an explosion of flavour in his mouth. The meat was new yet somehow familiar. In texture it was most like turkey, but far moister, with a flavour that was a mix of chicken and pork with an added smokiness that came from the cooking method. He chewed slowly, thoughtfully, wondering which part of the body the meat he was enjoying came from and concluding that, since different slices has been collected from the platter, it was likely a mix. The girl that had been roasted, if her colleagues could be used as a guide, had been somewhere between sixteen and nineteen years old so more or less fully grown but still with the tenderness of youth. Of course he knew that here was a reason that Sidney’s put a cap of fourteen on the age of their meat-girls and it was not because that was the age Sidney would have been when the first restaurant to bear her name was opened, as they claimed. Yet the meat of this older teen was incredibly delicious so he could not help but imagine how much tastier Samantha’s eleven year old body would be!

“So?” Samantha asked expectantly, looking up at her dad as he finished his first mouthful. “What do you think? Good?”

“All I can say,” he chuckled, “is if you all taste this delicious! I don’t know why we didn’t start eating you years ago!”

“That was kinda Sidney’s point!” Samantha giggled.

“Didn’t they find that people used to eat girls, a long time ago?” Amelia observed conversationally. “Like wasn’t there some Emperor who used to serve his guests girls from his harem? And there was that thing they told us in school about that American colony where they found a girl’s bones with teeth marks on or something?”

“I think it was knife marks that suggested butchering,” Josh chuckled, “but yeah they did. Although they tried spinning it as something they’d done to avoid starvation. Personally I think it was just a special occasion they wanted to celebrate and they were sick of fish and wild turkey!” The girls both giggled some more. “Plus they found those rubbish pits from even earlier times where children’s bones were mixed in with pigs and sheep.”

“However did humanity lose its way so dreadfully?” Amelia sighed theatrically, shaking her head before exploding into more giggles. “At least Sidney had the right idea!”

“She must have tapped into something a lot of people were already feeling, at least subconsciously.” Josh observed between his second and third bites. “I doubt so many people would have been persuaded if they’d actually found the idea physically and morally repulsive. It’s like that thing they say about hypnotism.” The girls looked at him quizzically. “That you can’t hypnotise people into doing something they are absolutely against,” he explained, “you can just use it to lower their inhibitions so they’ll feel comfortable doing something they want to but wouldn’t normally dare.”

“Makes sense!” Samantha nodded. “So you think lots of people secretly wanted to eat girls and lots of girls secretly wanted to get eaten but it took Sidney bringing the discussion out into the open like that to get them to admit it?”

“Exactly!” Josh nodded. “People have always joked with little girls about gobbling them up or telling them they looked good enough to eat, as long as I can remember anyway! Not to mention the kink stuff online! I bet Sidney got a lot of support from them!”

“Oh? Been doing a little research have you?” Amelia asked archly. “For academic purposes, of course?”

“Something like that!” Josh chuckled, blushing a little. “Well, when your daughter comes out as a meat-girl, isn’t it a parent’s responsibility to try to understand their culture a little?” The girls agreed and the three of them sat in companionable silence for a little while, happily munching on their girl and stuffing rolls. Samantha was the first to finish!”

“That was so good!” she declared, folding up her greasy paper plate and looking around for a bin. The others were not too far behind and Josh gathered up the plates and napkins before offering some individually packeted wet-wipes he found in his pocket, left over from the last time they had gone to KFC. Once everyone was cleaned up, they checked the time and made a plan of action. There was still over two hours to go before the special Santa session so they decided to go and take a proper look at the stalls and hopefully pick out some Christmas presents. Wanting Samantha to feel a sense of ownership, Josh took three twenty pound notes from his wallet and gave them to her, saying that the money was to buy presents but, within that criteria, it was entirely up to her how she spent them. Then, not wanting her to feel left out, he gave Amelia a twenty and a ten saying it was hers to spend however she wanted, whether that be on something for her parents or for herself or a mixture. She protested, saying it was not his responsibility but he insisted, wanting to see both girls happy and wanting them to be able to enjoy the day as much as possible.

“What if I want to spend it on more raffle tickets?” she giggled.

“Well that would be your choice!” Josh ruffled her hair as he often did with Samantha. “I’m sure the girls would be pleased! But remember those ticket books each held a thousand and what number does the tickets you have already start with?”

“Three on the yellow ones,” Amelia admitted, “then a mix of two and three on the green!”

“Right!” Josh nodded, “So even quite early in the day they’d sold three hundred tickets a piece. I would say you’ve got as good a chance as anyone with what you’ve already bought and it would be better to spend your money on something else but, like I said, it’s your money and how you spend it is entirely up to you!”


To be continued...