“Although I must say,” winking conspiratorially at Kennedy, “this week’s been an absolute blast! No responsibilities, no laundry!” she laughed. “And I never knew how many places give freebies to Animals! I’ve eaten at a different place twice a day all week, something three times! Oh and the bars too… Even when they cut you off, there’s still plenty of gentleman happy to buy an Animal out on her own a drink or two! You know,” she giggled like a small girl, “if I’d known all you had to do was show up naked with a red watch to get treated like royalty, I might have got one of those filters years ago! Oh yes I know they’re illegal most places and if they catch you with one it’s an instant trip to the Processing Centre but I ended up here anyway, didn’t I?” she shrugged. “Neat little scam like that might have stopped me going into debt in the first place! Oh and the sex…” She gave a contented sigh. “I think I’ve had more this week than in the past ten years put together! So many men seem to get turned on by the idea of having their wicked way with an Animal, even an old boiler like me!” She chuckled self-deprecatingly. “What about you?” she looked down at the attractive, athletic young teen. “You can’t have been short of offers? Little cutie like you?”

“I had fun.” Kennedy assured her with intentional ambiguity, giving her a coy smile, not really feeling like discussing her sexual preferences, or lack thereof, with a total stranger, even such a friendly one who seemed to enjoy over-sharing. Having already drawn her own conclusions about what anyone with Kennedy’s looks would have spent their final week of life doing, the woman seemed satisfied with her answer and did not ask any follow-up questions, meaning that the young girl did not have to explain that the fun she was referring to was reading the final two entries in a sci-fi book series she had not got to yet, long walks on the countryside trails that started an easy bus-ride from her home, binge-watching three entire seasons of “Mac’n’Marty” and baths. Lots and lots of baths!

“Ooh! Here we go again!” the bubbly woman exclaimed as the next batch were taken and the next group shuffled down to take their place. There was just one group ahead of them now and, from how they looked and the way they were interacting, Kennedy guessed that they were a family. There was a man of maybe thirty, a slightly younger woman, two boys of around seven or eight who bickered and teased each other constantly despite their mum sitting between them and a little girl of perhaps six who sat on her mum’s lap. If they all went together, which Kennedy was sure they would, there would be just two more people between her new friend and the end of the bench – a boy in his late teens who had been sitting with his face in his hands the whole time, except for the occasional moments when he would raise his head and look around, and beyond him a cute, plump girl of eleven or twelve who did not seem to have any connection with either him or the family on her other side.

“I’m Kennedy.” She introduced herself once they had moved to their new spots and got settled again. The young couple to her, in their early twenties, she guessed, were busy trying to map out each other’s throats with their tongues and she welcomed being able to focus on the woman, even if she did seem like the kind of person who could get “a bit much” if one was forced to spend a lot of time with her. “Or, I was at least. Do we have names any more?” Her legal life, be it as person or Animal, had legally ended when she had handed over her watch. She was no statusless. Was she nameless too? Surely not, she thought. Names were a means of personal identification and nobody could take away her inner sense of who she was, even if they addressed her as nothing but “Meat” any more!

“That’s a very good question.” The woman nodded thoughtfully for a moment. “You know, I really don’t know? But either was, Kennedy is a very pretty name! Mine is, or was, Rose. Rosie to me friends.” She gave a warm smile that was clearly meant to indicate she considered Kennedy a member of this inner circle. “But speaking of names…” She looked up, suddenly distracted. “Who do you suppose that is?” A man in a sharp black suit and dark glasses, carrying a briefcase, strode confidently down the middle of the room and approached the door on the right, the one that they would soon be called through. He did not knock on it as Kennedy had expected but instead put his finger to his hear, activating the wireless earpiece her wore, and said a few words neither Kennedy nor Rosie could make out but, whatever they were, the door opened a moment later and the uniformed official on the other side welcomed him through with obvious deference.

“Looks important!” Kennedy observed. “Probably something to do with the government?”

“Her certainly didn’t look as if he were here for chop!” Rosie chuckled. “Speaking of which, has anyone talked to you about…” She hesitated. “You know, what to expect?”

“Most people get butchered, don’t they?” Kennedy asked, remembering an educational propaganda film they had been shown in school during Conversion Week when the whole class had to show up to school naked to, according to System doctrine, “help them break the habits of modesty which result in conversion being unnecessarily stressful.”

“Most, I suppose.” Rosie nodded. “But you see those whole ones in restaurants sometimes don’t you? And in butcher shop windows. They have to come from somewhere!”

“I don’t really care what happens afterwards, honestly.” Kennedy admitted. “They do still give you an injection, right? Before they start...whatever they’re going to do? Put you to sleep?”

“I haven’t the foggiest, to be honest!” Rosie shrugged. “It’s not up to us what happens to our bodies any more, is it? Although I do think it would be a shame to cut you up! I can see you as a delicious-looking centre-piece at some fancy restaurant.” Kennedy smiled, accepting this as the compliment it was intended to be. “Me, I’ll be in pieces in the chilled display for sure! Or maybe even in some supermarket freezer.” She shrugged again. “Que sera, sera and all that!”

The official came out, without the man in the black suit, and called the family through. The little girl got down off her mum’s lap and held her hand as they walked through the door, the boys running on ahead and the man putting his arm around his wife’s shoulder and kissing her lovingly on the cheek. Although she herself had been wishing just to get the day’s messy business over with, Kennedy was a little surprised to see the young boys so eager and in a hurry for whatever awaited them on the other side of the door. Perhaps they really didn’t know? She wondered if it was possible that their parents had managed to bring them up completely in the dark about The System, but that seemed unlikely. Perhaps, which seemed more likely, boredom was simply a very powerful motivator!

They moved down again. Time certainly did seem to be moving faster now that she had someone to talk to! Looking up to the far end of the room where the latest arrivals were getting as comfortable as they could on the recently-vacated end of the bench, Kennedy wondered whether this process carried on running indefinitely, night and day, or if there was a cut-off point after which the room would gradually empty until the next morning.

Now that they were so close, she found herself very curious about what was just beyond the door. Whenever it had been opened, she had just seen a corridor with the same inoffensive cream-painted walls as the waiting room but did that lead directly to where the Animals were killed? The video had shown discrete, private rooms but was that really how things were back then? Or was it an open, industrial abattoir? A production line converting living, walking people to cuts of meat?

Allowing her mind to wander now that conversation seemed to have run a little dry, Kennedy wondered what he mum would do now that she no longer had her to look after. Maybe she would cut down her hours at work, with only one mouth to feed, and go back to her studies? Or maybe she would find herself a new husband and have some more kids, something that she had expressed an unwillingness to do while Kennedy was still dependant on her, not wanting her to feel in any way pushed aside.

She wondered how Bobby was getting on at his own conversion. Was it all over for him already? Or was he further back in the queue? There was no way of knowing, of course, but she liked to imagine that they would be called through at the same time. She wondered how Jane, always so protective of him, would get on once her poor brother was gone and, honestly, she would not have been surprised to learn that she had decided last minute to go with him as a volunteer. Of course Kennedy would never find out the answer to any of these speculations but the thoughts were a useful, even comforting distraction as she waited her turn.

So deep was she in her thoughts that she did not even notice the click of the door opening. It was only when Rosie poked her playfully in the ribs that she realised the official had come out again and was counting along the line of waiting Animals on the bench. The young couple had finally come up for air and the uncaring official called through the next five, separating them forever. The young man stood and touched fingers with the girl for as long as he could until they were all ushered forward and Kennedy finally found herself walking towards the door.

“This is it!” Rosie chuckled, still trying to sound upbeat as much for her own benefit as anyone else’s. “Here we go!”

“No talking!” the official snapped and Rosie made a face at Kennedy then cheekily mimed zipping her mouth shut, making Kennedy giggle – something she had expected never to do again.


To be continued...