As she listened, Jennifer couldn’t help wondering whether this story was actually true or whether it was one of those legends that tend to be spun around historical events to make something mundane seem more interesting and dramatic. She had no doubt that they had originally intended to go for more of a “farm girl” look, she had even seen the test shots of eight year old Sidney looking very cute in such an outfit, and that concerns had been raised about the similarity to other mascots, requiring a re-think, but this eleventh-hour panic and finding the solution by luck struck her as a little too contrived, especially given what Martha explained next.

“We went in to buy a set just to be on the safe side but the quality wasn’t really what we were looking for so, after our lunch, at Wendy’s of course,” she added with a chuckle, “we went back to the office and I got in touch with a company in Nashville that produced the top quality versions of hats and boots like the ones we had bought at the mall and in fact often supplied Dolly Parton. They listened to our requirements and got exactly what we wanted shipped over-night to the office ready for a fresh shoot the next morning. Poor Sidney,” she chuckled again, “with the big hair and over the top make-up, it really was the most girly I’d ever seen her! She complained she looked like one of those kids off… oh, what was the show called? Toddlers in Tiaras! But I assured her she looked great, and, more importantly, delicious, so she agreed to go ahead with the shoot and, well,” she grinned, “the rest is history!”

Even if Jennifer remained unconvinced, the children in the studio seemed to accept this story. Not that it mattered too much, she supposed. Everyone changes and adapts the truth a little when they tell a story, even if they are sticking to the basic facts as they remember it. Reality, Jennifer understood, has a habit of being messy and not adhering to good narrative structure! On the screen, Martha was asking for the next question, choosing another girl, a twelve or thirteen year old this time, with dark hair in twin braids.

“Did Sidney ever have sex?” she asked. The studio audience giggled and the host looked uncomfortable but Martha’s lips twitched as if she wanted to laugh too but then she composed herself.

“Don’t worry,” she assured the girl, “that’s a perfectly reasonable question! After all, these days, meat-girls tend to try it at least once before their big day and there are some, or so I’m told, who spend their final week or so doing little else! I hear there’s even a colloquial saying about it, which I’m not going to repeat here, but if you know, you know!” The chuckles from the audience showed that most of them, in fact, did know. Jennifer pondered for a moment what saying she might be referring to then realised it was probably “As horny as a pre-teen meat-girl on harvest day!” or some earlier variation of the same.

“The thing is,” Martha chose her words carefully as she answered, “you have to remember that the world Sidney grew up in was very different from the one you know. Her victory changed a lot more than just what people liked to eat. There used to be this thing called the Age of Consent,” she explained, “before they replaced it with the much more sensible laws about consent and bodily autonomy that we have now. Basically, the government would set an age below which any kind of sexual activity, not just full sex, was illegal. It varied from country to country, I think it was sixteen here, for example,” she recalled, “but each state in the US could set their own and in Texas, where Sidney lived, it was seventeen. Besides,” she smiled softly as she recalled her young friend of so many years ago, “I don’t really think she was that into that sort of thing. I mean, she was very young when she…” She paused for a moment, not wanting to use the word she had been about to say. “When she was harvested, so perhaps she’d come around to the idea later. Oh I know these days most twelve year olds are at it like rabbits!” she chuckled, the audience giggling along with her and Jennifer, not quite yet the age they were discussing but close, remembered her experience in the shower with Craig earlier that evening.

“But back then it just wasn’t like that. I think,” Martha continued, “if anything, the idea of being eaten took the place for that craving for her. You know she was the one to coin the term Yummy, right? The word for when you feel a desperate craving, a hunger even, to be food?” The audience nodded and grinned in agreement. “But anyway, there are some parts of her life that I think should remain private. She’s not around any more to say what she is or isn’t okay with being shared so I have to be respectful, but let me just say,” she smiled warmly, “there was a young man on the team who took good care of her on her last evening and made sure she didn’t have any regrets.” While this clearly suggested to Jennifer that Sidney had indeed had sex at least once, even if it would technically have been illegal, the ambiguity of the statement was enough to protect her privacy and to make keep the young man in question, who would almost certainly have still been alive at the time and probably still was, out of trouble.

“I think we have time for one more question?” Martha scanned the audience of mostly girls and picked another in the front row. One of the younger ones this time with shorter hair poking out from under a cute pink cap with the stylised Sidney’s S on the front. “Yes, dear.” She smiled. “What’s your question?”

“Do you think Sidney would be proud if she could see how popular her restaurants are now?” asked the little girl.

“Oh yes!” Martha beamed. “Most assuredly so! Honestly, I think this is absolutely the future she dreamed of and it only gets better every year!” With that, the interview concluded, the host thanked Martha for coming and the audience gave her a polite round of applause. The video clip stopped and Jennifer put on one of the dance show recordings, just to enjoy for entertainment as she processed and reflected upon the things Martha had said.


To be continued...