The Taste of Belonging
“Can we turn the radio off, please?” said Allison, riding in the passenger seat of Ben’s car.
“But they’re about to announce the new missing persons,” said Ben, driving the car. “I want to hear if they have any leads.”
“There’s a new one at least every few months,” said Allison. “What I’m trying to talk about is important.” Ben took a deep breath and switched off the radio. “Thank you,” said Allison. “I just can’t believe you told your friends about how I released animals when I was younger.”
“Trust me, they loved those stories,” said Ben.
“They probably think I’m just this weird girl who’s out of control,” said Allison.
“Come on,” said Ben. “That’s only half true.”
“Ben, I’m serious,” said Allison, while Ben laughed.
“They think it’s cool,” said Ben, “and with this group, you’re going to hear some college stories tonight that will really shock you. Trust me, they love animals as much as we do, and they loved your mug shot.”
“You are unbelievable,” replied Allison in frustration while Ben bounced with laughter.
“Seriously, babe, they’re going to love you,” said Ben, more calming now. “Because I love you, and I wouldn’t be taking you to meet my closest friends if you weren’t the most beautiful, inspiring, passionate person I know.” Ben picked up Allison’s hand and kissed it. Allison smiled in return, and they continued their drive to Jude and Liz’s house.
“I can’t believe we’re this late. If I hadn’t spent so long on my hair…” said Allison, as she and Ben walked the brick pathway to the front door of the house. Through a large window, Allison could see a short woman with glasses, a man who looked like he could be a personal trainer with no hair left on his head but plenty on his face, and a thin, handsome man, all with glasses of wine in hand, having a riveting conversation.
“Babe, relax,” said Ben. “Look, they probably don’t even realize we’re late.” The woman in the window noticed Allison and Ben coming down the pathway, and she smiled and waved at them enthusiastically. The two men with her turned around, noticed the couple, and joined in on the waving. “See,” said Ben, “They’re not bloodthirsty.” The woman and the men walked off from view to some other part of the house.
Allison and Ben reached the door, and Allison said, “I just want them to like me.”
Ben put an arm around her, pulling her close, and said, “This is going to be great. Trust me.” Ben turned the doorknob, but the door was locked, so he knocked.
Laughter could be heard from the other side of the door, and a playful voice from one of the guys on the other side said, “This is a secret party. I’m going to need the secret password before I can let you in.”
“You’re an asshole,” said Ben. “That’s the password; now let us in.”
The door opened, and the short woman with glasses was standing there with a welcoming smile. She said to Ben, “You know Zack’s humor.“ The woman turned to Allison and said, “Hi, I’m Liz, and you must be Allison. It’s great to finally meet you. I’ve heard such good things.”
“Oh, thank you,” replied Allison, as she awkwardly received a hug from Liz.
“Benny always knows how to pick the pretty ones,” said the thin, handsome man, emerging from behind the door. “Oh my God, and I love her hair.”
The bald bearded man Allison saw in the window entered the doorway with two glasses of wine in his hands. He handed one to the thin, handsome man and said, “A compliment from this one doesn’t come easy, so feel honored along with welcome, Allison.” He extended a hand to Allison, and as they shook, he said, “I’m Nicolas, and in case he forgot to mention it, which he often does, that’s my Zack.”
“Enchanté,” said Zack, as he stuck a hand out to Allison, which he did not wait for her to shake. He turned his attention to Ben and said, “Have you been keeping up with the news about the new person missing?”
“We turned the radio off in the car,” said Ben, glancing quickly at Allison and then back to Zack, “but we can talk about it later.”
Nicolas, Zack, and Liz led Allison and Ben into the dining room of the house. The table was set for six people and had on it plenty of wine and plenty of food, from stuffed mushrooms, to avocado toast bites, to wild mushroom risotto, to eggplant involtini, to zucchini noodles and pesto, to jasmine rice, to roasted veggies, and large helpings of salad.
Allison looked at Liz and asked, “Is all this vegan?”
Before Liz could respond, a voice answered Allison and said, “It sure is. We don’t hurt animals here.” Allison looked to see who it was that answered her and saw a man with a big toothy smile and a waistcoat over his plaid shirt walking into the dining room from the kitchen. “I hope you came hungry. The last dish is in the oven now.”
“Yeah, because he was cooking extra slow for you two,” said Zack before taking a sip from his wine glass and receiving a light slap on the arm from Nicolas.
“I’m so sorry we’re late. It’s all my fault,” said Allison. She extended a hand to the man and said, “You must be Jude.”
“And you must be the lovely Allison Ben has told us all about,” said Jude. He pushed aside Allison’s extended hand and gave her a hug.
The hug came as a shock to Allison, and by the time Jude had let go, it had grown uncomfortable. Allison did not let her smile falter, and Jude stepped back and put an arm around Liz. He said to the room, “My friends… My family… Let’s eat!”
Everyone sat down at the table, where the wine flowed, the laughs rang, and the delicious food got passed around. Allison enjoyed the wild mushroom risotto the most and found that her anxious politeness had turned into genuine enjoyment. As her laughter from one of Zack’s jokes began to settle, a smell caught her nose.
“Is it just me, or does it smell like meat cooking?” asked Allison.
The whole table went quiet and looked to Jude. Jude looked at his watch and said, “Allison, you are a lifesaver. I was so excited to have everyone here that I forgot to set the timer on my phone. I’ll be right back.” And with that, Jude stood up from the table and went into the kitchen.
Allison’s anxious politeness began to return, and she said to Ben, “I thought everyone was vegan?” She glanced around the table and saw that everyone was staring at her, some with solemn faces, like Ben and Nicolas, and some with eerie smiles, like Zack and Liz.
Liz reached over, touched Allison’s shoulder, and said, “We are, but this is a little tradition we have that we’d like you to be a part of.”
Ben took Allison’s hand in his and said, “It’s okay, babe. This is what tonight’s all about.”
“Eating meat?” asked Allison. “I don’t mind if you guys have some. I’m not here to judge anyone, but I don’t think I’m going to have any; I don’t even like the taste.”
“We don’t eat it for pleasure,” said Jude, walking back into the dining room, carrying a large plate with a slab of meat on it. Liz took some dishes off of the table to make room.
Ben squeezed Allison’s hand and said, “Come on. Just try it.”
Jude set the meat down on the table, and Allison stared at it. To her, it looked like pork, which was one of her least favorite meats even back when she did eat it. Jude cut off a small piece and picked it up with a toothpick. He brought it over to where Allison sat, dropped to a knee, and held up the meat on the toothpick as if he were using it to propose to her.
“There’s no pressure here, Allison,” said Jude. “The choice is completely yours, but I would love for you to join us.”
Allison stared at the small piece of meat, and Jude moved it slightly closer to her. Slowly, Allison reached out and took the toothpick from Jude’s hand. She looked around the table, and everyone was completely focused on her. Allison held the toothpick in front of her, staring at the meat, and before she could think about it a moment longer, she lunged forward and bit the meat off the toothpick.
Jude stood up from the floor, and everyone cheered as Allison uncomfortably chewed on the meat in her mouth. To her surprise, it tasted much better than she had expected. Once she swallowed, Jude put a hand on her shoulder and said with a smile, “You’re one of us now. I knew you could do it.”
Allison felt Ben squeeze her hand, so she turned to him, and he said, “You did great, babe,” before kissing her.
“Thank you,” replied Allison. She looked around the table and said, “All this for a little piece of meat?”
“It’s about what eating the meat stands for,” said Jude. He began to walk around the table slowly while keeping his focus on Allison, as he continued on to say, “Ben told us about the group you organized in college. All of those innocent animal lives you saved. When I heard that, I knew you were one of us. You just hadn’t taken that extra step yet.”
“To be honest, I’m a little embarrassed,” said Allison. “I was kind of wild back in those days, and I had this boyfriend that got me mixed up in some things I shouldn’t have been mixed up in. But I shouldn’t blame him; I just felt so strongly about the cruelty those animals were going through. I still do. Now I feel worse about eating the meat. I’m such a hypocrite.” She thought about what she had just said for a moment and uttered, “But I don’t mean –”
Jude interrupted her and said, in a calm yet upbeat voice, “My dear Allison. Like I said, you are one of us. When we met in college, we all felt exactly as you did; we just decided to go about it in a different way. One night, and I must admit I was a little drunk at the time, the idea hit me: the meat eaters – the exploiters – they need to pay for their crimes against the world. But how? By making them feel what the animals felt throughout human history. By making them feel like livestock that could get plucked up at any moment and have a one-way ticket to the slaughter. Once a season, my dear friends and I take a meat eater from its natural habitat, keep it in a cold, dark stall, fatten it up with crap food to eat, and serve it up for our selfish enjoyment. So tell us, Allison, what did you think of the meat?”
Allison looked around the table at all the eyes on her. The last person her eyes landed on was Ben, who stared back without emotion. Allison looked to Jude and said, “It was delicious. Can I have some more?”