your mouth.?
Cool it you two,?Zara interrupted stiffly, as she burrowed into her handbag and pulled out a purse. T'll sure our young ambassador for political correctness didn't actually mean it. James, theret some vending machines out in the hallway. Take my change and sort out what everyone wants to eat and drink.?
There was a queue at the machine that dispensed depressingly small cups of instant coffee, so it was nearly ten minutes before James came back and plonked a tray of drinks, crisps and Jaffa Cakes on the table. Meantime, Kyle had been out into the hallway and grabbed a couple of extra chairs.
As James sat down, Lauren opened up a packet of crisps. But as she dipped her hand in, Ryan snatched the bag out of her hand and began reading from the label.
Tylert Thick-sliced Tasty Chicken Flavour. Ingredients: potatoes, vegetable oil, chicken stock powder, monosodium glutamate, colour, salt.?
Ryan leaned across the table and stared intensely at Lauren. Nave you ever seen the inside of a chicken farm??
Lauren shook her head.
The birds are stacked in mesh cages, eight or ten levels high, with ten or twelve birds crammed into each tiny cage. Chickens get extremely frustrated being huddled together like that, so the farmers cut their beaks off as soon as they're born to stop them pecking each other.
慤nfortunately, the beak isn't dead tissue like a horset hoof, it contains hundreds of thousands of nerve endings and it feels about as painful as having your nose chopped off without being given any anaesthetic.
After six weeks crammed inside mesh cages, without ever standing on a blade of grass, or seeing a glimmer of sunlight, the birds are ready for slaughter. This whole time theyre been crapping through the mesh down on to the birds below them. Right at the bottom, the sticky white chicken shit is so deep that some birds?feet are torn out of their sockets as they're pulled out of it for the ride to the slaughterhouse.
Mnce they arrive, the chickens are hooked upside down on to a conveyor belt. A rotating blade is supposed to slit the chickent throat. But chickens have a tendency to wriggle and the knife misses every seventh or eighth bird. Now, you might think that not getting your throat cut is a lucky break, but itt not. Because all the dangling, bloody, chickens keep rolling along until they're lowered down into a tank of boiling water to loosen off their feathers. And instead of having its throat cut, the poor bird gets boiled alive.?
Ryan pushed the Tasty Chicken crisps back across the table towards Lauren. Tuck in,?he grinned.
Lauren stared into the packet the way she might have stared if sher found a bloody axe in her lap. Tell 厭 she said uncertainly.
T'll in here because I believe that exploiting animals is wrong,?Ryan continued forcefully. TEl probably catch a long sentence some time and end up dying in prison. IEl never own a car or have a nice house. IEl never have kids and I doubt thereEl be anyone at my funeral besides the priest and the undertaker. But, if Ire made a few girls like you think about what they put in their mouths and persuade them to stop eating meat and wearing bits of dead animals on their feet, maybe it will have been worth it, eh??
James saw that Lauren had been spooked by the lanky Irishman and it riled up his instinct to defend his little sister. Cut it out, eh? Shet only eleven.?
Lauren shot a don't patronise me glance at her brother, then looked up at Ryan and smiled respectfully at him. Ttt really cool that you fight for stuff you believe in so strongly. I know itt kind of gross eating animals. We can't eat meat on the mission anyway, so IEl stop now and see how it goes.?
Ryan smiled triumphantly. And maybe youEl not be in any hurry to start again when your missiont over??
Lauren shrugged. Maybe. Theret tons of veggie girls on campus, actually.?
Zara cleared her throat. Anyhow Ryan,?she interrupted, TouEl have plenty of time to indoctrinate this lot over the coming weeks. Right now, we desperately need to discuss details: names, dates, faces, and pick-up times. You're out of here in less than a week and theret a lot of things to be done to get our little show on the road.?
James reached in front of Zara and grabbed Laurent crisps. Eeeing as you're not eating them.?
Zara swatted James?arm with the back of her hand.