Page 123 of The Fighter
“Well, speaking about that. If you, Khan, and Leo want some meat, one of you will have to cook it.”
Boulder smacked a kiss on his wife’s cheek. “See, this is why we need a kitchen bot.”
Christina walked over to cut some bread that looked homemade. “Cooking is an opportunity to come together as a family. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Boulder opened a fridge in the corner of the room and pulled out three large steaks. “Anyone else want some good protein?”
Samara, who was a mini version of Christina with her brown hair and blue eyes, wrinkled her nose up. “Dad, you know I would never eat another living being, that’s so cruel.”
Freya, who was the daughter of Khan and Pearl and according to rumors highly academically gifted, looked almost bored when she looked at Samara. “They wouldn’t be alive if you ate them, would they? Besides, our being vegans isn’t very supportive of animals to begin with.”
“Excuse me?” Pearl looked at her daughter as if she had grown an extra head.
“The sad truth is this. Before the Motherlands made it illegal to consume animals, there were millions of cows and chickens. The minute the vegans stopped any and all consumption of animal food products they became responsible for the loss of life on a far greater scale than the meat eaters.”
Khan grinned. “That’s right, honey, you tell them.”
Freya nodded and continued, “There was no longer a market for animals bred for food so they would never get a chance to even exist. They would never know the joy of breathing air or running in the fields. What I don’t like about being a vegan is that we literally stripped them of their right to live.”
I was gaping at the girl, who couldn’t be more than ten or eleven, but her parents didn’t seem surprised by her eloquent speech. Instead, Khan looked highly amused while Pearl tilted her head and narrowed her eyes a little.
“I assume your father told you this?”
Freya nodded “We’ve discussed it, but mostly I’ve read about it in a book by Lee Rinehart – maybe you heard of him?”
“No, but let me guess, it was a book your father gave to you.”
Khan confirmed it: “Lee was a fine warrior and a great Nman. His book is a classic in the Northlands.”
Freya nodded. “I like when Lee wrote, ‘When you think you are truly righteous, morally superior, and better than others, you are blind to other views. All life has a right to live, even if it is only for a short time to feed another life. If you break the circle of life, all will die.’”
Pearl gave Khan a dirty look. “We’ll discuss your attempt at indoctrination later.”
Christina craned her neck to look back at Boulder behind her, “You men have to stop undermining our teachings about no killing. You knew I wouldn’t approve of you showing our boys how to kill.”
“Which is why I told them to keep it quiet. Don’t say I’m not respectful.”
Khan’s finger brushed the hair on his young son’s head. “Magni and I brought our boys on a survival trip this summer – you liked that, didn’t you, Thor?”
The boy nodded his head. “Yeah, I got to make a fire and we built a bridge across a river. It was fun.”
Khan grinned. “See, Christina. Pearl wasn’t happy about that trip either, but you women will have to respect that men are raised differently up here.”
Thor turned to look up at Khan. “Can Jones and I go outside? I want to show him my new play drone.”
Khan nodded and the two boys, who were the same age, ran out of the kitchen.
“Stay away from the pond, though,” Pearl called after them as she walked over to snatch a piece of cucumber from the cutting board that Jones had abandoned. “Freya, why don’t you ask Indiana or Samara if they want to play chess with you?”
Freya still stood leaning against her dad and looked up at Indiana, who was half a head taller than her. “No thanks. Last time I beat Indiana four times and he threw the bishop against the wall.”
Indiana scrunched up his face. “Chess is stupid.”
“Then find something else to do until lunch is ready.” Pearl took another piece of cucumber.
Christina was quick to jump in with a task for them. “Actually, how about you three set the table. Indiana, you’ll have to show them how to expand it.”
“Argh.” He gave a displeased grunt. “Do I have to?”
