Hello everyone! My name’s Alan. I'm 15. And I'm a professional basketball player. Before I start my story, imagine your diet for a week. Now, remove all the meat and fish... What’s left? I’m sure no more than half of the dishes.
Maybe, you also had tears in your eyes, and your stomach rumbled in fright, when you look at such a menu. But my parents eat like this every day. And in every possible way, they try to make me join this vegetarianism. Though it happens only in the last 6 months. And here’s what made this happen.
A year ago, we moved to our own house with the garden, the swimming pool and the bower with the barbecue. It was our dream. My parents had been saving up money for this for a long time. And finally, it came true.
Our new house became a favorite weekend destination for our family and my school friends at once.
On Saturdays, we grilled juicy steaks. And on Sundays, we cooked salmon fish soup in the backyard. It became our tradition. And each of us was looking forward to the end of the week to get the gastronomic ecstasy and enjoy the unforgettable time in the circle of close people.
My parents were really upset when our neighbors put up their house for sale. We were in good relations with them and even were friends by families.
But life is life. And we could only wait for the new residents to come here soon.
And after a couple of weeks, a young man knocked at our door. He introduced himself as our new neighbor. He said that his name was Richard. He was a coach. And he was very glad to meet us.
Of course, my parents invited him for tea to get to know each other better. Richard turned out an incredibly charming, a smart and a well-read man. We didn’t even see how 3 hours flew by during the talks. Then, our new neighbor apologized and went to the airport to meet his wife.
My parents were quite impressed. They said how cool he was and how easy it was to communicate with him. I also liked his stories about mountain hiking in extreme conditions and diving. Ah, if only we knew what was behind this flawless mask.
So, our friendship with Richard and his wife started. His wife, by the way, turned out no less charismatic and nice.
Soon, one Saturday afternoon, dad invited them to our house. By the time they came, we had already fried meat and set the table in our bower.
That day, we found out that Richard and his wife were vegetarians, so they couldn’t share the pleasure of eating steaks with us. But they told us about their position and their lifestyle.
For us, it sounded like a tale about the parallel reality. No, of course, we heard about vegetarianism. But it's hard to imagine life without meat at all. “It's not about us,” we thought, eating juicy steaks.
Our family, Richard and his wife’s friendship became stronger. And I started to notice my parents come to them in the evenings more and more often. They began to go to some seminars and trainings together.
And so, one Saturday, according to the tradition, I came home with my friends to have fresh fried meat. But there were only vegetables grilled...
I asked my parents when meat would be there. But they said that there would be no meat... ever...
And no, they weren’t kidding. Since that day, meat stopped to appear in our house. And my parents forbade me to eat it when I was out. The same with fish.
I started to feel constant hunger and weakness. My stomach ached from all these vegetables. I wanted to sleep. From the best basketball player, I turned into the worst one. And I didn’t even have any energy to hold the ball in my hands. I’m not speaking about throwing it.
So, I started to buy steaks in the school cafeteria sneakily from my parents.
But my parents seemed to have their own agents at school from among teachers or my classmates. They found out about it soon.
Dad was furious. He shouted that I was cruel and that I didn’t have any pity for animals.
Mum was no less furious. But she said that I was still a kid and didn’t think about myself at all. And that meat did harm to my health.
After that, they took my pocket money away from me.
It wasn’t hard for me to guess where there was the mare’s nest. Of course, Richard was involved in all this, with his trainings and seminars. He was also an excellent psychologist who could convince people. And he convinced my parents to become vegetarians.
I hated him. But one mustn’t lock the barn door after the horse is stolen.
0 Comments