Marie, the meat-eater

Marie Pockington was a meat-eater. She loved all kinds of meat, especially roasted chicken.

One day, while Marie was throwing her lettuce from her sandwich in her lunch bag to the bunnies, Marie saw a distant glowing object. She watched in both amazement and fear as the shape moved towards her. Suddenly, the shape turned into a beautiful, roasted chicken. Marie ran up to it, and tried to grab it. Magically, it disappeared! Then it turned into a gorgeous woman with bird-like, feathery wings.

“Marie, my child, you are chosen!” she whispered mysteriously, “you are chosen to be the meat-eater!”

Marie jumped back, terrified. The woman kept on approaching her.

“I am the ghost of the bacon you last ate!” the ghost cried loudly. It sauntered towards Marie, and Marie stepped back, horrified.

“If this is a prank,” Marie shouted shakily, “I…I’ll call the police!”

The ghost laughed, making chills of fear go up Marie’s back.

“The police won’t see me, child. You are scared. You’re not thinking properly.”

Marie couldn’t hold it back any longer. She ran. At least, she tried to. With her legs trembling like jelly and fear tingling up her neck, she was no match for the ghost. The ghost grabbed her and tucked her under her feathery dress. Then, Marie fainted…

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Marie woke up and found herself in a room with a million lights. She was lying on a white carpet with a white blanket and a white pillow. She sat up.

Blinded with light, Marie squinted and could just make out the outline of the bright ghost. Where am I? Marie wondered. As if reading her mind, the ghost replied.

“You are in the house of all the animals you ate. Most of my relatives and my friends are here. My child, you must help us to get out of this jail house!” she screeched. Suddenly, all the ghosts appeared. Marie was so scared, she fell to the floor, body shaking crazily.

“We can send you back in time,” whispered a ghost with a pink snout and a curly little tail. “We can send you to last month when you and your mom were shopping for canned foods.”

“You mean you want me to change the past?” she gulped. She had finally realized what the ghosts were asking her to do.

“Yes, precisely, ” answered another ghost. “We want you to turn into a vegetarian.” The other ghosts formed a large circle surrounding her and started hovering around her, singing “Vegetarian, vegetarian!” in a haunting tune. Oh my God! Marie thought. She started to cry. The ghosts stopped singing.

“So will you?” asked the woman ghost. Marie hesitated and bit her lip.

“Yes, I will.” She stammered. The ghosts smiled.

“We will let you travel back in time.” said a ghost, and smiled mysteriously. Suddenly, the room was blinded with a green light. Marie found herself in a room with shelves of Campbells’ canned food.

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“…and the meat costs too much …” her mother was complaining. “$5 per can! Imagine! That’s 150 dollars a month!”

“Mother, it’s okay,” interrupted Marie. “I’ll take the veggie can. It’s only 20 cents per can.” Her mother looked at her, surprised…

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As they were driving home, they passed a white house with white curtains and a white roof. A woman peeked out the door, she was wearing white and had feathery wings. She smiled at Marie and Marie smiled back. They waved and the woman disappeared…