Debatable

 

 

 

 

Chapter One

 

 

Earth Day, and a beautiful April. With such a gorgeous blue sky overhead, it was perfect day just be outside. NYU’s annual celebration had drawn in many from the community who were curious about what they, in an urban environment, could do to help their world. But it also drew out the trolls.

A considerable crowd had gathered around the Celebrate Vegan! booth where Audry Chandra Bruchenhaus was debating with another die hard bacon fan. The club members were watching her with awe as she dispatched one meat lover after another with her fact based, ethical arguments. After all, she had the moral high ground. And whenever a meat lover could not refute that veganism truly was the best way to live, they always just shouted out, “But bacon!”

It was such a ludicrous argument. They might as well have said: “Cooked corpse!’“

Audry gazed over the scene as the last carnivore stalked away, huffing to himself about self-righteous vegans. Her bushy brown hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, keeping it just out of her shining blue-green eyes. The sun had speckled her checks with cinnamon freckles recently, and she was considering putting on a hat soon. It was getting hot in Schwartz Plaza.

Her roommates had passed by earlier, having taken their Go Vegan Now buttons while sharing encouragement with the group and bringing snacks. Audry had convinced them to go vegetarian that last year, though they were not quite ready to go vegan yet as Wendy loved Greek yogurt and Laura did not like tofu at all. As for Tricia, she didn’t really care either way. She was just along for the ride, and it was the trend.

“Hi all!” Silvia Lewis from their Green Club stopped by, picking up a pin while setting her case of essential oils on the edge of the table to rest her hands. “How are things in dealing with the barbaric masses?”

Audry ignored her. Silvia was (in mild terms) a slutty-dressed pagan who wore her long wavy dark hair back from her bare shoulders and open cleavage. And she was an open pagan who loudly declared she worshipped Wicca while wearing pentagrams. No one was sure why Silvia had joined the Green Club except for her interest in ‘nature’. She was a self-proclaimed herbalist—though when her ordinary, almost nerdy-looking half-brother had come around during midterms, he out and out called her a witch while delivering her a care package from their father. And he said it matter-of-factly rather than as an epithet. And she just smiled back at him. He wore a red crystal on a chain around his neck, after all.

“Shut up,” Brooke Himmerman said, looking prepared to upend Silvia’s box of massage oils onto the concrete. Brooke was the exact opposite of Silvia. Blonde, straight and angular, including her haircut. A utilitarian dresser. And her friend Paula, who stood next to her and prepared to push Silvia away, was the chocolate to her vanilla. Paula’s tight black hair fuzzed in a short afro, and she wore a slim tank top with long flowy pants which had the same linear shape as Brooke’s clothes, but in African ethnic patterns and colors. They were like the poster models for utopian integration.

“Oh, please,” interjected their fourth booth worker, Jeremy Deets, stepping toward Silvia to put himself between the two gals and the Wiccan. “Audry has been handling the ‘barbarians’ very well, thank you very much.”

Silvia grinned at Audry with genuine fondness. “I’m sure she has.”

Audry never knew exactly what had changed Silvia’s attitude towards her. Before, Silvia had been cold and smug. It could have been because Audry had finally (and permanently) dumped Harlin Nichols during winter break—who had dated them both that last year. Silvia had started to warm up around that time when Audry had returned from her last trip into the field for her Master’s thesis. Thing was, Silvia had never shown any jealousy over her relationship with Harlin either. Just smug indifference. Yet after she returned, Silvia started to compliment Audry on everything. Her hair. Her clothes. Her jewelry. Silvia even helped Audry connect with people to refine her video editing for her Master’s project. However, Audry could tell Silvia wasn’t actually trying to ‘make friends’ with her. Friendly acquaintances, maybe. But Silvia was kinder in a teasing sort of way, as if she were enjoying something about Audry that amused and pleased her.

“Do you need something?” Audry finally asked her.

Grinning, Silvia shook her head. “Nope. Just resting.”

A few people in business suits walked by. They had come from the Kimmel Center where an economics and business conference was being held. It was so ironic that as NYU was holding its Earth Day celebration in full force while businessmen were gathering within the campus grounds discussing ways they could further exploit the world with their corporatist imperialism. Audry had been watching the people in the suits trot by, unconcerned with what their industry was doing to the environment. And she wasn’t the only one. Those with her, in between her debates with cocky meat-eaters, were making commentary on the people they were seeing.

Brooke pointed out the needle-thin woman with the slick bun walking on heels in a perfect skirt suit. “That one is all ambition. She wears a skirt because she sleeps her way to the top.”

Her friend Paula slapped her shoulder. “Don’t assume that.”

“She’s totally showing off her legs,” Brooke said.

“Well, at least she got legs,” Silvia interjected with a snort.

“You don’t have to stay here,” Brooke snapped. “Shoo.”

But Silvia merely shrugged, not budging.

Ignoring them, Audry called out to passersby, “Save a life. Go vegan.”

She got the usual placating smiles. Some people genuinely came up for the thin vegan recipe pamphlet they had available in paper format. Others signed up for their meat-substitute online newsletter. But usually those that stopped were people who wanted to argue.

“I’ve got a question,” one of the passersby said.

Audry and all the other people in the booth waited for the debate question.

“How does a vegan deal with celiac disease? I mean, gluten is in most grains,” that passerby said.

Nodding, Audry pulled out a pamphlet for going vegan and being gluten free. “This is full of vegan recipe ideas for gluten free eating. There are actually several grains that do not contain gluten.”

The passerby nodded.

“What about animal fats?” another passerby asked. She had a similar physique as Audry, robust with a healthy blush to her cheeks. Somehow she had to be a nutrition major. You got those occasionally who were anti-vegan. “I mean, you can eat a plant based diets, but many vitamins and minerals in those plants need animal fat to be properly absorbed.”

“Actually,” Brooke cut in, winking at Audry while taking out another pamphlet, “Coconut oil is a healthy vegan substitute for animal fat. And more beneficial. So are avocados.”

The nutrition major did not argue. She merely took the pamphlet and peered at it, considering the information carefully. Perhaps she had heard about the benefits of coconut oil and avocadoes already.

“But bacon!” someone from the passing crowd called out.

Here we go again, Audry thought.

A cocky guy in an NYU tee shirt came up, but not too close, as if he thought the people running the booth might bite him.

“Vegans don’t care about bacon,” Paula said.

The guy gasped as if they had said something scandalous.

“Uric acid,” Audry replied.

“What?” he stared at her as if she had cussed at him.

Drawing in a long suffering breath, Audry said, “Purine rich foods such as meat, when broken down by the body creates uric acid which can lead to health conditions such as gout, kidney stones, and diabetes.”

He still looked confused. Clearly he was a caveman who only thought about his bacon.

“High fructose corn syrup does the same thing,” the nutrition major interjected. “It also creates uric acid.”

Silvia snickered, glancing at their colas under the table.

Brooke and Paula shot her a dirty look.

“So we should avoid both,” Audry said, agreeing.

The nutritionist nodded, a smile crooking at the side of her mouth.

“But the best brain food is oily fish,” another person interjected, coming closer.

The bacon guy nodded.

“The most effective fatty acids occur in fish, not vegetables,” that woman said, nodding to the nutritionist who was looking interested. “Fats are essential for brain function, as well as our hearts and our joints.”

“Exactly!” bacon man said.

Gazing to the woman and ignoring the bacon thug, Audry explained, “You can get those same fats from walnut, flax seed, soy, and pumpkin seeds. Besides, there are other brain foods besides fish. You’ve got broccoli, tomatoes, sage, blackcurrants, red pepper, blueberries, and plenty of nuts.”

“What if you have a nut allergy?” she asked. “Because I do.”

“Are they nut specific? Or are there seeds that you can eat?” Audry asked, making genuine eye contact. “Because all you would have to do is choose which one you need.”

“Often places that process one kind of nut processes other nuts and seeds,” that woman said. “You get cross contamination, and I can’t afford that.”

Nodding, Audry replied, “Ok. Then your only recourse is to choose unprocessed sources. I roast my own pumpkin seeds.”

“It would just be easier to buy fatty fish,” that woman said. “Meat allergies are rare.”  

“But food-caused illnesses from meat consumption are not,” Audry retorted. “And fish allergies are actually quite common.”

“As are soy allergies,” she protested.

Nodding, Audry had to agree. “True. But the fact is, once you have an allergy, you have to be a careful eater anyway. And for that matter, it is better to simply learn to cook rather than buy pre-made foods. Cross contamination is more likely from packaged foods than fresh organic produce anyway.”

“But can you trust the organic labels?” that bacon lover shot out. “Most labels are in fact lies.”

“There is a lot of mislabeling, yes,” Audry said to him finally. Then looking directly at him, she added, “That is why you buy farm fresh—no labels involved.”

Brooke and Paula chuckled.

“Humans are anatomically adapted to eating plants,” Jeremy put in. “The main reason humans eat meat is because of tradition.”

“Bacon is delicious,” bacon man interjected once again. “It has nothing to do with tradition.”

People in the crowd snickered.

Jeremy glowered at him.

Resting a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder to calm him, Audry said, “Candy and cake are delicious too, but they are not good for the body. Fact is, most cancers of the digestive tract are caused by eating meat and animal products. And it is the main cause of heart disease. Cholesterol in the blood is a meat problem.”

“That’s a myth,” a familiar voice piped up. Audry knew it, but she could not place it. It came from behind the crowd. But then she heard it come closer, he continued talking. “It is the high consumption of sugar that is the real culprit of heart disease.”

“He’s right. That’s true,” the nutritionist said, nodding.

Audry colored.

And a familiar face began to emerge from the crowd. She recognized his auburn hair first, his gray eyes searching for the one he was debating.

“Sugar causes inflammation. And…” His eyes met hers. It was Howard Richard Deacon the Third, in the flesh. “Well… if it isn’t Audry Bruchenhaus, paving the way for vegans everywhere,” Rick Deacon said with a spreading smile, sauntering more casually to the table. He tucked his hands into his suit pants pockets while a grin formed on his face like he had just done something deliciously obscene and he had gotten away with it. He looked good. He was in a three piece suit, perfectly tailored, with fashion model-level hairstyle and a hop in his step.

Audry flushed. “Mr. Deacon.”

He blinked at her. “Oh, so we are those terms huh?” He chuckled. “Ok. Miss Bruchenhaus—or is it Ms? Or Ze? I can never be sure. Which is it?”

“What do you want?” she snapped.

He looked around, waving up at the signs. “I saw the booth. I overheard the debate. I wanted to put in my two cents.”

Silvia smirked on the sidelines, leaning back. Brooke and Paula stared in surprise at him. Jeremy looked confused.

Audry laughed mockingly. “You? The confirmed ‘never could be vegan’ man?”

He grinned, obviously glad she remembered. The fact that he remembered her was astonishing. He had forgotten her twice before. Perhaps that last time finally stuck.

“You’re on,” she said. “And you’ll lose.”

Raising his eyebrows, Rick’s smug grin argued to the contrary, his gray eyes shining.

“It is fairly simple,” Audry said, deciding to go for the jugular of all debates, “Animals have the right to live too. Meat is murder.”

“And that is your starting point?” Rick asked, chuckling.

She lifted her chin. “It is a good one.”

“So, according to your theory, all carnivores are murderers?” he asked.

Audry stiffened, realizing where he was leading. She colored a little. “Ok, so I need to clarify. Human beings have more choice in their food than, say, a wolf,” choosing an animal he was familiar with and fond of and was most undoubtedly referencing to when he talked about carnivores. “Our teeth specialize in the consumption of seeds, nuts, fruits, and vegetables—”

“With a pair of canines to boot,” Rick cut in.

Some of the people in the crowd chuckled, the bacon guy the loudest.

Audry flushed.

“We are omnivores,” Rick said, gazing at her with those gray eyes almost as if he were sorry to break the news to her. “Our canines are proof.”

“Our canines are stunted. Smaller than those of carnivores,” she said.

“I didn’t say we were carnivores. I said we were omnivores,” he retorted. “And my canines are pretty long.” He smiled to prove it. Sure enough, his canines were sharp, though still not knife-long as a wolf’s.

Silvia snickered nearby. His eyes flickered to her. He stiffened just a smidgeon, but then his eyes came back to Audry again.

“Meat eating is savage and brutal,” Audry said, stepping it up. “If human society has advanced to the point that dares call itself civilized, then all savagery should be abolished.”

He nodded slowly. “Good argument. Sound. Only…” he eyed her carefully. “Let’s define why it is savage, shall we? Let’s just not slap a name on it. Why is it savage?”

“So you accept that it is savage?” Audry asked triumphantly.

Rick shook his head. “I am accepting that you believe it is savage. But you haven’t put any parameters on what savage means.”

“Fine.” Audry glanced to her friends in the booth who were enjoying the debate, especially whom she was debating and how familiar Audry and Rick were with each other. “Savage is being violent. Savage is causing the death of another living being.”

Rick nodded. “So you would be anti-war.”

Audry nodded.

“And I know you are anti-abortion,” he said.

Those around her flustered. They appeared shocked.

“At least in practice for yourself,” he added for her sake.

But Audry had not reacted or bristled. Her friends who were vegan knew she was anti-abortion. She was a purist when it came to veganism. A life was a life in her eyes.

“So…” He got this crooked smile on his face, which reminded Audry briefly of his mischievous friend Tom Brown whom she met momentarily but whose image was indelibly etched into her brain for all time. “You strictly define the killing of another living being, no matter what the circumstances, as savage.”

“Yes,” she said.

Rick nodded. “Are you sure?”

Audry paused, wondering what he was getting at.

“So, you’ve never killed a fly or a mosquito—ever?” he asked.

Audry flustered. “Not if I can help it.”

“And if an animal went at you to eat you, you would not kill it, ever?” he asked. “Not even in self-defense?”

She could see where he was leading with this. Audry replied, “I have tranquilizer guns, which I use.”

Rick nodded, almost in admiration. “True. You do. But how about if a rapist comes after you? Do you tranquilize him also?”

Smirking at him, Audry lifted her chin. “I have pepper spray for that. But if I needed to, yeah. It is better to bring him to justice than to take his life.”

Nodding to himself, Rick thought things over. Then he said, “Ok. So, what about plants? What about their lives?”

 Audry stared. “What do you mean? As in would I wantonly—”

“I mean,” he said with a sharp, mocking look in his eyes, “On behalf of all those who must eat meat—us carnivores and omnivores—that I think vegans are too presumptuous in assuming virtue over others simply because the food they eat cannot protest with big eyes and cute furry faces.”

People in the crowd laughed. But a number of those listening looked confused.

“Excuse me?” Audry narrowed her eyes at him.

Rick smirked more. “More plainly, a vegan is a person refusing to eat something with eyes and shows obvious movement, while assuming they are more virtuous compared to people who know their food was once alive.”

She huffed. “No. That is not it.”

“So you think a carrot is not alive?” Rick asked, gazing innocently at her. “That a carrot does not grow and wish to keep growing?”

“A carrot does not have a brain,” Audry retorted. “They don’t have a nervous system. They don’t feel pain.”

“So we can eat someone with congenital analgesia?” Rick asked continuing to blink innocently at her. “They don’t feel pain.”

Audry flustered. “That’s cannibalism!”

Rick snickered. “Ok. I see. You only eat things so dissimilar from you that you cannot possibly relate to them and therefore they are fair game to eat. Never mind that they do have lives. And they do react to their environment.”

Audry huffed. “You’re being stupid.”

“I’m being stupid?” Rick chuckled, clearly teasing. “You are living under the delusion that just because something does not have a voice, supposedly does not feel pain, and cannot cry ‘don’t eat me’ with begging eyes, that it does not live or have value. I mean, a carrot or a bunch of broccoli cannot protest, even though they are being systematically ripped out of their homes and brutally chopped into bits for a salad.”

Several people in the crowd jeered at her, laughing.

“Burn!” the bacon guy shouted out.

But Rick lifted a hand, shushing them. “Don’t be rude. This is a debate. Not a mob.” He then turned to face her. “I know a guy who believes in Hari Krishna—and he believes it is unlawful to use knives on the vegetables he eats because in a past life they were a human being. He insists a person has to tear vegetables apart with his hands, because using knives is too brutal.”

Audry stared.

“And in old Native American cultures they believe that all life, including the plants and trees and rocks, have spirits. And when their hunters take a life, they thank that life for giving them life,” he said. “Are you going to ignore that?”

“Oh, please…”Audry moaned. “You are hairsplitting.”

“And you are making light other people’s beliefs,” Rick said. “Just because vegetables cannot cry out in pain in ways that we comprehend does not mean they don’t suffer or have feelings.”

She realized then that he was just being facetious. He didn’t really care about the lives of vegetables any more than the lives of a chicken—his professed favorite food. She said, “You’re full of it.”

“And so are you,” he said. “Food is food. The only kind of murder I see is when things are killed outside self-defense and eating. And since eating one’s own kind is a foul practice, and I have no illusions about what I eat once being alive, my feelings remain the same on this subject.”

Those anti-vegans in the crowd cheered. The nutritionist smirked but did not seem moved by his argument either. But then he wasn’t arguing health. He was using unusual religious beliefs as examples. There wasn’t a drip of science involved. 

Audry glowered at him.

“I told you I could never be vegan,” he said and turned to go back to his personal assistant. His assistant was a different man than at the last conference, but then it had been two years since that time. This one looked like a college intern rather than a full time employee. The previous assistant had a great deal more command and had been steering Rick around. This one was following Rick’s lead. The dynamic was interesting, as Rick also seemed a lot more balanced and in control of his life.

“You can’t prove plants have sentience,” Brooke shot out as he was going.

Rick turned back, his eye fixing a little more sharply her. “And you can’t prove they don’t. A plant’s reaction time is slower than that of an animal, so it is not obvious. I know a botanist who has been studying plants and their reactions to other plants in their environment, and his findings are rather fascinating.”

Audry groaned. If that argument kept up, they would end up talking about sentience of fetuses and of coma patients next. She hated getting stuck in those kinds of ethical debates, because euthanasia would then come up—which she despised. Her friends would then accuse her of only being progressive about animals but not about women’s issues and health issues—never mind that a life was a life. As for Rick, she knew he was not there for a serious debate. He had merely come over to banter with her. He knew he could not convince her to eat meat any more than she could convince him to become a vegan.

“Nice seeing you again,” Rick said with a nod to Audry. His eyes raked past Silvia with familiarity. But with a hop in his step, he turned to go, like he was merely happy to be alive. Yet he paused and said with another look back to Audry, “Nice necklace, by the way.” And he walked off.

Audry automatically touched the silver bullet which she wore on a chain around her neck. Others looked at it.

“Why are you wearing a bullet on a necklace?” Paula snapped at her, offended by its existence.

Turning with a sharp look, Audry said, “Didn’t I tell you at the Green Club meeting? I dug this bullet out of the leg of a wolf I rescued. I wear it to remind me about animal cruelty.”

Someone from the other side, the one with the nut allergy she had been arguing with, reached in to see. “Really?”

Silvia smirked, heading off in the same direction Rick had gone, weaving through the crowd with her oils.

Audry nodded, letting the girl touch it. “Yeah.”

She and a few others examined the bullet, clearly impressed. But Audry watched to where Silvia had gone, as she was most likely following Rick. And to be frank, that was creepy.  

Rick, however, was so irritating. He had finally revealed his true colors as a bloody carnivore with an attitude. Audry was only glad he hadn’t thrown that stupid ‘bacon’ argument at her. Apparently he knew it wasn’t an argument at all.

“You know what? I need the restroom,” Audry whispered to Brooke. “Cover for me.”

Brooke nodded.

Audry headed toward the nearest building. As she stepped in, she saw Rick standing to the side of another booth talking to Silvia. And though Audry could not hear what she was saying, Rick didn’t look too happy in the conversation. He was standing beyond the reach of Silva’s long arms and fingers, his personal assistant almost between them. Rick didn’t notice Audry at all as his focus was entirely on Silvia—which, to be honest, was where it should be whenever Silvia came around. Silvia exuded powerful confidence. But as an almost gothic level worshipper of Celtic mythic deities, she also made Audry honestly imagine her as a mythic witch—which Audry mentally checked herself about, as that was prejudiced.

As she went into the building, Audry thought about Silvia more. As long as she had known Silvia, the girl had given off a creepy vibe. Silvia was beautiful. But like a girl who stared without blinking enough, Audry always felt like she was standing on the border of a slasher movie whenever Silvia was around. And Silvia was ambitious.

Audry wondered what ambition she was trying to fulfill by talking to Rick Deacon—who was perhaps the most emotionally and physically guarded man she had ever met. Yet, thinking about how he looked with that girl, Audry chuckled. Even Silvia would not be able to succeed with Rick Deacon.

Delusional

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

 

Rick Deacon was not outside the building when Audry emerged refreshed and ready to continue her shift at the booth. Silvia was there, though. Same place in fact. But with her, arguing like he had a vendetta, was Harlin.

He looked the same as ever, a bit like Heath Ledger, only these days he seemed post Joker with that manic look in his eye as if he had personalized that role. Harlin’s wavy sun-kissed hair was pulled back into a man-bun, which really didn’t suit him. He was also wearing his dusty fedora. But his usually crystal blue eyes had such a wildness to his stare that Audry was amazed she had ever fallen for him. The idiot still had not completely accepted that their relationship was over.

“…her. Admit it! You know where he went!” He was shouting at Silvia who, as always, remained calm and deviously collected.

Silvia caught sight of Audry almost immediately, yet responded unruffled to Harlin (whom Audry wanted to avoid), “It is irrelevant where he went. You are delusional. Audry dumped you because of you. Not because of any other guy.”

“It’s not like you would know,” he snapped at her. Then his eye caught on Audry who was trying to sneak past. “Audry!”

He rushed to get at her.

Silvia chased. For the first time, Audry saw panic on her face.

“Leave me alone!” Audry shouted, hurrying away to get back to the crowd and the booth.

“I just want to talk,” he said.

“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Silvia snapped, not quite reaching out to grab him but with a look of someone who in a more secluded, remote setting would use claws to shred him apart.

“Stay out of it!” Harlin bit back.

“I don’t want to talk to you!” Audry shouted at him, hurrying faster.

But he was quicker and got in her way.

Luckily, Silvia also reached her, putting

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 09.05.2018
ISBN: 978-3-7554-7898-0

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