More than a year ago, I moved from my parents to another city. Adulthood, freedom of action, and freedom of choosing… what I can eat. So now, I was able to make the decision to become a vegetarian. Moreover, I dared to say this to my loved ones.

I cooked vegetable stew, mushroom pie, sorbet for dessert. Grandpa and grandmother came. Unplanned, but what to do, they also have the right to know.

Everyone liked the food. We chewed the fat and remembered our funny family stories. We talked sweetly about various dishes and waited all the time when my grandmother would turn the theme into something gloomy. She often told about her friends who had died recently.

“My dear, I need to tell you something, but you do not take it to heart,” I blurted out in one breath.

“Pregnant ?!” Grandmother’s eyes rounded.

“Sick?” asked my frightened mother.

“Worse, I haven’t eaten meat for over six months,” I looked at my folks` faces.

Silence reigned. Dad cleared his throat and went out to smoke. My grandparents gazed at me with disappointment. Just as when I told them that I would be a publisher, not a doctor. At the time, they were still trying to say something, but that meat punch was below the belt. In recent years, they had been growing chickens for me…

“Whom do you give the cutlets that I fry for you?”

“To my neighbors …”

“How is that? We cook cutlets and meatballs, sausages and beefsteaks just for you! They are so delicious! Look at what you brought your grandmother,” began my Mom.

“But look at yourself, what a sickly chick!” Grandma started rubbing her first tear.

My Grandmother and my Mother argued with each other for a half an hour about my would-be life expectancy. Both of them agreed that I would not live for so long. I was struck with a hurricane of their tears and sobs.

Dad came back with a stick of sausage in his hand. He silently sliced ​​it and put it solemnly in the most marvelous plate. Only for me. Only for his lovely daughter.

“Eat.”

And…I did it. I was eating it with disgust and disappointment. I felt chagrin for my family and went to the doctor. If I had not done it, they would not have suffered the second blow.