Fifty Fifty by S. L. Powell Page B

But he
didn’t dare breathe. If he breathed he would sob like a baby. He couldn’t let Jude see him cry. Instead he shut his eyes and heard Jude say in the darkness, ‘You never knew what
your dad did, huh?’
    Gil shook his head.
    ‘He never told you he worked in the labs,’ said Jude. ‘Doing all that stuff to animals.’
    ‘No,’ Gil managed to say.
    ‘And I was the one who dumped it on you without warning, wasn’t I?’
    Gil opened his eyes. Jude was fiddling with his cigarette. He looked unhappy.
    ‘I should have considered your feelings before I laid into him,’ he said. ‘I’m really sorry. It’s a shock for you, isn’t it?’
    ‘It would have been a shock however I found out,’ Gil said. ‘It’s not your fault.’ He found he could breathe again, as long as he did it carefully. He watched Jude
put the cigarette between his lips and light it, then inhale deeply and blow the smoke out into the room, just the way he had when Gil had first seen him in the tree.
    ‘The problem is . . .’ Gil went on, and then stopped, distracted. Jude had whipped the cigarette out of his mouth and was stubbing it out furiously on a corner of the desk.
‘You don’t have to do that,’ said Gil. ‘I really don’t mind if you smoke.’
    ‘Nah,’ said Jude. ‘I shouldn’t inflict it on you. I can wait. Go on.’
    ‘It’s just – I don’t know what to do now. Now I know about all the stuff in that booklet you gave me, I want to do something. I want to tell Dad he’s wrong,
for a start. But talking to him is . . .’ Gil shook his head. ‘It’s impossible. He’s always got an answer. I mean, yesterday I decided I’d become a vegetarian, and he
even had an answer for that.’
    ‘What did he say?’ asked Jude.
    ‘He said it was pointless being a vegetarian because things like milk and butter all lead back to meat in the end. So the only logical thing was to become a vegan and give up animal
products altogether.’
    ‘He’s right, actually,’ said Jude. ‘Clever git.’
    ‘So are you a vegan?’
    ‘Yep.’
    Gil didn’t know what to say. He’d been a vegetarian for less than twenty-four hours and already it felt difficult. How did anyone have the willpower to be a vegan? What on earth did
you eat if you weren’t allowed cheese or butter or eggs?
    ‘Giving up meat is a fantastic start,’ said Jude, gently. ‘Meat production is almost as sickening as the stuff your dad’s involved in. Don’t give yourself too hard
a time if you can’t do everything at once.’
    ‘So what else can I do?’
    ‘Well, don’t argue with your dad, for one thing. It’s a waste of time and it’ll wear you down. You’ll never convince him. It’s like trying to convince a dog
not to eat its own sick – it’ll just keep going back to it once your back is turned. Your dad’s whole reputation is built on animal experiments. He won’t give it up just
like that. But you can talk to other people – your friends at school, people on the streets – tell them about the reality of animal experiments. People don’t know half of
what’s going on, and they need to know. I can give you leaflets to hand out if you like. You can boycott products that are tested on animals. You can write to shops and manufacturers and tell
them you’ll stop buying their goods unless they change their policy on animal testing.’
    ‘Is that what you do?’
    ‘Amongst other things, yes.’
    Gil saw Jude glance up at the photo above his desk, and then immediately look away as if he’d been caught spying.
    ‘That’s you, isn’t it?’ Gil said.
    ‘Yeah,’ said Jude.
    ‘What were you doing, in that picture?’
    ‘Liberating a dog that was used in experiments.’
    ‘Where from?’
    ‘Can’t tell you. Sorry,’ said Jude.
    ‘If I wanted to do that too, would you let me help you?’
    Jude shook his head. ‘It’s too dangerous, Gil. If I got caught I’d go to prison. I can’t drag you into that.’
    ‘So are you