The Vegger and the Carnivore

He leaned in to give her a kiss goodnight.

She pulled away.

"Hold on a second Mister." She said her blue eyes turning to ice. "If you think you are going to kiss me after where you mouth has been, NO!"

"Okay." He said backing away

"Do you know why?" She asked.

"Um no maybe I was a being a bit forward?"

"Nope, because you just ate that burger."

"The onion was too much?" He asked

"No it's the burger silly."

"Oh you are a Vegan? " He asked her.

"You say Vegan like it is a bad thing!"

"No not at all, to each their own." He told her.

"Well let me put it simply to you then." She said

"When you give up the meat, you will get some sweet." She smiled coyly as she said it.

"I will be away for a seminar for a few weeks. You think it over and call me in a month's time, if you wish to continue see me.

With that she said good night and left him at her door, thinking of his next move.

"Give up meat like HELL, I Will!" He muttered to himself as he walked slowly down the sidewalk to his car.

As the night wore on, she stayed on his mind.

The past few weeks had been very fun and he had loved her company. He had never met someone who touched his heart with such passion.

Not only was she beautiful but she was intelligent and very open to almost anything that he came up to do on a date.

They had explored many of the local sights. And they enjoyed their evening walks around the city.

He had other women who flirted with him and he thought about before Melanie. He would have been dating a lot of woman. But now it was different.

So he tossed and turned all night long. Thinking of giving up the hamburgers. The Mickey Dee's sing playing in his head, "Two beef patties, etc.

When the morning came he took a nice cool shower, stopped off to Double D to get his jumbo cup of java and drove to work.

When lunch time rolled abound he stopped off at the sub shop and waited in the long lunch line. It gave him time to look over the menu. When it was his turn he chose the veggie sub on hearty Italian. They toasted the roll for him so he could have a bit of a crunch. He washed it down with large bottle of "Smart water" from the convience store next too.

He drove over to the park not far from work and sat on the bench, watching the various forms of life passing him by as he wolfed down the sub.

He was surprised how tasty it really was.

He knew that changing his eating habits was not going to going to happen overnight.

Each day he thought about his choices. So instead of beef and chickens as his nightly meal he threw in some salads twice a week,

After a couple of weeks of the diet, he noticed too that his body felt a bit lighter. He stepped on his scale and saw that he had lost 8 pounds.

He them started to stop eating sweets too and found that his body didn't feel as sluggish.

His clothes start to hang a bit looser on his body. His pants kept wanting to slide off his waist no matter how much he tightened his belt.

Someone at work suggested suspenders and he growled at them.

"I am not a senior citizen yet, thank you very little." He scowled them.

So he would keep on hiking his pants up every so often during the day.

Mealines month away had been good, but he missed her. Then one day his cell phone dinged that he had a text message.

"WELL?" -- Mel.

He smiled and wrote back a simple text.

"No Meat, call me." Was his reply.

She called him after work and they spoke for over an hour , he told her how he had cut back and eating meat and slowly purging it from his diet. He also told her that he had given up sweets as well and how he had lost 10 pounds since she had left.

She was excited about it and they planned what they would do for the weekend.

He met her at the church parking lot in town on Saturday morning. She hugged him and she got close enough to smell his breath.

"What you say is true Mike; my nose can now smell meat on someone. Almost like someone who says they quit smoking. Then when you get near them you can smell the burnt tobacco on them.

He nodded.

They set off on their 5 mile hike.

They months pasted and Mike kept his word to Melanie. He was totally meatless.

The final days of summer were closing in on them fast. During one of their weekend hikes, he found the perfect spot to propose to her.

It was a local park where the water came pouring over the cliffs, and at certain times of the day the sun would strike the falls creating a perfect rainbow and the water drops would glisten like diamonds.

Melanie was sitting on one of the larger stones there; Mike had the ring hidden in the pocket of his gray cargo pants. He palmed the ring out of his pants and then feigned that he had dropped something on the ground.

He knelt down and brought up his right hand with the ring box, resting it on his knee. He opened the box and let her gaze down on it.

"Melanie, will you marry me?" He asked her

She brought her hand to her mouth. The tears started to form in her eyes before the words did in her mouth.

"Yes Mike, I will." She said.

She patted the rock next to her and he sat next to her. Their lips meeting.

They sat for a bit, holding hands. Trying to take it all in and slowing down their thoughts.

They decided that the first day in May would be perfect. The weeding wouldn't be much of an affair. Just a few friends and a justice of the peace.

After the ceremony everyone went to one of the local restaurants that they had set up the whole affair.

Married life was quite an adjustment for the both of them. But within a year they were getting accustomed to each other.

Mike was doing quite well with his becoming a total vegetarian.

He was moving up in the corporate world and Melanie was doing well at her job as a marine biologist research assistant.

One day at work Mike was late for lunch and didn't have much time for lunch. Meetings and etc.

As he walked out of the building the only thing he could see in the courtyard was Henrys Hot dogs on the corner.

He was past the point of starving and grabbed a hot dog with the works.

As he bit into the frankfurter, it was euphoric. The juices flowing down his chin as the link burst into in his mouth.

"Mmm, so good" He said to himself. Those passing close by looked at him strangely.

He went back for a second, and wolfed it down on his way back into the corporate office.

When his day ended he stopped in the drug store and bought himself a trial bottle of minty fresh mouthwash, one of those new still small toothbrushes. He also flossed his teeth.

When he got home Melanie was not there. He brushed his teeth with his electric toothbrush and the deep cleaning toothpaste.

Melanie kissed him when he got home. They ate there supper and talked about their days.

The next few weeks work was very hectic for Mike so his daily lunch was those wonderful Henrys hotdogs.

Henry and Mike were now on a first named basis. And Mike's daily ritual before going home was brushing h his teeth.

Finally he could not conceal his shame from Melanie.

As they sat on the couch watching the latest episode of their favorite show. He looked at Melanie.

"Melanie I have to confess something to you. I have been cheating. On you."

She brought her tiny hand to her mouth. "Oh my god!"

"As I told you work has been crazy, I have been sneaking out for a few minutes and grabbing myself some great hot dogs. I am so sorry I let you down."

She laughed at him. "Is that all?"

Mike Fahey what am I going to do with you." She said rather mockingly.

"Well I know how religious you are about no meat and no kissing."

She stood up and took his hand and looked at him rather coyly.

They walked from the living room hand in hand.