Charity Dinner
"Oh, thank you," Ashley said as the host scanned something against her phone.
Instantly the charity's app appeared on screen. Interfacing with her phone, a message appeared at the bottom:
"Welcome Ashley. Please walk to Table Nineteen."
Thankfully a map of the dining hall gave her step-by-step directions. She took her seat among seven other donors, each of them dressed in elaborate suits and dresses.
She must've been the last to arrive because the host was now walking up to the stage. He cleared his throat and began to address the crowd.
"Good evening everyone and welcome to the eighth annual Biodiversity Celebration event."
The crowd applauded politely, and Ashley joined in as well.
"I want to first thank all of our newest donors. We've seen a ten percent increase in the audience here tonight, and that's all thanks to your word of mouth."
More polite applause. Ashley wasn't sure if she was supposed to clap for that.
"Now I don't want to bore you with more speeches. Actually I do, but that can wait until after dinner."
Waiters began walking out to each table holding plates. Something was placed in front of her and she looked down at it with some confusion.
"It's chicken!" she exclaimed, pointing to the drumsticks in front of her.
"Technically it's eagle," a seatmate clarified.
"They killed an eagle?"
"It's cell culture. The meat was grown artificially. Don't worry about it."
"But I thought the foundation was protecting biodiversity."
"They are. A dinner like this only happens once a year. We all paid a lot to get seats. They draw patrons with exotic meat and use the funding for good. Come on, haven't you ever wanted to know what eagle tasted like?"
"No, I haven't," she crossed her arms.
Lab-grown meat is the future, but it’s taking a while to get there. Until it scales up, it will be more expensive. I think delving into exotic meats is one way for a few people to pay a lot of money and help bring down the cost. It’ll be controversial to eat bald eagles, but it might end up being the best thing for them.