A social gathering of friends in England discusses the topic of first job experiences. Robert Benton, one of the members, tells a story of when he became Assistant Stage Manager of a touring theater company in 1987 called the Dole Players, an experience he declares turned him vegetarian. Robert was an eager eighteen year old, receptive to the company's many strange tasks. One of his responsibilities was hanging the main prop, an actual torso of a lamb. The company's agitprop show was about the Birmingham pub bombings, and they used the lamb’s body to dramatize the violence and carnage of the event by driving nails into the meat. The company could not afford to replace the carcass with a fresh one, so Robert had to carry the rotting corpse from the cellar to the stage for various weeks. As the play became more popular, the company landed a fully-funded tour in Ireland with the budget to purchase a fresh carcass for each performance. During one of the shows in Dublin, the reception wasn’t as excited as the company anticipated. In Clones, however, they received enthusiastic and floor stomping applause. Robert reflects on the differing reactions of crowds from different parts of Ireland. Their final gig arrives, at Queen’s University in Northern Ireland. Robert disregards the changes in the street murals with armed men wearing balaclavas. He also doesn’t notice the flags changing from the Irish tricolor to the Red Hand of Ulster. As he inquired about the carcass, various men stared at him dead-eyed. One of them asks Robert if he loves his queen and country, then forces him to come with the men, telling him they know a butcher. They lead Robert to a garage door and make him kneel and close his eyes, then leave. When Robert opens them, an Irish man tells him about how he skinned a boy named Tommy. When Robert opens his eyes again, the man is gone. Robert goes back to the university gig, and Kev Mulligan, the play's director, tells him it was canceled by the Vice-chancellor, making the tour in Ireland end. Robert later reads about Irish history and learns of Lenny Murphy, the “chief Shankill Butcher, the Red Right Hand of Ulster,” who murdered and carved the skin of a man. Robert finds out that Murphy died five years before the Dole Players toured Ireland. He has nightmares about hanging human torsos rotting with maggots until he becomes a vegetarian and they finally stop.