“Strawberry,” the girl said again, insistently.
“Milk,” he replied.
“Now Mommy.”
“Cow.”
“Hamburger,” Violet said. To Jake, “Hamburger comes from cows. People kill the cows and then they eat them. They made me eat cows but I didn’t know what it was,” she said sadly. “I didn’t know.”
“Please don’t start again, Violet,” her mother said. “No one meant to taint you. No one knew how you’d feel about it.” To Jake, “Her nanny doesn’t know how to talk to sensitive children.”
“I ate cows,” the little girl persisted gravely.

Paris Review - Virgin, April Ayers Lawson

The ending of this story is tight and beautiful and impeccably constructed.
April Ayers Lawson won the Paris Review's Plimpton prize, which Ann Beattie will present to her at the spring revel this Tuesday.