The House of Scorpions

An exert from 'The House of Scorpions' by Nancy Farmer, the book I'm currently reading (extremely fascinating read). Matt is a human clone. Knowing that, read on.

A sudden thought struck Matt. "How old am I?" he asked, holding out his glass for a refill. Celia, ignoring a frown from Tam Lin, poured him lemonade instead of champagne. "I know I don't have a birthday like humans," Matt said, "but I was born. Or something like that."
"You were harvested," said Tam Lin. His speech was slurred. He had polished off a bottle by himself, and Matt realized he'd never seen the bodyguard drink alcohol before.
"I grew inside a cow. Did she give birth to me like a calf?" Matt saw nothing wrong with being born in a stable. Jesus had found it perfectly acceptable.
"You were harvested," repeated Tam Lin.
"He doesn't need the details," Celia said.
"And I say he does!" roared the man, slamming his fist on the picnic table. Both Celia and Matt flinched. "There's been enough damn secrecy about this place! There's been enough damn lies!"
"Please," Celia said urgently, placing her hand on Tam Lin's arm. "The cameras-"
"The cameras can go to blazes for all I care! Take a look, you lying, spying wretches! Here's what I think of you!" The man made an extremely rude hand gesture at the black-eyed Susan vines covering the wall. Matt had copied that gesture once and had been yelled at by Celia.
"Please. If you won't think of yourself, think of us." Celia had gone on her knees by the bodyguard's bench. She clasped her hands the way she did in prayer.
Tam Lin shook himself like a dog. "Ach! It's the drink talking!" He grabbed the remaining champagne bottle and hurled it against the wall. Matt heard the fragments shower over the black-eyed Susans. "I'll tell you this much, lad." He hauled Matt up by the front of his shirt. Celia watched with a pale, frightened face. "You were grown in that poor cow for nine months, and then you were cut out of her. You were harvested. She was sacrificed. That's the term they use when they kill a poor lab animal. Your stepmother was turned into ruddy T-bone steaks."