The Great Turkey Fiasco of ‘65
Everyone’s memory of that Thanksgiving was different
Andy’s mother got up at five in the morning to start working on the big Thanksgiving Day meal — at least that is what she said. Andy could not know for sure since he did not get up until seven-thirty. What he knew for sure is that when he went downstairs for breakfast the kitchen did not smell right. It did not smell like breakfast. It smelled like dinner. The whole day started off wrong.
Andy was eleven years old. His older brother, Jake, was thirteen and their baby sister, Sarah, was seven years old. On a few occasions, Andy had heard his mother refer to Sarah as their, ‘Happy accident.’ At the time he did not know what that meant but he eventually figured it out.
Andy’s parents and siblings lived on a military base out in the middle of the desert. Andy’s father had recently come home from a year spent in Korea. While Andy truly missed his father while he was gone, his father seemed somewhat distant upon his return and the relationship between his parents seemed different somehow as well.
As far as holidays went, Andy was never as excited about Thanksgiving as he was about Christmas. This year, though, he was actually excited about Thanksgiving. That is because the Walinskis were coming to visit.
