Monday, November 25, 2295
Risa Riley peered down into her overflowing food freezer. There she saw 287 small lentil and flour turkey molds, which she had carefully prepared over the past 2 months. This was a new Thanksgiving ritual for her, and the first year of what she expected to be many more spent at it. Risa poked one little “turkey” to see if it was still frozen hard. She hoped the molded forms would hold up well and could be enjoyed by the climate refugee families camped outside all around the house. She had one little mold per family – unless more people were to show up in the next couple days.
Risa had used all her lentil and grain rations and had even begged more from others to get this done. Now, though, she had nothing to serve to her own family, six of whom plus Dal’s fiancé Ana were to gather at her dinner table in just three day’s time. Her yearly chicken, which usually sufficed for this holiday, been used up making a massive pot of chicken and dumplings when Dal had arrived unexpectedly about six weeks before. That was when he announced that he was taking a new and safer job, and then said he was getting married in January. Risa was doubly glad that she had used her chicken allotment up on that special night! But, what to do now? No one, not even family, would give her their ration of chicken now, just before the holiday.
“Dal and Jim would NOT approve of this,” Risa muttered to herself, as she slammed the freezer lid and marched down the hall to Dal’s room, where she sometimes went to gather her thoughts. She took out a piece of antique paper and wrote her thoughts down first, figuring that once the words were typed into her armband, it would be too late to edit anything. OK, she liked the message. It should not offend anyone. Next, she looked up the correct address and wrote that down. Lastly, she labored over the spelling of the name:
Mr. Mori Taktug
Willow Park House
New Churchill, Canada
Dear Mr. Taktug,
Warm Greetings. My son, Dal Riley is in your employ. I hope and expect that he is doing a good job for you, in whatever you have asked of him.
Right now, I have a special request for you: Can you please spare a chicken from your larder for our Thanksgiving? I can pay for it – am happy to. Our family and Dal’s fiancé are coming over for Thanksgiving, and there is no spare chicken for me to cook anywhere around here. I Hope you can send it right away? Just let me know the cost? You already have our address from Dal, but here it is again below.
With gratitude if you can do his, and no worries if not,
Risa Riley
Riley Family Orange Farm and Camp
Orangeburg, S.C. USA 29113
Risa carefully tapped the message out on her arm band, and then tore up the paper, in case Jim might not like what she had done.
Two days went by with no reply. The day before Thanksgiving, Risa was pondering her next move while making herself a cup of hot water when she heard a heavy thud on the front porch. She ran out, thinking maybe Jim had fallen on the steps. As she flew out the door, Risa stumbled over a big package. It was wrapped to stay cold, and labeled with “Keep out of sun and heat!”
With her heart pounding, she dragged it inside, and through to the kitchen. She had to sit on the floor to open the package, it was so heavy. But once the wrapping and chillers were off, Risa picked up what surely had to be biggest chicken on earth and plopped it in the kitchen sink.
“This is no chicken!” she exclaimed. She leafed through some old cookbooks with photos, and then was sure. No, it was NOT a chicken. It was a turkey. She had never had one in her kitchen before. Her grandmother had talked about turkeys when Risa was very young, and was the last she had ever heard of them.
There was a note:
Dear Mrs. Riley,
Mr. Taktug sends his regards. He wishes you to have this wild turkey from our grounds, which we have to cull every now and then to keep them healthy. It might have very little fat and be a bit chewy and gamey, but we hope that with your good cooking, you and your family will be able to enjoy it as our gift for your holiday.
Your son is away and in the midst of his work right now, and Mr. Taktug is sure he is doing very well.
With best wishes,
Henri Fourchette for Mori Taktug
……………………..
The big day arrived, and only Ana had called in her regrets. Risa decided to send a big serving of everything over to her later on, as she suspected she might be pregnant and could use the good protein, even though Ana had not told her outright yet, and then would send all the food left over to the camp clinic outside for distribution.
“How did you figure out how to cook that thing?” asked Uncle Leo?
Risa covered her smile with her long fingers. “When she does that, she ain’t telling, don’t ya’ know?” said Jim. “Better not pry if you want seconds.”
“These were devilish hard to cook right in the old days, from what I read,” said Risa. She looked with pride at the brown bird in the center of the table. “Wish I had one for all those folks outside. And I hope Dal is having a good meal, wherever he is,’ she added.
“Amen to that,” said Jim. Let’s go around and say what we are thankful for today, like always.” The younger cousins frowned at that suggestion.
“I am thankful for having some little income, and still keeping this land, although it is not farming anymore,” said Jim, to get things started.
“I am thankful Dal is gonna marry Ana soon,” said Risa.
“I am thankful to enter a home that smells so good from cooking” said Doris, Leo’s wife.
Leo’s sons, George and Ernst did not chime in. Nor did their wives, both of whom Risa knew were having trouble getting pregnant.
“What have you young people to say that you are thankful for,” asked Jim?
Still there was silence. People shifted in their chairs.
“Come on folks, there is always something to be thankful for,” said Risa.
Ernst finally spoke up. “Well…. Aunt Risa, guess I am thankful for one day at a time, and for nothing special, because I expect nothing special.”
“That is exactly how I feel,” said Rosa, Ernst’s wife, while the other young couple nodded in agreement.
Risa and Jim looked at each other. Finally, Doris spoke up. “I guess we can all understand the day-to-day stresses we face. But just for today put those aside. Let’s join hands and thank whatever God you have that we are here together today, and that Dal and Ana are hopefully fine, too wherever they are. And oh, thanks to the mysterious Mr. Mori, for this special meal.”
A minute later, Jim exclaimed cheerfully, “OK, now Risa, you can finally carve that Beautiful Bird!”