Please note I wrote this a couple nights ago. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers and followers.

Ralph Crosby smiled. Thanksgiving was coming very soon. It has always been his favorite holiday of the year besides Christmas. Tracey, his oldest child is planning on showing up to help celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. His son couldn’t show up since he lived so far away than Tennessee. Tracey lives here, so he gets to see her whenever he has the chance. His son, whose name happens to be Peter, lives in Florida.

Ralph is in his early seventies while Tracey is in her late forties while Peter is in his early forties. He never really had any grandchildren since Tracey and Peter didn’t want to be married and have a family of their own. Tracey ended up calling Ralph up early Thanksgiving morning.

“Good morning, Dad. Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Happy Thanksgiving to you too also, Tracey. What time do you plan to come on over?” he asked.

“How about eleven – thirty? Would that work for you?”

“Yes, that’s fine, Tracey. Then that way we can do the cooking together, and also call up Peter to wish him happy Thanksgiving.”

“Sounds like a good idea, Dad. You’re the only one I’ve called so far.”

“That’s all right. I decorated the kitchen for Thanksgiving.”

“I like how you do that every year.”

“I know you do. I better go now so I can take my shower.”

“All right, Dad. I’ll see you soon.”

Ralph wasn’t expecting any early Thanksgiving phone calls like today, and Ralph didn’t seem to care either way. Thanksgiving is coming up in two days, and he usually does cooking before the Thanksgiving holiday shows up. He headed to the downstairs bathroom. He decided to take his shower here. He also got into fresh clothes. Today he chose to wear yellow with light brown socks, a light yellow T – shirt with light brown buttons, and of crows brown pants with a zipper.

It didn’t take him very long at all to take his shower. He also looked at himself in the mirror. He saw his hair looked like it was ready to be cut. Ralph usually cuts his own hair so that way he won’t have to pay someone to do it for him. Here is Ralph’s tradition he has when the holidays show up.

Make the turkey the night before and then make the pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving morning, along with fruits and vegetables besides the stuffing.

He looked at his watch: 9:57 AM. He had breakfast almost two hours ago, and he won’t have to wait until later to eat. Ralph thought that now was the perfect time to run the dishwasher. He was running low on almost everything.

There really wasn’t much on television today, and Ralph didn’t seem to care. He watches television almost five times a week, which is good to limit the stuff you watch, whether it was a television show or a movie. Ralph is a big fan of movies like he is of Dancing with the Stars. He decided to read the newspaper and work on the puzzles that the paper had that very day.

He heard somebody pull up in his driveway almost an hour before. Ralph stood up from the living room so he could let that person inside. He peeked out of the window. It was indeed Tracey. He opened the door for his daughter.

“Hi, Dad. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“You’re not interrupting anything at all. All I’m doing at the moment is working on puzzles in today’s newspaper.”

He shut the door behind his daughter.

“Thanks, Dad. Anything I can do now?”

“Nothing right now, Tracey, but thank you for asking.”

“I hear the dishwasher running.”

“I know. I don’t have much left. Did you bring anything over with you?”

Tracey looked like she acted like she forgot something.

“Drats. I forgot to bring the turkey and stuffing. I won’t mind going back to my apartment and get it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Tracey. There’s always tomorrow to bring the turkey.”

“Okay. Have you called Peter yet?” she asked.

“Not yet. I wanted to wait until you came over so that way he can hear your voice as well.”

She liked his suggestion.

“That’s fine It works either way, you know.”

“I do know that. What do you have in mind on what you want to do since you forgot to bring the turkey?”

All she did was shrug her shoulders.

“I don’t know. I can unload the dishwasher if you want me to.”

“We can do it together. It makes it go faster.”

“I can go with your idea. Since I’m not married and have children, I have to do it myself, which I don’t mind.”

“It’s a way of life, honey.”

Tracey saw her father’s point, but didn’t bother saying anything to him.

“Why don’t we go Peter right now, Dad?’

“All right. We’ll go ahead and do that. You can make the call if you’d like to.”

So that’s what she exactly did. When Tracey finished dialing Peter’s voice, she heard him answer the call.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Bro.”

“Tracey, what a surprise to hear from you. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.”

“I know. It was Dad’s idea that we go ahead and call you.”

“At least I get to hear your voices.”

“That’s what Dad said. Do you want to talk with him first?”

“Sure.”

“Dad, I told Peter you can talk to him first.”

“Thanks, honey.”

So Ralph took the phone away so he and his son could talk for a while. While father and son did that, she looked around all over the house to see if there was anything to do while they both talked. There really wasn’t anything for her to do, so she decided to see if she could do anything in the bathroom. There wasn’t, but she went ahead and did them anyway.

“Tracey, Peter would like to speak with you!” Ralph called from the bottom of the stairs.

“Be right there!” she returned.

He didn’t reply back. He kept the phone in his left arm, she noticed as she got off the stairs.

“Thanks, Dad.’

That’s when she gently took her phone back from him. He left when she and Peter talked.

“What do you have planned for Thanksgiving, Peter?” she asked.

“I’m going to be at a neighbor’s place. She lives alone and is a widow, so she invited me.”

“That was nice of her to do that.”

“What about you, Sis?”

“I’m celebrating with Dad again,” was her answer.

“That’s what he told me. At leas he wouldn’t have to be lonely like my neighbor is.”

She agreed.

“Guess what happened when I drove in the driveway?”

“What?”

He was interested in hearing about this story, she told herself.

“You remember the tradition we do every year while growing up?”

“Yes, I do. What about it?” he asked.

“Dad and I were planning on making the turkey when I walked in and guess what happened?”

“What did happen?”

“I didn’t notice right away that I had forgotten to bring the turkey, but Dad said we could do it tomorrow instead.”

“Dad didn’t share this story with me, but thanks for sharing. It was a good story.”

“I know.”

“Listen, Tracey, I better get going. It was nice hearing your voice again.”

“Same with you, Peter. Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Thanks, Tracey. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.”

When she was on the phone with Peter, Ralph had already unloaded the dishwasher.

“I was going to help.”

“Maybe next time you can. You and Peter were having a nice conversation and I didn’t bother interrupting you.”

“That’s okay.”

That’s when she gave him a hug as he returned it.

“I better leave, Dad.”

“You just got here.”

“I know. I have something planned.”

“All right. Drive safely.”

“I will. Remind me on something I should do.”

“Bring the turkey tomorrow.”

“Thanks for the reminder. I’ll call later.”

“All right. It was nice seeing you again.”

Ralph followed his daughter so he could see for himself that she was leaving safely. Then he walked back inside.

Thanksgiving finally came. Ralph didn’t get the turkey at all like she said she would. It turned out she had news she wanted to share.

“Hi, honey. Are you still coming?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I caught a cold yesterday.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I was really looking forward to it.”

“Me too, but we’ll have to do it next time.”

“Feel better and Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.”

Then that’s when the call ended. Oh, well. It looks like it might be soup and sandwiches instead.