Thanksgiving Saga Continues

When I was maybe seven or eight, my younger brother Ricky(who was six or so)and I thought that we were getting a pet turkey for Thanksgiving. (you know like the little ducks and bunnies at Easter)

Our dad was a plumber at the time, and quite often his jobs involved barter. We were the first family in our neighborhood to have a tv because he did some work for a family who owned an appliance store.

It was a few days before Thanksgiving, he did some work for a poultry farmer and in exchange for the high quality plumbing work my dad did, we got a live turkey! On Tuesday evening after daddy got home from work, he and momma and Ricky and I got in the car and drove out in the country to the turkey farm. We picked out this really BIG Tom turkey, put him in a coop in the trunk of our car and took him home. Daddy took the coop with Tom(who was making a lot of strange noises) down in our basement. Ricky and I went down to give him some water and try to make friends with him, but Tom Turkey was not happy, he was big and scary and we decided to leave him alone.

The next evening my mom announced that it was time to get the turkey ready for Thanksgiving.

Now, at one time we had raised chickens and my mom had shown all of us how to prepare a chicken that you did not buy at the grocery store. I followed her down to the basement,

so did my brother Ricky.........we watched as she wrestled that twenty-five pound turkey out of the coop, he was pecking her and scratching, and momma was not happy. We stood and watched

(ok, for those of you who never lived on a farm, you might want to go,la lalala lala la here) Momma grabbed Tom by the neck and proceeded to wring his neck, ok she was attempting to wring that turkey's neck like she did a chicken, but it was not going as planned. Tom's neck grew

longer and longer and longer, and soon she was swinging that turkey around her head like some sort of bizarre toy. Tom continued to make weird noises as his neck grew longer, momma began to say words that she had told us to Never say! Ricky and I just stood and watched, as momma swung that turkey round and round, his neck just growing longer. Turkey feathers were flying.

Momma grew weary, so she asked my brother to get the ax, by this time she was dragging Tom

behind her and they both disappeared out back. In a little while, she walked through the door with a huge plucked bird in a big enamel pot and walked up the stairs to the kitchen.

I don't remember eating turkey that Thanksgiving, not sure if any of us did, for several years after that we had roast chicken for Thanksgiving. I will never forget the sight of my momma swinging that turkey round and round, it would have made a great SNL skit, don't you think?

Tomorrow night my final Thanksgiving entry.