THE CONGREGATION
Chapter One DRUMSTICK SURPRISE
Thursday
They always gave him the turkey leg to eat. Not a whole one, mind you, but one that had been cut on till it looked like someone's chewed-on leftover. They called it a "drum stick"...and they always gave him some of that God awful red-purple cranberry stuff too.
"Don't forget to give Jerrey the drum stick," one of the women would say.
Like it was a big deal to get the darn thing. He had never asked for the dumb drum-turkey-stick in the first place, they had just always given it to him. Every since he was a little boy, they had given him the darn-dumb-turkey-drum-stick, or whatever you called it. He knew there were other parts to a turkey ("duh"), but darn if he knew what they tasted like. If they tasted like what they gave him to eat, they could keep the whole darn bird, far as he was concerned, 'cause he really didn't like turkey anyways.
He could never figure out why, every Thanksgiving, they had to have turkey in the first place. Why not some Southern Fried Chicken or baked ham? He'd settle for some "Buffalo wings", or ribs.
But n-o-o-o-, they'd have to spend hours in the kitchen, gibbering, gossiping and fixing turkey, then he'd have to eat that dumb chewed on turkey leg thing once again for another year. Lord, he dreaded the thought...dreaded it.
For now, he'd sit here in the Family Room with Dad and all the drive-in relatives, and watch some more football. At least that part of Thanksgiving, watching football, was good. He hadn't made up his mind about all the drive-in relatives yet.
His older sister Janet Mae, a schoolteacher, and her husband Mark, a real estate attorney arrived last night with their two small children, displacing him from his bedroom and landing him on the couch once again for the night.
His older brother Bob, a computer, "whiz-would-be", had driven in from Cummings with Susan his schoolteacher wife, and their three brats, earlier that morning. Well, he shouldn't call them brats. They were okay kids. He just wasn't used to being around kids.
"The Underwriter" Christine, the sister right above him in years, just two years older than him, had just arrived not thirty minutes ago with her claims adjuster husband Todd, and their three "hooligan", boys. Well, he shouldn't call them hooligans but...well you know.
Back when Christine and Todd got married, Dad made a big deal out of Christine becoming an underwriter and marrying a claims adjuster. "Insurance, keep it in the family" Dad had said.
Big deal. Dad had spent thirty years climbing the corporate latter of a major insurance company just to get "downsized" at age fifty-five. "Downsized" was just another fancy name for kicking people out so you could hire younger and cheaper employees. "It was a cheap trick," he thought, played on devoted employees like his Dad had been "Downsize." He'd like to downsize a couple of Dad's old so-called, "friends" who still worked for the company. His Dad couldn't see it, but he could. His Dad's so-called friends helped "boot" his Dad out, so they could keep their jobs and protect their own rear ends.
But this was Thanksgiving. Dad, brother Bob, and brothers-in-law Todd and Mark, and he were all sitting in the Family room, sniffing that baked turkey and watching football. Mark and Todd were okay guys, he guessed. He really didn't know them that well. Well, after all, he only saw them twice a year, Turkey day and Christmas, sometimes. His big brother Bob was okay too, he guessed, but he didn't see Bob much anymore either.
Most of the time around here it was just he and Dad. Well, mom, but she was always doing something with other retired airline stewardess or attendants...or whatever they were called now. Fact of the matter was Dad still spent most of his days sending out resumes, and dreaming of "getting back in" again. God, he hoped his Dad would find something good by the first of the year. Maybe even better then what he had before. Maybe his Dad would get a job with a company that would buy his Dad's old company out, then his Dad could "Downsize" some of his old friends. It was possible! Wasn't it?
"Let's eat" his mother yelled from the dinning room. "Call the children in."
"Burt, Bob, Todd, Mark, Jerrey, come on. Turn that TV off and lets eat."
Janet Mae yelled, "Come on kids, lets eat," out the back door...and all the kids, with a whole lot of cold air, came rushing in through the kitchen door.
Everyone sort of moseyed around the dining room table, looking at the food and decorations...
"Burt, you're at the head of the table. Christine would you and...." and so it went.
He knew one day he'd have his own home and his own table and then maybe...just maybe he'd be able to sit at the dining room table with the other
|