“Mama, mama! Tell us a bedtime story!” Bob and Millie squealed, their beaks bobbing up and down like quaking aspen leaves. 

“Into bed you both go, come on now.”

“But mama,” Millie pleaded, “the sun’s not even all the way down yet!”

“Please mama, I’m not even tired yet” Bob trailed off. Mama Turkey’s eyes softened and she sat down between the two of them, wrapping her wings around the two. 

“Do you both know the story of Thanksgiving? It’s eerie, but I think it’s time I told you both.”

“I’m not scared,” Millie puffed out her chest, “yesterday I climbed to the top of a slippery rock.” Bob snuggled under his covers, sniffed, then looked at Mama expectantly. 

“It all began one autumn morning when I was a young turkey. See, my flock had nestled into a new backyard that autumn due to a heavy rainstorm the night before; it had flooded our hometree and the plan was to return as soon as our tree was drier and had some time in the sunshine. Our flock had decided that there would be an espionage group that would get to know the area, for exploration’s sake they had said. And see, as a young turkey, I thought that sounded fun. So I asked the elder turkeys if I could come with them and y’know what they said?”

“YES!” Bob grinned. Mama Turkey smiled. 

“They said yes. They even went as far as to say it would be a good growing experience for me. So I went along with my father, the flock leader, several other turkeys in my flock, and my best turkey friend, Chicken.” Mama sighed. 

“Keep going!” the two whispered excitedly.

“Well, my father and some of the other turkeys led the way and we came across a human house. It was nearly identical to many of the houses that were near our tree back home, but you know how it is with humans –they’re not the most creative.”

Bob grinned.

“The house looked a bit rickety, a faded oak leaf green, and like it had been standing against the wind just a little too long, slightly slanted to the side. It had shingles of the roof falling off, but in a charming way, a lame adoring way. It was the only house for a few miles around, but you could still see neighborhoods in the distance.”

“Tell about the grass!” Bob exclaimed. 

“Ah, yes the grass…it was so soft. I can so vividly remember it between my toes. There were dying grass plains and weeds surrounding the house, but I could tell there were still humans living there. Anyhow, we made a circle around the house; it was small and a single story. Eventually, someone made the decision to go inside the house; the flock elders were following a delicious aroma, something of pumpkins and cranberries…”

“I’m hungry, mama,” Millie groaned. 

“I have some snacks in my pocket from yesterday if you want them,” Bob offered nonchalantly. Millie made a face. 

“So we entered through the front door; it was unlocked. I vividly remember there being a lot of decorations everywhere. There were little rectangles on the walls, and miniature human faces in the middle of the rectangles. It was eerie. All their faces were in the same position, upturned lips and squinted eyes. I remember there was a creak in the floorboards, too. We walked down the halls of the little house a few times, and really, it looked like all of the homes we’d toured before. It had the same room with a big square pillow in the middle of it. It had multiple rooms with ceramic watering holes. Those really are genius inventions I tell you, having a lever to circulate the water to prevent stale drinking water whenever you want is really quite nice!” Mama cleared her throat.

“Will you take us to go drink from one of those someday, mama?” 

“Of course, Millie.

Anyhow, it wasn’t until we waddled to the place of the smells that I realized something. Chicken wasn’t behind me!”

“Oh no,” Bob gasped.

“And I got  worried, so I started calling out her name quietly. The others were walking ahead already, but I stayed back. I had heard something. I heard a voice. 

It cooed, “Well, aren’t you a darling? Would you like some food, hon? I’ve got plenty.” And I stepped closer to listen. It was a human talking. 

And I heard a responding voice, “You are too kind! Yes, of course I’d like some food! Thank you so much!” It was Chicken’s voice. And my heart dropped…see for all of my childhood, the turkey elders had always told me to be wary of humans. It had always been a superstition instilled in me that if a human crossed a turkey’s path, then bad luck would follow.”

“Chicken!” the two poults wailed.

“So I slowly waddled my way over to Chicken’s voice, and the pumpkin smells got stronger. And you’ll never believe what I saw…” Mama turned to her poults with a sly fluff of her feathers.

“There, towering from the wood-tiled floors, I saw the human…but dehydrated. See this was like no human I had ever seen; this one had strange round circles on her eyes and skin like a raisin all over. She had a kind of…feathers? A set of very smooth feathers, only it was solely on her front; it looped around her neck and had turkeys on it…smiling turkeys. 

“Oh no!!!” Millie cried then paused, “what’s that mean?”

“It meant…that something was wrong. I couldn’t quite put my wing on it, but I could feel something deep in my gobble that something was gravely wrong. So I leapt out from my hiding spot in the hallway and I grabbed onto Chicken’s wing, trying to pull her out. And oh the sound the human made; there was a groaning gurgling cackle that came from her mouth and that was when I really started to pull Chicken out of there faster. But Chicken seemed to be unphased.

“Dorothy, it’s okay! The human is on our side!” Chicken exclaimed. But I was still weary. 

“Something feels wrong,” I told her, “what did the human give you?”

“Not sure! But it had bread in it. Also this weird brown sauce on it, but oh Dorothy it was heavenly; it was buttery and delicate and perfectly balanced with the umami flavors and the indulgent tangy cranberry flavors!” Now, see, Chicken was an avid chef, so I began to let my guard down just a tad because if Chicken, my best friend, thought that this food must be pretty good, then maybe we could trust the human…”

“Mama, I’m hungry,” Bob murmured. Millie elbowed him. 

“So I slowly dragged my friend out of the room with a silent polite nod toward the human and she just kind of squinted her eyes back at me, like she couldn’t see very well. 

When I got Chicken out of the room, I asked her cautiously, “Was there any of that…bread stuff left?”

“Oh there were tons! She sure gave me a lot though,” Chicken furrowed her brow.

“You’d think she’d want to leave some for dinner.”

“That’s weird,” I told her. But I shook the strange feeling away and I led Chicken back to the rest of the flock. There, the other turkeys were examining a pipe coming out of the wall with water running from it. I remember thinking man what an adventure this is! But that’s not the end. See, the flock had finally made its rounds and were going out the back door of the house. We were waddling back to the tree we would be staying in for the night, when I realized Chicken wasn’t with me. She had gone up front for a bit, but then I lost sight of her and I had figured she was way up front with the elders. Except…when we got to the tree, I didn’t see her anywhere. I looked everywhere and she was nowhere to be seen. But suddenly…”

“The suspense!!” Millie cried out, eyes wide.

“Suddenly, I felt a buzzing on my wing. It was my iGobble ringing with a call from Chicken.

“Dorothy, where’d you all go? The human said she’s got a sauna here that I wanted to try out!” 

“Chicken! There you are; we’re back at the tree. Tell the human you’ll try it another time…” I trailed off. I could hear a clunking noise from behind Chicken. 

“Little late for that, Dorothy. I’m already in it,” Chicken hesitated, “do saunas normally have these metal racks in them? I thought it was an interesting design choice, but then again the human said it was from this place called Bostco or something. Costco I think it was. According to her, Costco has some unique products.”

“I don’t think they’re supposed to have metal racks…” I began to get suspicious. 

“Man, this thing sure heats up. Hold on, I think the human is trying to tell me something, hold on for one second.” Chicken paused. And little did I know I would be hearing the last ever words from my best friend.

“Excuse me, do you think you might lower the temperature just a smidge?”

A pause.

“Yes, it’s getting a bit too steamy for my liking.” A squeal shot through the call.

“Pardon, come again?”

“AHHH, MA’AM WHAT ARE YOU DOI–” the call went silent. Chicken had hung up.” Mama sighed.

“What happened to her?” Millie asked worriedly.

“Well, I ran over frantically to the elder turkeys and told them the story and their eyes only darkened. See, I tried to sneak away and return to the house multiple times, but all the times I got caught. The elder turkeys had me under their watchful eyes; they knew something, but I was far too young to understand. Later, I would learn that Chicken was what they call “Thanksgivinged”.”

“What’s that?” Millie and Bob asked in unison.

“It’s a strange phenomena that happens to turkeys around every autumn in human houses for a celebration they call “Thanksgiving”; turkeys still aren’t entirely sure what happens to the turkeys that are affected, but turkey scientists are still conducting research on it. But oh my dear Chicken, I do hope she’s out there cooking somewhere.” Mama looked dreamily off into the distance. Bob fidgeted from under his blankets.

“Well, my dears, I think it’s best you go to sleep now. Tuck yourselves in tight, and don’t let the humans bite,” she stood up.

“Goodnight, mama,” the two poults murmured. All was silent.

“Smiling turkeys,” Millie whispered tentatively.

“That’s not funny, Millie.”