Joseph Stephens and the best Thanksgiving ever

            Joseph Stephens lived in a small town in America. Every November Americans celebrated Thanksgiving, a day that celebrated the Indians or Native Americans and their generosity to the Pilgrims. The Indians were killed shortly after. It was truly a holiday steeped in much tradition. Joseph Stephens and many others celebrated the day by spending time with their families, some would say as punishment for what their ancestors did to the Native Americans, but Joseph was not so cynical.

            It was a crisp autumn day, the season had lasted almost two months that year, which was a record day that many had not seen the late winter of Nineteen tickedy-two. Joseph walked down the street whistling a happy tune. He wore a green coat, jeans, black sneakers and a shirt with a collar on it and everything! Joseph also had his hair combed back to show that he was being extra considerate on this most thankful of Givings.

            Before going to dinner Joseph stopped by the house of his friend Jaye Williams. Joseph and Jaye had been friends since they were little. Ever since they survived the great Yeti mating season when they five. Spring sprang in early that year and the thawing snow kicked the Yeti’s into survival mode. But that is another story for another day.

            Jaye Williams was a tall thin man who wore a gunmetal gray coat, had black hair, olive skin, hazel eyes and was surprisingly not Italian. “Ready for another stuffing day?” Jaye asked with a wide grin on his face. Joseph often couldn’t tell if Jaye was just being silly, drunk or always had a hidden meaning to his words. “Yeah man lets get to it” Joseph responded. The two friends began to walk down the street. Normally they would eat separately, eating with their own their own family but this year one of the wealthiest men in town randomly selected whole families to eat at his giant house for dinner. The man was named ‘Grand Duke Richard Albatross the second’ Richard Albatross was not royalty but when you are rich you can make people call you whatever you want.

            Joseph and Jaye were taking it easy that day, while their families rushed ahead to explore Sir Albatross’ mansion. The two friends preferred to travel together and take their time. “This dinner sounds pretty extravagant” Said Jaye as they walked over the cracked sidewalk of low town. “Yeah, I heard there would be so much food and so many types of people. I know it’s going to be exciting but I hope nothing weird happens” Joseph responded. “Weird? Like what? Are you saying you hope the random dinner invitation from an eccentric millionaire will lead to a normal and calm night?” Jaye asked with a smirk. “I have had a really weird year and so far this kind of thing doesn’t even register on my weird scale” Joseph replied. “Maybe you’re so weird that strange stuff is just attracted to you. Like some kind of freak magnet” Jaye replied. Joseph slapped Jaye on the back. “Well if I am a freak magnet and you are my best friend what does that say about you?” Joseph laughed.

            The two friends walked through low town and arrived at the crosstown bridge. This Bridge would get someone across the river below and connected Low town and High Town. The bridge had a sidewalk on either side and had two lanes of traffic going in and out of from High Town. The first step onto the bridge and Joseph already felt safer. The crime-ridden streets were behind him and the bridge to fancy pants Ville was ahead. The Cross town bridge had newly paved roads, freshly set sidewalks and carved, waist high stone walls on either side of the bridge to keep pedestrians from falling into the water.  As the friends crossed the bridge they could already see the Duke’s mansion ahead. They walked quickly across the mile long bridge as they both day dreamed of the feast that waited for them ahead.

            The frosty November air nipped at Joseph’s nose and it made his breath visible. Joseph was not looking forward to his meeting with Old man winter, but knew that he was close. Soon he would have to say goodbye to autumn as winter the old drunk stumbled in like a train wreck. “Whatcha thinking about?” Jaye asked when he noticed Joseph had a serious expression. Joseph smiled “Just thinking about how I am going to eat so much free food. I might even eat more than you!” Joseph said. Jaye laughed, “No one can eat more than me, except for fat Joe the ham champion. Fat Joe had won every single eating contest ever held in High town and Low Town.

            The friends made it over the bridge and stepped foot into high town. All of the houses were medium to large sized, spaced apart and had their own gardens. The street lights were styled like old fashioned street lamps from the 1700s and Christmas decorations hung on light posts, trees and buildings. “GAH! Christmas stuff already? Turkey day isn’t even over” Jaye complained loudly. Joseph sighed “Yeah man I know. I love Christmas but this seems excessive. Some people just can’t wait” Said Joseph. Then both friends remembered how excited they were for Halloween every year and often put up Halloween decorations in September.

            After a short walk through High Town the two men arrived at the Mansion of Sir Albatross. The whole building was in the style of a London house mansion from the 1700s and decorated with Autumn leaves and thanksgiving colors. White Christmas style lights adorned the lampposts in the front of his house and along the borders of his house. Joseph walked up to the large red door and knocked. A short butler answered the door. The butler was short but looked solid like he could double as a body guard. His eyes were narrow and he had a short nose. The Butler frowned when he saw Joseph and Jaye at the door. “More of Duke Albratross’ ‘guests’ “ Said the butler who clearly didn’t approve of inviting strangers to the house.

            The butler led Joseph and Jaye into the main room. It was a large room with large staircase in the middle that led to the second floor, part of the second floor was visible from the front door and looked like an indoor balcony that led to other rooms. Jaye and Joseph looked around and tried to peek in on side rooms as the butler led them down a hallway into the dinning hall. “This isn’t Sir Albatross’ normal dining area, this is for parties and guests. Please stay in the dinning hall and do not wonder the house” Said the butler in a stiff voice. Joseph and Jaye giggled to each other as their minds raced with the mischief they could cause. They weren’t likely to cause much or any trouble but they could imagine so many things to entertain themselves with in such a big house and when the butler told them not to do something that made them want to explore and cause trouble even more.

            Jaye and Joseph were led into the Dinning hall. The room was enormous and could have held half of the families in low town. The Banquet Hall was filled with people but not so packed that people couldn’t move around freely. Jaye saw his family and ran over to greet them. Jaye’s father was telling a dirty joke to a stranger, the strange looked uncomfortable. The sight of it all made Joseph laugh. He walked through the room alone and tried to look for his family. The Dinning Hall or Banquet Hall was large, the walls were white with gold trim and the floors were marble tile with an intricate design that spread out through the whole room. The tables were round and sat up to ten people each. The tables each had one solid color tablecloth, either dark brown, red, orange, yellow, black and green. These colors alternated throughout the room. White lights were wrapped around marble pillars on the edges of the room and large arched windows dotted the walls letting the guests enjoy the view of the outdoors. The Banquet hall was located toward the back of the mansion and had an excellent view of the wooded area behind the house and a small river at the bottom of a sloping hill. The front of the mansion was visible to the public but the Duke owned a large plot of land and much of the back half of the mansion was surrounded by nature. The forest behind the house went on for miles.

            Joseph saw his parents at a table and waved. His mother was drinking heavily and his father was reading a book he brought with him. Both seemed unimpressed by the mansion. Joseph knew his parents weren’t rude but he did wonder why they weren’t more excited. He decided to talk to them after dinner, due to his mother’s trait of talking for hours. Joseph found Jaye in the crowd and ran up to him “After years of trying to hang out for the holidays its so awesome that we actually get to spend thanksgiving together” Joseph said with a smile. Jaye turned around and smiled. He was holding a small white cup of coffee and kept taking sips as he nodded. “Yeah man, its crazy. I plan to enjoy every minute of it. I can see my family anytime, you and me, we gotta live it up. What should we do first?” Jaye replied. “Well first you show me were you got that coffee, it smells great” Joseph said.

            The two friends walked through the dinning area and toward the back. In the back of the room was a large fireplace, crackling and popping as the flames flickered on the wooden logs. Armchairs were placed in a half circle around the fireplace. The chairs and fireplace rested on red carpet, which broke up the design of marble tile. The back of the room had the most windows, the best view, was the quietest part of the room, had a fireplace and over all seemed like its own separate room away from the party. The coffee was located on a fancy table. Various kinds of coffee and creamer were laid out and the sugar was in a white and gold porcelain bowl. Joseph poured some coffee and mixed in pumpkin flavoring. He and Jaye sat down in chairs and watched the fireplace. The smell of wood smoke mixed with the fragrant aroma of Joseph’s coffee. From the back of the room Joseph could also smell the kitchen preparing dinner. It was so wonderful Joseph wished he could have stayed there in that chair forever.

            Joseph and Jaye sat in their chairs drinking coffee and relaxing to the sound of the fireplace crackling. “We are couple of old men” Joseph said with a laugh. “Yeah we are. But its ok. I would rather be here than whatever people in their mid twenties are supposed to do” Jaye replied. Both men turned looked behind their chairs and saw Greg Smithson and their friend Briggs Magillakurk at the bar on the western side of the room. Greg and Briggs were drinking like it was the end of the world. When a party has free booze some people can’t control themselves and feel like they need to drink enough to make up for a weeks worth of drinking. Briggs and Greg were talking and laughing as they drank. Briggs made a joke and the two laughed. Then Greg shouted “I need it!!” So loudly that most of the room heard him. Greg and Briggs laughed but not as hard as Joseph and Jaye laughed. When Greg randomly shouted “I need it!” Joseph and Jaye burst out laughing and couldn’t control themselves. Neither of them understood the context of the situation but doubted that any conversation required someone to drunkenly exclaim, “I need it!”

            After the two calmed down and caught their breath they relaxed a bit more, chuckling in their chairs like idiots. Randomly saying “I need it!” back and forth to each other. But they didn’t say it very loudly so only they could hear the joke. A loud and majestic trumpet interrupted their jubilance. Grand Duke Richard Albatross emerged from a side door and the trumpets sounded again. “Greetings gentle guests, thank you all for coming to my Thanksgiving Dinner. As many of you know, I do not have many remaining family members, but this town, both the high and low parts of town, have been so very dear to me and have always been kind. So I invited some of my favorite families to my dinner. So we can all enjoy this wonderful night together” Duke Albatross finished his speech and everyone cheered. “Bring in the Turkey!!” Shouted Sir Albatross.

            Servants wheeled in a large mental table on wheels, on top of the table was a giant turkey. The turkey was the size of a small car and it took several people to move it across the floor. Joseph had never seen such a big turkey and wondered what it looked like while it was alive. Tables lined the walls and soon servants were bringing out trays of food. Mashed potatoes, squash, pumpkin bread, green beans, turnips, stuffing, apples baked in honey, corn bread, macaroni and cheese, all sorts of pickles, and various olives. The food went on and on. Joseph couldn’t even keep track of all of the types of food that were brought out.

            Jaye and Joseph sat at a table together. Servents brought trays around the room and served up the food as they passed by. The server with the sweet potatoes passed by Jaye put up his hand to say “none for me” and Joseph nodded and said “Two please”. After all of the servants walked by every table it was time to eat. Joseph and Jaye had two plates full of every kind of Thanksgiving and autumn food there was.

            “We should hang out with eccentrics, lonely billionaires more often!” Jaye said as he took a big bite of turkey. Dinner went on and everyone happily ate and talked. Hours passed and the sun had set on the town. Empty plates stacked up on every table and people grumbled and gurgled as they held their stomachs. Soft music played in the background creating a relaxing after dinner atmosphere. Servers came by to collect the empty places and remaining food then came by with coffee, brandy and different kinds of pie. Joseph had a slice of pie loaded up with whipped cream and Jaye had a slice of pumpkin pie and a brandy.

            The night went on and it began to snow. Gentle snowflakes drifted from the sky and settled on the trees and ground outside. The snow and relaxing music gave Joseph a good holiday feeling. Christmas was right around the corner and he could already feel it in the air. Joseph enjoyed a little snow and loved Christmas but he wasn’t in a rush for Thanksgiving to be over, especially this Thanksgiving.

            The night was peaceful and the talking had quieted down to a murmur. Jaye and Joseph sat back in their chairs as they finished their desserts and drinks. Joseph Stephen’s might not have had an crazy night but he did have a great one. Joseph could tell by the glazed smile on Jaye’s face that he was happy as well.

            Joseph Stephens and Jaye Williams would go on to have many exciting times and great holiday adventures, but the Thanksgiving they spent at the Duke Albatross’ house was certainly the best Thanksgiving ever.

The noise in my Head

            My mind is racing full of emotion. My mind is like a crowd of people all jammed into a room. Everyone has a thought to say and usually they all wait their turn. During times of stress they all panic and try to talk at once. All of my thoughts talking at once and suddenly it gets very loud in my head. I hear my thoughts yell and scream to be heard, each one yelling over the next. The best thought isn’t always heard but the loudest one is. Just like real people, the loudest person isn’t always the smartest, but being loud gets attention. So people follow the loudest thought and the loudest voice regardless of whether or not the ideas are good or sane.

            I sit quietly in my chair at the library, the world in my head is buzzing with noise but the world outside is quiet. I stare with a neutral expression and no one can tell that I am trying very hard not to shout at myself to quiet down.

            I leave the house with my thoughts buzzing around my head like a swarm of bees. I get into my car muttering to myself. I turn on the radio and a song blasts out from the speakers. Its that one song that plays fifty thousand times and everyone is sick of but it still gets played. I hate the song and I hate that people love it. The loud outside noise mixed with my loud thoughts and adds new thoughts to my head. “Shut up!” I yell finally as I slam my palm into the radio. The radio is silent and for a moment so are my thoughts.

            I begin to drive and little by little the thoughts begin to pop up, like meerkats coming out of their nests to see if the area is safe again from the loud shouting words. The thoughts return but driving has my focus. I have something to look at and pay attention to. Focus is like the big daddy of thoughts pushing its way through the crowd. The thing that I am focusing on is now the most important and deemed the strongest in the group. The other thoughts sit quietly in fear of focus. Large towering focus helps me keep track of what I am doing.

            I turn down the volume on the radio and then switch it on, I turn to a station I like and continue to drive. A song comes on the radio that I am not familiar with so I listen intently as I drive. The words speak to a part of me. The upbeat lyrics sing of nice blue skies and I try to cheer up, but the lyrics fall flat as they continue. The song is trying to be upbeat with a general message of “I understand times are tough but you need to keep on going” which is a fine message but the examples of pain or ‘tough times’ are pitiful. Anyone who stresses over such meaningless problems needs to stop complaining, they don’t know what real pain feels like. I have felt pain and others have felt pain, this radio singer has not felt pain. My focus wavers and my thoughts jump on focus like an angry mob. My mind grows cloudy once again as all of my thoughts shout at the top of their imaginary lungs. A sea of thoughts swallows focus as it struggles and then dies. I race down the highway as my mind races through my thoughts. I forgot why I was so angry but I am swept up in the anger.

            I hear a loud car horn and I realize I have been driving too fast and too recklessly. I swerve to avoid slamming into the back of a car but end up slamming the side of my car into a motorcycle. The man on the motorcycle gets tossed off his bike and thrown into traffic. My car spins out of control as I recoil on the steering wheel. Another car drives forward and slams into my now sideways car. My car flips over and I fall unconscious. The thoughts fade away, their voices lower and vanish. All is quiet all is dark.

            That next moment I open my eyes and I am in the library, sitting in my chair. The world outside is so quiet no one would ever know how loud it was inside my head.

Autumn Memories

            I remember an autumn day that was so bright and beautiful that I still visit it in my dreams. It was mid autumn in the small New England town where I lived. The cozy homes were decorated for the fall with pumpkins and autumn colors. Bright red, orange and yellow trees dotted the landscape. That year had the most vibrant colors I had ever seen. That morning was cool and misty. I went for a walk early so I could enjoy morning to myself. It was the weekend and no one was outside yet.. The air was refreshing and the smell of damp earth and rain lingered in the air. The sky was slightly overcast but just the right amount to make a person feel relaxed and sleepy.

            That afternoon I met my friend Wilson for pizza. The weather was still chilly but the sun was out so the occasional breeze didn’t bother me. I remember the bright blue sky as a background for beautiful autumn colors. The town was a little busier at this point. Everyone was wearing their warmer clothes and the smell of coffee was everywhere. I had pizza with Wilson that afternoon. We laughed the whole time we were together. Making jokes, enjoying the pizza and for an hour we forgot all of our troubles. It was perfect. During lunch Wilson was getting sentimental about the season, talking about family and relationships. I carefully listened because he was rarely a serious person. In the middle of his thought the pizza had crept up on him and he let out a loud burp. He stared at me with surprise, his eyes wide and a grin across his face. I squinted my eyes at him and smiled. It was gross and I was trying not to laugh, finally we both starting laughing hysterically. Wilson had not planned that and the burp was just as much of a surprise to him as it was to me. The day moved on and I still chuckled about that even after I left.

            Night came and I headed home. Night settled in, blanketing the town with darkness. As the sun went down street lamps and porch lights went on. Soft lights from lamps, autumn decorations and open windows of houses added a warm touch to the otherwise cold night. The smell of wood smoke drifted through the air, its rustic fragrance made me feel more relaxed and happy than any scent I had smelled before. The small town neighborhood was quiet and peaceful.

            As I was walking home I saw a black cat sitting on the steps of a rustic orange house, with a dark brown door and soft light coming from the windows. The cat wasn’t paying attention and seemed bored with me. I reached down to pet the cat, but right as I did the cat walked off. I couldn’t help but laugh. If cats weren’t so cute they wouldn’t get away with half of the things they do. I recovered from that devastating snubbing and continued to walk home. Pride wounded, but intact.

            I reached my house, it was a brick house with a green door and green window shutters. I walked in and instantly smelled the faint scent of pies and baked goods. My wife Jess and I had been baking and the scent rested through the house like a lazy cat. I turned on lights and removed my coat. My house was decorated with plastic autumn leaves, light up pumpkins and an autumn wreath on the door. I lit an apple cider scented candle and sat back in my chair.

            Jess came home with a big smile. She walked into the house carrying various boxes and decorations. Her strawberry blond hair kept falling down over her face as she carried everything inside. I helped her bring everything in and that’s when she told me about all of the Halloween decorations she bought. Halloween was over and it left a sadness in my heart, but my lovely wife went out to scoop up the remaining decorations for a fraction of their normal price.

            In the box was ghosts made of cloth and plastic, a Jack-o-lantern that screamed when you touched it and a twisted wooden sign that said “Hallows End”. I didn’t know what a Hallows End was, but it sounded spooky.

            The night wound down as I listened to soft music and sat in my comfortable chair with a glass of hot cider. Jess was reading on the couch and wore her adorable reading glasses. The music played on like a distant memory in the back of your mind. I started to fall asleep and my mind wandered off. It went and chased happy memories thoughts of fall and goals for the future.

            I thought of my slowly growing family that I had with Jess, the cool night air and how good the warmth of the house felt, hot tea, cold apple cider, baked goods and brightly colored trees. I was completely content of that night as I thought about misty mornings, bright fall days, cold October nights, autumn memories…and pizza burps.