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.
