The time my mother brought home a live turkey for Thanksgiving

Stock image by Unsplash.

By Pat Dobbs

My mother was newly married and wanted to impress her in-laws with the perfect Thanksgiving dinner. She was already a good cook but to make sure it was the very best, she took Macy’s Thanksgiving cooking class. 

She worked full time so taking the one hour bus ride from Brooklyn to Manhattan after work was hard. She was tired so to be sure she was alert for the class she splashed cold water on her face and took copious notes all of which later she couldn’t decipher. 

She learned that they would give a live turkey as a prize for the best cook. Oh dear she thought. What would anyone do with a live turkey? 

But she won the live turkey. 

She never shared how she got the turkey home. I can only imagine she had to sweet talk the bus driver into lettering her take the live turkey onto the bus and probably the passengers gave her all sorts of incredulous looks. Was the turkey in a cage or did she just hold it in her lap? I don’t know. What I do know is that she bought the turkey to her local butcher who was surprised but knew what to do.

In the end her Thanksgiving dinner was a success. People especially complimented her on the turkey. My mother just smiled.

–Dobbs lives in Stonington.

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