A Mornelly Thanksgiving: Part Two

To read part one, click HERE.

There was little opposition (in fact none at all) to the idea of celebrating Thanksgiving, and preparations were underway within minutes.

“Oh, I’ll buy the turkey!” Damhán volunteered. “I’ll get the biggest turkey ever! It’s gonna be monstrous!”

“Buy being the key word, Damhán,” Bran reminded him. “Don’t you dare swipe a turkey without paying for it.”

“I’ll put money in the register this time, sheesh. I forget once and everyone thinks I’m a thief. It’s not like they care, anyways. Even when we do put money in the registers or on the counters to pay for something, they still claim someone stole whatever we bought simply because they can’t see us.” Damhán rolled his eyes. “Stupid people.”

“Stupid or not it’s how it’s done and we will continue to pay for our items.” Aichear crossed his arms.

“And you can’t go over the budget,” Bran added. “I have a set amount of money you can use for our meal, but that’s it. Don’t go over that amount.”

“Oh, I’ll make shrimp salad!” Breandan offered. “And we’ll even use the big jumbo shrimp!”

No one argued with that. Asieopians or not, their time in Ireland had made every one of them very fond of seafood. There was no such thing as a special dinner celebration without some sort of fish, shellfish or scallop. Shrimp salad was a must.

“I’m going to make a list of the foods we will need,” Aileen told her brothers. “I want to make some special foods I read about that people like to make for Thanksgiving.”

“Such as…?” Aichear raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll tell you later. It’s a surprise, but I promise I’ll ask you first,” Aileen told him.

He nodded his approval.

“Okay then, so we have shrimp salad and turkey on the list, Aileen’s going to make another list of food… what else should we do?” Bran began to write things down. “Anyone we want to invite over?”

“Can’t think of anyone,” Ciarán grunted.

“Not that we really can invite anyone, unless they’re in the fourth dimension,” Bran mused. “Nah. I guess there isn’t anyone. Everyone probably has plans, anyways.”

Aileen frowned. She looked from each of her brothers, wondering how they could have forgot the one person who no doubt didn’t have any plans. “What about Gerhard?”

“No!” Bran and Aichear said at once.

“Why not?” Damhán crossed his arms. “Dudes, he’s not that bad. Besides, he has no family. We’re his family.”

“He probably already has plans,” Bran interjected. “He, Ruslan and Pancake no doubt have all kinds of things set in motion for Thanksgiving. No doubt they’ve got a bunch of their friends with them, too. He’s fine.”

“I want to invite him,” Ciarán mumbled.

Everyone stared at Ciarán. Bran blinked. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“You just said you couldn’t think of anyone to invite. Now you want to invite Gerhard?” Bran thunked his head on the table. “Why Gerhard?”

“He’s our friend.” Ciarán crossed his arms. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Breandan began to laugh. “Well, if Ciarán wants to invite him, I think we’ve got a pretty valid reason. All in favor of inviting Gerhard, raise your hand.”

Aileen, Breandan, Ciarán and Damhán raised their hands. Bran and Aichear remained quiet and somewhat sullen.

“Vote is settled. Gerhard’s invited.”

“He’ll probably be busy,” Bran muttered. “He probably won’t be able to come, anyways. He’s always doing some crazy thing or another.”

“We’ll see,” Aileen replied. “I hope he’s not, though. It will be nice to have Gerhard here.” She clapped her hands together and squealed, causing Damhán and Ciarán to moan. “Oh, this is going to be the best Thanksgiving ever!”

~oOo~

Damhán stood in the store, people bustling about every which way. Not one person paid him any mind, which was always the case because no one could see him. He caught sight of a little boy staring at him, and he winked.

“How’s it goin’?” He clicked his tongue and pointed at the kid in a goofy matter. “Probably see you around someday.”

The kid continued to stare at him like he was crazy, so Damhán moved on.

Everywhere he looked, Damhán saw Christmas decorations. He loved Christmas- all the music, fun and traditions. Plus the presents. But this? This was too early. It made him feel somewhat… sad? No, he needed to think of a more manly word than that.

Oh! It made him feel irritated. Annoyed. Disgusted. Why couldn’t these people celebrate one holiday at a time? Get with the times, people!

Damhán headed to the meat section of the large food market. He caught sight of a line of people, all grabbing turkeys. It looked like there wasn’t going to be that many left if he didn’t hurry. That’s my cue.

A lot of the time he didn’t like being invisible to all but kids. Damhán was a people person, he enjoyed talking to others. Right now, though, he was glad he was in the fourth dimension. He could get a turkey without having to wait in line.

“Ha! If Aichear was here, he’d insist we get in line, anyways.” He passed over to the turkeys and stood next to the lady who was trying to decide which turkey to buy. Damhán surveyed the birds, indecisive as to which one was the biggest. “Hmmm… there’s not that many left… at least in the size I like them.”

The lady at last picked one turkey up and walked away, letting the next person in line choose theirs.

Damhán and the twenty-something-year-old man saw it at the same time. Right where the gal had picked her turkey from lay the biggest turkey in the whole freezer. “Aha!”

Damhán lunged for the turkey, but before his hands were able to grab it, the man in line had snatched it up and put it in his cart. A smug smile crossed the black-haired male’s face, and he glanced back at the line of people, as if to say “I got a better turkey than all of you. So sad, too bad.”

“You jerk!” Damhán exploded. “That’s my turkey!”

The seventeen-year-old picked up a turkey out of the pile and ran after the man, his face edged and determined. That guy was not going to get away with this.

Damhán walked up to the man’s cart, a smirk of his own on his face. “Okay mister, you think you’re so great because you stole a turkey from a guy in the fourth dimension? I’m about to change that.”

He reached into the cart while the man studied a box of stuffing- and a voice yelled out, “Hey! Are you stealing that turkey? Stop!”

Damhán froze. The turkey-thief man turned and stared at the little boy standing front of him.

It was the kid Damhán had talked to earlier.

“Oh, hey kid!” Damhán chuckled a bit. He held up his turkey and pointed at the one in the cart. “He stole my turkey.”

“You’re trying to steal it back, though,” the child accused.

Now the turkey-thief was very confused. “Who are you, kid? I didn’t steal any turkeys.” He scratched his black head and then shook it. “I’m not sure what you are talking about.”

The little boy pointed at Damhán. “Not you, him! He said you stole his turkey. Now he’s trying to steal yours!”

Turkey-thief man swiveled around and stared right at Damhán. Damhán rolled his eyes. Like you can see me.

“But- there’s no one there,” turkey-thief said at last.

Damhán managed to mimic the words as they came out of the man’s mouth. Nailed it.

He hadn’t been through this before or anything.

Now the little boy was mad. “He’s right there! And- and he’s taking your turkey!”

Damhán grinned. He set his turkey down in the turkey-thief’s cart and picked up the one he’d claimed as his own, holding it up like a trophy. “Sorry, kid, he can’t see or hear me. I’m from the fourth dimension. And this-” he nodded to the turkey, “-is my turkey. I had it first and this guy took it from me.”

“But- but that’s not very nice,” he responded.

“Ehh…” Darn it. Why did little kids always have to be right? Damhán sighed.

To read more click here>>> PART THREE