Shaken

Chapter 6

     The next morning was Thanksgiving. Mrs. O’Brian was downstairs making wonderful smells in the kitchen, Abby and Traci were upstairs cutting out paper turkeys to tape to the windows in the dining room and Mr. O’Brian was out in the garage trying to cook the turkey in the big roaster they stored there for that specific reason. So far, he had dropped the giblets on the floor, and couldn’t get the neck unfrozen from the rest of the body.

     “It sat in the refrigerator for at least twenty-four hours, what else could a turkey ask for?” Mr. O’Brian asked himself as he tried sawing the neck of the turkey back with a large bread knife.

     By noon, the turkey was cooking, and the stuffing was in the oven. Abby and Traci were covered in pieces of paper, and were trying to tape left over turkeys on each other’s back, without having the other person noticing. Then the doorbell rang.

     “I got it!” Traci shouted from the top of the stairs as she jumped down two steps at a time and ran to the door. Standing on the door step was a UPS deliverer.

     “Is an Abby Cambell here?” The man asked.

     “Yep!” Traci half shut the door and shouted up the stairs. “ABBY! THERE’S A PACKAGE FOR YOU!”

     Abby stopped typing her reply to Clarks e-mail in mid-sentence. She set the laptop on the computer desk and ran downstairs. Taking the package from the man and signing her name on the clipboard, she thanked the UPS man and shut the door.

     “It’s cold out there.” Abby said, shivering.

     She set down the package and looked for the return address. ‘Clark Radke’ it read on the top. Abby smiled and ripped the brown paper layer off the box. There was a note taped to the top of the box.

‘Thanks for the cookies.

-Clark’

     Traci handed Abby a knife and she cut the tape. She peered inside the box. Shuffling around in the packing peanuts she spotted a small box on the bottom. Abby imagined opening it and finding a diamond ring, shining in its pure brilliance. Then she came back to reality. She opened the box and found a hemp cored bracelet with a chocolate chip cookie pendant weaved into it.

     “Aww,” Traci said. “It’s so cute!”

     Abby wrapped the bracelet around her wrist and fastened it on. Clambering up the stairs, Abby grabbed her laptop and e-mailed Clark a thank you, consisting mostly of ‘THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU’s. She closed her laptop and spazzed out in the computer chair.

     “I can’t believe he sent me a gift!” She practically yelled.

     “I know!” Tracy said with a wide grin. “This is proof that he likes you.”

     It was two hours before the turkey would be ready, so Abby and Tracy drove to the hospital to visit Mr. Cambell. Traci walked over to the coffee shop to find that they were completely out of hot chocolate until 2:00, when someone would come to replace the vendor. Traci decided to wait while Abby went to her dad’s room. She sat by the bedside and placed a Turkey cutout on the bedside table.

     “Love you dad.” Abby said with a short smile.

     She took his hand in hers and squeezing it. Mr. Cambell squeezed back.

     “Nurse,” Abby said in surprise. “He.. He just squeezed my hand!”

     Suddenly, all of the monitors started beeping. Three nurses ran into the room, checking his pulse.