Life, Death, and Time - A Books Of Beginning Collection

Oneshot: Turkey Trouble

Background: Many characters who are dead in canon are alive in this one shot, most notably Rafe (obviously), Gabriel, and Dr. Pym.

Content: The Wibberlys and friends share a very chaotic Thanksgiving.

Kate was walking down the streets of Westport, the little town across the lake from Cambridge Falls. It was a crisp, cool day, and Kate's hand was in Rafe's, who was walking along side her. Normally this would be a perfect moment. But today, Kate was stressed. Her family was hosting Thanksgiving in Cambridge Falls, and she had to find a turkey before they all arrived.

Of course, logic would suggest that her family should have already gotten the turkey before the big day. And they had. But that turkey had met a terrible fate. Last night, while everyone else was sleeping, Michael had decided to experiment. He had tried to pull off a dwarfish turkey recipe and their oven had not been able to handle it. The turkey had been charred beyond saving.

So the duty had fallen to Kate and Rafe to get a new one since Michael (and Emma, who had encouraged his scheme) could clearly not be trusted to.

"You ok? I know that the events of this morning were... shocking, to say the least," Rafe said.

Kate shrugged, "oh I'm good. Just panicked about who's going to be open and have a turkey for sale at eleven in the morning on thanksgiving. But well, yeah it's a mess, but I should have seen it coming. My siblings, as much as I love them and as many good qualities they have, getting into  trouble is their speciality."

"They might even have Jake, Beetles, and Abigail beat in terms of troublemaking ability," Rafe laughed.

Kate felt a grin creep onto her face, "you know, I agree with you on that. Now come on, there's a grocery store just down the street. We just need to see if they're open and have turkey."

By some stroke of luck, the grocery store was open. But then luck ran out and there was not a turkey to be found.

"We need a substitute," Kate said decidedly, "any suggestions?"

Rafe thought for a moment, "chicken?"

"No," Kate shook her head, "something else."

"Well, what if we get a couple of those," he pointed to the hams that had been neatly stacked in one of the corners.

"No one had any dietary restrictions, right?" Kate questioned.

Rafe shook his head, "Wilamena is a vegetarian but she's ok with us all having meat and has an alternative for herself."

"Then this sounds great," Kate said.

After Kate paid with the money her parents had given them, the young couple left the grocery store, Kate carrying their bag with the ham in it.

She turned to say something to Rafe, but he had vanished. Kate was about to call out his name when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She whirled around to face him, "there you are. For a minute you disappeared."

"Sorry to startle you," he replied, "I was just grabbing this from one of the stands over there for you." He held up a daisy that he had found on the counter of a currently closed florist stand. It had been separated from its plant or bouquet, and Rafe had spotted it moments after they left the grocery store.

Kate beamed at him, "you're so sweet."

"Only for you," he said with a teasing smile as he slipped the flower into her hair. Kate leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Then she adjusted her thick green coat and they continued on, heading for home to help prepare their thanksgiving feast.

............

Meanwhile, at the mansion in Cambridge Falls, where Dr. Pym had graciously allowed the Wibberly family to hold their thanksgiving, things were kind of in chaos.

Richard was making mashed potatoes and gravy, trying to manage all the components to both at once. Clare was in charge of stuffing and was actually quite focused and doing we with her task. No, the real chaos in the kitchen was because of Michael, who was obsessing over making the cranberry sauce exactly right, and Wilamena.

The elf princess had been excited to come early and help prepare. The elves did not have thanksgiving so this was to be her first experience with the holiday. She had been placed in charge of making green beans, and the Wibberlys had to keep talking her out of adding strange ingredients and spices to the recipe. No one felt the need for honey in their green beans.

As for Emma, she was banned from the kitchen, seeing as her cooking abilities were limited to toast, cereal, sandwiches, and popcorn. So she was supposed to be setting the table but had gotten bored quickly and decided to make a tower of plates.

This was what Kate and Rafe found when they arrived, and needless to say, they were unsure of how to react.

"Did you get the turkey?" Richard asked as he stirred the gravy.

"No, they were out," Kate said, "but we did get a ham as a substitute."

Richard and Clare exchanged glances. Finally Clare said, "we can work with that."

"Great," Kate said, "now, this looks like chaos. What can we do to help?"

"Stay out of the kitchen please," Richard stated, "it's crowded enough with the four of us."

"Go tell Emma to stop making the leaning tower of pizza out of plates," Michael suggested.

Clare frowned, "Emma's doing what?"

"On it," Kate said, "and good luck. Don't ruin this protein please." Michael rolled his eyes but understood he deserved the gentle teasing. 

"Oh, Kate," Wilamena called as the oldest Wibberly child left the kitchen, "I like your flower."

Kate grinned to herself as she went to find Rafe and dismantle this fortress of kitchenware her sister was supposedly building.

...............

Somehow they all managed to pull a nice meal together and dismantle the tower of plates just as the guests were arriving. There was Dr. Pym, of course, and Gabriel, as well as Hugo Algernon, their parents friend. Wilamena was staying for dinner as well, and an elderly trio, Jake, Beetles, and Abigail had come in from New York for the holiday.

"You know, it was an interesting choice, ham instead of turkey," Dr. Pym pointed out as they ate.

"It wasn't a choice, actually," Clare said. That remark lead to the Wibberlys and Rafe telling the story of Michael's kitchen failure, the hunt for a new protein, and Emma's architectural project made of their eating vessels.

When the story was through, Abigail laughed, "wow, that beats the time Jake and Beetles tried to enchant the turkey to cook itself. Yeah it blew up, but at least we were able to find another one."

"Yeah," Beetles grinned, "this might have even us beat."

Rafe turned to look at Kate and mouthed, "we knew it."

And after all the chaos of the day, Kate began to laugh.

A/N: This isn't my highest quality writing but I find the concept amusing and there were some cute and funny moments in here. I just wanted to attempt a Thanksgiving oneshot.