Thanksgiving Revolution – Two Minute Epic: Flash Fiction

Hey all, I’m thankful for choice and causality.  I’m thankful for fists and open palms.  And I’m thankful for cookies.  Enjoy this special Thanksgiving story as only I tell them.

            “We have what we have,” she said with a harrumph, plopping down at the head of the table, “Isn’t that right Roy?”  Susie had that way about her; everything she said seemed like a harrumph.  It gave her every utterance a sense of finality that vexed many, but won the heart of her husband.  Now that he was dead, few people in the family still appreciated her.

            Alex looked upon the heaping plates that littered the table and momentarily considered eating meat for the sake of social ease.  The caked brown skin of the turkey didn’t look bad.  He heard it crackled pleasantly in the mouth.  Alex had never eaten turkey, but maybe this Thanksgiving would be a new experience for him.

            His values.  What of his values?  What indeed.

            “I suppose,” said Roy with a sigh.

            Alex looked across the table at Roy’s apologetic eyes and slumped shoulders.  He shrugged, as if to say, ‘you wanted to come over, this is what it’s like.’  After years of living with his mother, and then after these last few months of helping take care of her, Roy uncomplainingly accepted her edicts.

            Up the table, with a fixed stare, Susie’s eyes bore down on him.  Her knobby eighty-year-old fingers rested tentatively on the table edge, and the full weight of her frail spine did not quite rest against the chair back.  She was waiting for him to confirm her diagnosis of the situation, waiting on him as if his consent confirmed her position as queen of the household.

            “We have what we have,” Alex said finally and Susie leaned back in the chair.

            She smiled warmly at him.

            “Why don’t you cut the turkey,” Susie said, offering the knife.

            “No,” Alex smiled brightly, “I don’t eat meat, and I don’t cut it up either.  I think I’ll enjoy those delicious looking mashed potatoes.”

            Roy brought his napkin up to cover a growing smile on his face.  Susie’s eyes narrowed, but a smirk crept onto her lips.  She opened her mouth, and then shut it, choosing her words carefully.

            “Well,” she said, ending the short silence, “we have what we have.”