“Thanksgiving?” asked Evan. “Is that coming up soon?”
“Yes,” smiled his mom. “Next week, in fact. Your dad and I have decided to rent a big boat from the marina and have Thanksgiving dinner on the water with some of our friends and coworkers. Won’t that be fun?”
Evan was even more upset now. To him, Thanksgiving was all about a cozy, warm holiday when he and his parents gathered with their extended family for a huge turkey dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Wyatt’s house. There was always a fire in the fireplace, frost on the windows, and a blustery wind outside.
Here in Florida, Evan felt a million miles removed from all of that. Florida was not cozy at all. If you built a fire here, you would roast. There was no such thing as frost in this part of the country. Even the wind here was warm!
Evan did not think that spending Thanksgiving on a boat would be fun at all! Who had ever heard of something as silly as that?
One week later, Evan was standing in the hot sun on the deck of the boat his parents had rented for the occasion. The smell of turkey wafted over from the grill his dad had set up on the deck, and Evan knew that inside the cabin of the boat, there was a huge spread of pies, casseroles, and other side dishes.
The kids of Evan’s parents’ coworkers ran wild around the deck, laughing and calling to each other. When the boat pulled to a stop, they hollered happily.
“Can we jump in the water and go swimming?” a girl eagerly asked her mother.
“Sure, Emma,” her mom replied, smiling. “But stay close to the boat. We’ll be having our Thanksgiving dinner in less than an hour.”
When the other kids heard her say this, they all began splashing off the boat into the Gulf of Mexico. All except Evan—and Emma.
“Evan?” Emma asked softly. “Aren’t you coming swimming with us?”
Evan scowled at her. “Go in without me,” he said. “It was your idea.”
Emma looked unhappy. “I don’t know why you’re so sad,” she said. “Is it because you miss your old home? I’ve moved before, and I know it’s hard. But—”
Evan cut her off. “This is a lousy Thanksgiving!” he cried, folding his arms stubbornly. “Who ever heard of Thanksgiving on a boat in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, with turkey on the grill, and kids going swimming, and sunshine, and seagulls, and—”
It was Emma’s turn to interrupt him. “Listen to yourself!” she exclaimed. “Doesn’t that sound like most people’s idea of a dream Thanksgiving?”
Evan was caught off-guard. He realized suddenly that Emma was right. “I…guess…so,” he admitted slowly.
Emma smiled. “Silly,” she told him. “Come on, let’s go swimming.”
Before Evan knew what he was doing, he was jumping into the water right behind Emma. Without even meaning to, he began to have the time of his life, splashing and playing with the other kids.
He couldn’t believe how fast the time went! As quick as wink, it was time to eat dinner. And, as Evan sat at the table on the deck of the boat with his parents and their friends, he realized suddenly that although Florida wasn’t much like Michigan, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Summer all year, Evan thought to himself with a smile. And Thanksgiving on a boat! Now that’s something to be thankful for!
A Special Sundae
“Mom!” whined Kai. “Why didn’t you get Triple-Cherry-Chocolate Crunch Balls?”
Kai and his mom were grocery shopping. They had just walked right past the cereal aisle—and yet Mom had not put a box of Kai’s favorite cereal in the cart.
Mom sighed. “Last time I bought you that, Kai,” she said, “you let half the box go stale!”
Kai folded his arms and pouted. His mom could be so unfair. But before he could think too long and hard about that, Kai spotted a display that immediately caught his eye.
“Mooom!” he cried. “Look at that! They have chocolate-chip cookies shaped like Captain Moonstar.” Captain Moonstar was Kai’s favorite cartoon character. He was a superhero who lived in outer space and came to earth on live-saving missions.
Mom sighed again. “We already have cookies in the house, Kai. We don’t need any shaped like Captain Moonstar.”
“But, Mom!” Kai started to protest. That was when he spotted a big display of boxes holding little Christmas houses made entirely of chocolate! The holidays hadn’t even begun yet, but these were just the sort of thing stores put out to get their customers interested ahead of time.
“Oh my gosh, Mom!” cried Kai. “We have to get a chocolate house! We could put a chocolate-chip Captain Moonstar inside—but only if you let me get a box of those too! And then we could—”
“Kai David Kishi!” Mom interrupted. “We are not getting those cookies, and we are not getting a chocolate house, and that is final. If you’re going to keep begging me to buy everything you see, then maybe I’ll just have to leave you at home next time I go to the grocery store.”
Kai pouted again. “No fair!” he said as they neared the checkout counter. “I’m the only kid in the world who doesn’t get to have fun food like that.”
“Think again,” Mom replied, pointing to a sign above a large bin just inside the exit doors.
While Mom unloaded her purchases onto the conveyor belt, Kai curiously pushed past her and walked right up to the bin. The sign above it read, “Donate boxed, bagged, or canned food items for residents of Cherry Valley Shelter for the Homeless. Give the less fortunate a Thanksgiving dinner they’ll never forget!”
Kai studied the pictures that decorated the sign. There were a few of adults, but there were also several of kids who were around his age. They were smiling happily as they sat at a table and ate pumpkin pie piled with fluffy whipped cream.
The caption under the pictures read, “Last year’s Thanksgiving feast, made possible by the generous donations of people like you!”
Kai gasped. He hadn’t known that Cherry Valley had a homeless shelter, or that the kids who lived in those places had to depend on other people (besides their own parents) to supply them with food and a little bit of holiday fun.
Suddenly, Kai felt very guilty for the way he’d begged for everything he saw and whined and complained to Mom. Who was he to complain when there were kids just a few miles away who didn’t even have houses, let alone much in the way of food?
When Mom came out of the checkout line, she headed straight for Kai. “I see you checked out the sign,” she told him, smiling. “Would you like to put this mashed-potato mix and these cans of vegetables into the bin?”
She handed Kai a few of her own purchases, and he added them to the growing pile of food items inside the bin.
As he and Mom headed out of the store, Kai said to her, “I’m sorry, Mom. I guess I wasn’t acting very grateful earlier.”
Mom smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. “You do have a lot to be grateful for,” she agreed.
That night after dinner, Mom fixed Kai an enormous ice cream sundae for a special treat. It was piled with whipped cream, sprinkles, and a couple of sugar wafers.
Kai admired the sundae for a moment just before he dug in. Tomorrow, he thought to himself, I’ll see what I can do about making sure the kids at Cherry Valley Shelter for the Homeless have ice cream to go with their pie!
~ ~ ~
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About the Author
Arnie Lightning is a dreamer. He believes that everyone should dream big and not be afraid to take chances to make their dreams come true. Arnie enjoys writing, reading, doodling, and traveling. In his free time, he likes to play video games and run. Arnie lives in Mississippi where he graduated from The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS.
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