They had gathered for a real Thanksgiving feast. The seven friends; Mary Rose McGill and her new old husband, Wiley Vondra, Robinson Leary and Raven Five-Horns, Hadley Joy Morris-Whitfield, Marge Aaron, Alphonso Greatwood and snuggle into the center of it all, cozy under the table waiting for the first food to drop, was Geoffrey the Mastiff.
They were safe. There were only seven of them. Less than the maximum group of ten. They had all been isolated at Meadow Lakes Retirement Community for at least whole weeks, and every one of them had been careful, even before that, whenever they had stepped outside.
The Turkey was carved and served. Hadley had slipped one extra spoonful of dressing onto her plate. Wiley had grabbed a fork and taken a bite of the pumpkin pie beside his plate, and Alphonso had speared the drumstick for himself. Marge had extra sweet potatoes and Robbie had a large helping of the famous green-bean casserole.
In addition, the wine had been poured and Alphonso had seen to it that it was a good selection.
As they began to eat, they kept up a tradition of listing everything for which they were thankful. Then Robbie said, “I have some of the best Covid sayings so far,” and she pulled out a sheet of paper from her pocket and began to read.
“Dear Citizens. It is normal to talk to your plants. Contact us only if they reply, American Psychiatric Association.” They laughed. She continued.
“I’m so bored I went outside, rang my doorbell then came back inside and said, Who is it?”
“Naw,” Wiley said. Alphonso shook his head.
“Okay,” Robbie said, taking a bite of her green beans. “How’s this? Paranoia is so bad I sneezed in front of my laptop and the anti-virus started to scan.”
They looked at her.
“Well hey, I relate to that one!” she smiled.
Marge grinned. “Listen, for real, I saw Peggy’s daughter in the parking lot scraping the ‘My child is an honor student’ bumper sticker off her mini-van. I don’t think her home schooling is working out.”
Hadley grinned as well. Her helping of dressing had already disappeared. “Millie’s grandson called his father and asked if he could change classes.”
They looked at her. “His mother is his teacher,” Hadley explained.
Alphonso poured more wine.
“I hear dogs are saying, ‘He loves me so much he’s staying home with me,’” Mary Rose said. ‘And the cat is saying, ‘I knew that idiot would get fired one day.’”
“You know what?” Robbie said. Her green beans were gone and she, like Wiley, had sneaked in a bite of the pie. “In 2015 not one person had the correct answer to, ‘where do you see yourself five years from now.’”
Alphonso shook his head and took a generous drink of his Merlot.
“At least there’s football!” he said. “And the Chiefs look good.”
Raven shook his head. “Why, Eagles, Why? Not Fly Eagles Fly.”
“Yeah,” Wiley said. “I also heard that marriage is a relationship where one person is always right and the other is the husband.”
He reached over and gave Mary Rose a kiss on the cheek.
Hadley got up to pour the coffee that went with the pie.
Raven stood up. “I have something to say,” he said in a serious voice. “Today, for those of us who are First Nations in this country, it is a day of mourning.” They looked at him. Hadley stopped on her way to the table, coffee pot in hand.
“Today the Wampanoag tribe will stand at Plymouth Rock and have a ceremony of mourning for the time the first settlers robbed their graves, stole their corn and never did invite them to the feast as the myth goes.” He looked sad. “This last administration took even more of their land, breaking another treaty.”
He picked up his glass of wine. “I toast to the hope that soon America will recognize the indigenous peoples who were on this land first, begin to honor the ancient treaties and see our intelligence, our labors and our rights as first citizens.”
They raised their glasses.
“It sounds different coming from a real Indian,” Mary Rose said to Wiley. They all nodded.
Raven grinned. “And this Indian is especially thankful for all of you,” he said.
Robbie leaned over and kissed his cheek.
Note from Joy: Thank you for the terrific response to book XII. When we got it, Ted said, “We don’t have anything to do, let’s deliver the ones in Omaha. So we did. With the exceptions of two huge apartment complexes where I said, “I’m not going in there! I’d never come out.”
Ted of course, said, “Go ahead!”
We had virtual hugs, saw a fantastic garage with walls lined with jig-saw puzzles put together by a BOOB Girl buddy, and ended our route with a celebratory cup of coffee.
We, like the BOOB Girls, will be having Thanksgiving with friends here at The Arboretum – our own Meadow Lakes. We will text and call our Omaha family and Zoom with the kids and granddaughter in California.
And I want you to take a look at the special offer Janet has included below. A full set of all 12 books, inscribed and autographed PLUS the audio book of BOOK I. (Read by the real Maggie Patten)
This special was suggested by one of our BOOB Girl readers who said she was buying the set as Christmas gifts, giving the books to 12 friends with the promise they would read their book then pass it on to one of the others. In the back each would write a note about what they thought and felt after reading the story.
What a special way to keep in touch!
And I want you to:
Keep in touch!
What should the BOOB Girls be up to now during the pandemic?!!! And in the meantime.
This pandemic points out to us
What we took for granted
What is precious
What is really important to us.
And – that even if you only have a turkey sandwich for thanksgiving,
even if you eat it alone, with just you and the television, make a list in your heart of everything for which you are thankful.
I am thankful for YOU.
SHARE THIS WITH SOMEONE WHO NEEDS A SMILE.
FORWARD IT TO FRIENDS.
Order The Last BOOB Girl Book or any in the series. Just send a check for $16 to
Joy Brown
8141 Farnam Dr #322
Omaha, NE 68114
For credit cards call Joy at 402-639-2939
Order now! It’s the last book, and take a look at the special offered of the entire set PLUS the audio book of BOOB Girls I.
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