The entrance of the store dinged open as JC came in with his backpack still hunched on his shoulders. Zoe looked up from the counter and smiled.
"JC, what brings you here?" He walked up to the counter and propped his arms up on top of it.
"I wanted to know if Chris was gonna be home later." Zoe shrugged.
"I don't know, you'd have to ask him. He's around somewhere doing something. Hang on a sec, I'll try and find him." JC nodded as Zoe turned around and took off towards the back of the store where Chris was busy with something. Sometimes, Chris would come to the store and just relax in the back room with a can of pop and an old TV to get away for a little while. That's exactly how Zoe found him.
"Something wrong?" Chris asked in reference to Zoe walking in. She shook her head.
"JC's here and he wants to know if you're going to be home later tonight." Chris thought a second.
"I don't know, maybe, maybe not. Why?" Chris cocked an eyebrow and swiveled around in his chair.
"I don't know, you'd have to ask him." Zoe nodded, slightly laughing for having to repeat the exact same thing to both of them. Chris put his drink over on the desk and brushed his hands off, getting all the chip crumbs, and followed Zoe back out to JC.
"What's up?" Chris said. He leaned against the counter the same way as JC had been doing.
"I need you to sign something and I didn't know if you'd be home later to do it." JC replied.
"What is it?"
"A permission slip to go on a field trip tomorrow." JC pulled it out of his pocket and unfolded it.
"Field trip, huh? Where you going?" Chris looked around for a pen and began to fill it out.
"The zoo."
"The zoo? Geez, whatever happened to educational field trips? I had to go to museums when I was your age." Chris sloppily signed his signature and started to fill out the medical information.
"The zoo is educational, what are you talking about?" Zoe chimed in, coming up behind JC. "You learn about the animals and how stinky they are." Zoe giggled along with JC.
"Yeah, but you'd think they expect the animals to eat the kids with all the this stuff you have to fill out. Here," Chris put his signature a second time and handed it back to JC.
"Thanks." He folded it and stuffed it back in his pocket. Zoe moved so he could turn around and leave.
"Hey, tell everybody that if I don't make it home before you're all in bed, then I'll see you tomorrow morning." Chris said.
"OK."
"I'll see you later."
"Bye JC." Zoe said before he waved and walked out of the store. "So did you really have to go to museums when you were his age? That's only like, what, ten years ago?"
"Thirteen." Chris replied.
"Ah, thirteen years. See, when I went on field trips, I went to places like plays, or concerts."
"You went to concerts? I hardly believe that." Chris shook his head doubtfully.
"Well, they were like orchestra concerts and we always had bad seats. Always had to dress up too."
"Aw, did all the guys say you looked pretty?" Zoe rolled her eyes.
"Actually, they all made fun of me. They said I made an ugly girl."
"I don't see how that is possible." Chris's compliment was completely useless because she never said anything in response on account of Jerry coming in from the back.
"Hey, Jerry. What kind of field trips did you go on when you were a kid?" She asked. He stopped and sighed to think.
"That was a long time ago. We didn't go on field trips. We stayed at school." The conversation between Zoe and Jerry about field trips went on for another five minutes. Chris had slipped quietly out of the room to return to his television shows.
Justin opened up the video tape cabinet and pulled out a bunch of unlabeled tapes. He shuffled through them carefully checking to see if the tabs were in all of them.
"Hey Joey," He called as Joey walked by the doorway of the living room. "Come here a sec."
Joey appeared next to him as Justin shifted positions and sat cross-legged on the floor. Justin turned his head to look up at Joey.
"Do you know if there's anything important on these tapes?"
"How should I know? What do you want with them?"
"Well, Thanksgiving is Thursday and Martha Stewart's special is on tonight and she's cooking this big dinner."
"So?"
"So? I have to start planning my meal. We are not having grilled cheese sandwiches and chips like last year."
"Have you ever cooked anything that big? Because nothing tops Mom's Thanksgiving dinner."
"I know, but I'm gonna at least try to make a decent meal. So tell me, do you know of anything important we have on tape that might possibly be on one of these tapes?"
"No, I don't. But no one ever watches anything we tape around here so I don't think it would matter." Justin shrugged and put one in to rewind. Joey left the room, leaving Justin alone for a few minutes. His moment of solitude was interrupted by JC walking in the front door.
"Hey, you. Wait a second." Justin beckoned him before he could go up the stairs.
"Yeah?"
"Did you let Lance walk home by himself?"
"Yeah."
"Don't do that." Justin said simply. "'Cause I don't think it's safe for him to walk home by himself."
"Oh."
"I'm not mad or anything, just don't do that anymore."
"OK, I'm sorry. I just had to stop by the store to ask Chris something." JC slipped his backpack off along with his jacket. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to program the VCR. I wanna tape Martha Stewart tonight. I've never done this before."
"Why don't you just push record when it starts?"
"Because I'm forgetful. I might forget to push it when it starts." Justin fiddled with controller some more.
"Let me see it."
"JC, no offense, but if I can't do then I doubt that you can."
"Just let me see it." Justin reluctantly handed him the remote control and JC pushed a few buttons and set the timer. He then pressed the power button and turned the TV off. "Just don't mess with it until it's over."
"Gee, thanks." Justin yanked the controller out of his hand and pulled JC off the couch. "Get outta here."
JC laughed and ran out of the room. Justin turned to the TV and remembered that it had been turned off. There was nothing he could do now, but go find another TV to watch.
"Kids, quiet down." JC's teacher, Miss Reed raised her hand in the air to signal them to get silent. "You have been assigned a zoo buddy and I expect you to sit with your buddy and stay with them when we get there." She paused to walk over to the door. "Now, everyone line up."
JC stared over at his 'buddy' in disappointment. Of course, he had been assigned a girl. Not only that, a girl he didn't like. He couldn't imagine what it would be like having to pal around with her on his last day before the long Thanksgiving weekend.
"Come on, JC." Rachel said flatly and started walking towards the door with JC trailing behind. Miss Reed went out into the hall, along with all the chaperones, and the children followed.
Two of the five fifth grade classes were going which equaled about fourty to fifty kids altogether. All of them were directed out to the buses, disturbing all the other classes along the way, and they loaded slowly.
Rachel and JC were forced to sit together as instructed, and conversation wasn't very heavy. Rachel was the type of girl who like to talk with everyone, no matter who they were.
The bus pulled out of the school parking lot and got onto the main road. Rachel looked absent-mindedly out the window and then turned to JC.
"So," She started, hoping to spark a topic of dialogue. JC didn't say anything. "Why are you so quiet?"
"Huh?" JC finally spoke. He didn't think anyone had the nerve to ask him that.
"I was just wondering why you don't talk much in class, that's all."
"Just because I don't talk to you people doesn't mean I don't talk. I can't be myself around just anybody."
"OK, I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd be all sensitive about it. I just don't get how people can sit there for like hours and not talk."
"I don't get how people can keep their mouth moving for hours and not get tired. How do you always know what to say?"
"Well, if you want tips, I can help you out. I'm a very good conversationlist."
"People say that a great conversationlist mostly listens."
"People talk too much."
"That's the point."
"Whatever, I was just trying to talk so it wouldn't be so quiet. I can't stand silence."
"Well, I can't stand noise. So shut up." Rachel smacked her lips and slouched back in her seat. "Do you mind if I move? I doubt Miss Reed would notice."
"Please do." JC waited for the bus to come to a stop light, and hopped out of his seat and stepped a few further back to sit with his friend, Jacob.
"What are you doing back here?" Jacob asked as JC sat down in his seat.
"Well, where did your buddy go?"
"Oh, he moved to the back." JC shrugged knowingly.
"That girl," JC pointed to Rachel. "What's her face...Rachel is rude. She asked my why I never talk. Can you believe that?"
"You are kind of shy, you know."
"But I talk. I'm not completely mute. She's on maximum volume, I can hear her from here."
"Really? I can't."
"Well apparently if you lose one of your senses, others get stronger. I can hear better."
"I don't think speech is one of your senses."
"Yes it is."
"No it's not. There's taste, touch, smell, sight, and hear...ing. Speech is not a sense."
"It doesn't matter. I can still hear her. She's talking about..." He strained to hear. "Make-up."
"Make-up? You mean they actually wear make-up? What are they covering up? They're eleven, some are even ten." The bus stopped in front of the zoo entrance and everyone started to get off.
Two days later, Thanksgiving was finally upon them. Justin awoke extra early because he was so excited. People often jokingly called him gay because he liked to cook, but he knew it was all jokes. He didn't care. He loved to eat, and how else do you get to eat? Cook.
Lance had jumped at the chance to be Justin's apprentice chef and say that he helped make their dinner. But he did not appreciate being woken up at eight o'clock on his day off from school.
At about ten o'clock, Justin was sitting on the couch watching his Martha Stewart special for the third time. Lance, however, had fallen asleep next to him. Justin was oblivious to this fact and continued to watch it, taking notes on how long to prepare, cook, and serve everything that's meant to be served on Thanksgiving.
Finally done watching it, he put his notepad down and slapped Lance's bottom to wake him up.
"Come on, we're gonna get started." Lance stirred and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"What time is it?"
"About ten-thirty."
"Ten-thirty? Why are you making dinner now?" Justin grabbed his little brother by the arm and pulled him up.
"Turkeys take a long time to cook."
Lance yawned and sat down at the kitchen table. "So what do you want me to do?"
"You say that like you don't wanna help. You're the one who asked if you could. And you know I rarely let people help me cook."
"I know." He yawned again. "But I didn't know that it would take so much time." Justin walked over to the counter and picked up the turkey, that had been defrosting, and hobbled over to the sink. He ripped the covering off of the turkey and threw it in the sink. "Ew, you're actually putting it in there?"
"I washed it first. It's not like I did the dishes and then put it in there." Justin turned the faucet and washed the turkey thorougly. "Get me a towel, will you?"
"What kind of towel?"
"Umm...I guess get me some paper towels." Lance shrugged and got about five paper towels and handed them to Justin, still put together. Justin dried it off and lifted it out of the sink. "OK, now I stuff the turkey. Stuff...crap, I never made the stuffing." Lance giggled.
"This isn't that funny Lance." Justin turned around, flustered as someone knocked on the back door. He sighed and opened the door where Jacob was standing on the back step.
"JC here?" Jacob moved a piece of his floppy blond hair out of his face.
"Yeah, he's upstairs." Justin opened the door more so he could step in.
"Are you wearing an apron?" Justin looked down. He had forgotten about the apron he had put on while he was watching Martha Stewart. He looked up and noticed both Jacob and Lance laughing.
"What are you doing here anyway? It's Thanksgiving. Shouldn't you be with your family?" Justin put a hand on his hip and quickly realized what he was doing and returned it to his side.
"Well, I was with my family, but my grandpa and I started swaping stories and he wanted to know if I had any friends. See, I don't get to see him that much. But anyway, he asked why I was with him listening to him talk about his boring stuff when I could be watching football with my dad or hanging out with my friends so I left."
"That's quite a story, Jacob. JC's upstairs." Justin repeated. Jacob shrugged and trotted up the stairs, leaving Justin with his cooking. "Now, where was I? Oh yeah, the stuffing. I forget how to make that stuff. Lance, can you check the tape?"
"OK." Lance got up and went back in the living room. Justin realized it would be best if he watched it himself so he followed him in. While they were rewinding the tape to the right spot, JC and Jacob came down through the kitchen and out the door.
JC picked up the basketball that was sitting on the grass and threw it towards the hoop, swishing it in. Jacob rebounded and did the same. After they got tired of this, JC went in the garage and got his bike. The two of them set off onto the sidewalk to ride around awhile.
"What's Benny doing this time?" Jacob could see off in the distance, one of their neighbors and classmates, Benny had yet again another 'business'. If every neighborhood had a lemonade stand owner, Benny was it.
JC and Jacob skidded to a stop in front of Benny's house and walked over to him. Benny smiled.
"What do you think?" Benny asked.
"Dogs?"
"Puppies." He corrected Jacob. "You want one? No charge this time."
"No charge? How come?" JC put his hand in the box and picked one up as he spoke.
"Well, my dog just had puppies and my dad got mad. He doesn't want to wait for me to sell them all so I'm giving them away." Benny explained.
"My family's always wanted a dog, but my sister is allergic to them." Jacob said.
"I'd have to ask first." JC started. "I don't think Chris would say yes either." JC put the puppy back in the box. "Too much work."
"Well, I have to clear way for new customers so if you're not going to take one then move over." JC looked around and noticed that no one else was nearby.
"Maybe if Chris doesn't know about it until later, he won't make me give it up." Benny's grin widened and he motioned JC back over to the box.
"Take your pick." There were six puppies in the box and four of them were white, while two were brown. JC picked up one of the brown ones.
"Oh, that one. I called him Scooter. But you can change the name if you'd like." Jacob looked back down the street towards his house. He saw his mom standing out on the lawn, waving for him to come back.
"Come on, JC. Pick one, I have to go." JC picked the one he had in his hands that Benny had named Scooter. They were about to walk back, but JC remembered something.
"What if Chris is up? How can I sneak it passed him?" Benny held a hand up.
"I'll be right back." Benny ran in his house and came back out with a brown grocery sack. "I put some of my dog's stuff in there too. She doesn't need all of it. But only because you're my friend."
"Thanks." JC slipped the dog carefully in the bag and closed the top up with his hand, making sure there was a hole open for Scooter to breathe. "OK, we can go now. See you on Monday, Benny."
Benny waved at them and Jacob and JC started back towards their houses. JC pushed his bike, being careful not to bump the bag against the side of it as Jacob rode his slowly.
"I can't believe you just did that." Jacob said.
"What?"
"You're taking a dog home. You should have just walked away because I know you're not going to be able to keep it. Dogs take responsibility, which you do not have. Dogs take money, which you do not have. It won't work."
"You don't know that. As long as Chris is nowhere in sight when I walk in, I can get Lance and Justin to agree with me about our new dog. Then I'll have some backup when Chris says I can't keep him."
"What about Joey?"
"Joey's out of the picture. He don't care." Jacob stopped in front of the picture.
"I'll see you later."
"Later." JC parked his bike out on the driveway and went back in the house through the kitchen door. Justin was now getting ready to stuff the turkey that he had already prepared.
"Where'd you go?" Lance asked curiously while Justin leaned down and rolled up his brother's sleeves so they wouldn't get dirty from all the stuffing. "And what's in the bag?" Justin turned around when he heard the comment about the bag.
"Yeah, what's in the bag?" He repeated Lance's question.
"Justin, do you think Chris would let me have a pet?" Justin sighed heavily.
"Great, what's in there? A frog or something?" JC shook his head and opened the bag. He pulled out the already antsy puppy and watched as Lance's eyes widened.
"A puppy!" He ran over to JC and started jumping up and down next to him. He held his arms out. "Let me hold him."
JC gave the dog one more pet before handing him over to Lance. Justin grabbed JC's arm and pulled him off to the side to get his attention.
"What are you thinking? You know we can't have a dog. Chris will never let you keep him." Justin couldn't help but glance at Lance who was already in love.
"How do you know? You're not Chris." JC replied.
"I know Chris, and I know he won't let you keep him. How did you pay for it anyway?"
"They were being given away. I took the opportunity. He's already named too so we don't have to go through all the trouble."
"What's his name?" Lance said, overhearing JC.
"Scooter."
"JC, I don't have time for this. Take the dog back before Chris finds out." Justin pointed to the door, signaling for him to go.
"I don't want to take him back."
"I don't want him to take him back either." Lance came up behind JC, still holding the dog. Justin gave a frustered grunt and took the puppy from Lance's arms before he could react. "What are you doing?"
"Where did you get him?" JC smiled at Justin's question.
"I ain't telling." Justin stomped his foot as the puppy squirmed in his hand. He didn't have a very good grip on him.
"JC, if you don't tell me where you got the dog, I'm gonna drop it off somewhere outside or sell it to a pet store. We are not keeping it."
"Keeping what?" Justin turned his eyes to the doorway where Chris stood, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Uh oh." Lance muttered. Chris then noticed what Justin was holding in his hand.
"Is that a dog?" Chris pointed to it.
"It's not a cat." Lance said proudly. Justin glared at him and his grin faded.
"We can't have a dog." Chris said. It was Justin's turn to be proud. He smiled matter-of-factly at the two of them and they both let their eyebrows drop in sadness.
"But Chris." They said in unison.
"No, don't even start. We can't have a dog and that's that. We can't afford to have a dog."
"But the dog itself was free. And the person who gave it to me also gave me some stuff that we won't need to buy." JC explained and pointed to the bag. Chris peeked inside of it and wondered if JC had looked in there at all. Because there wasn't much. A chew toy and dog dish was basically it.
"No." He said, sternly. Lance stubbornly crossed his arms and frowned.
"We've never gotten to have a pet, why can't we keep him?" Lance said.
"Because. OK? Someone would have to feed him, walk him, teach him to be obedient. It's too much responsibility." Chris said.
"Me and Lance'll do all that. You won't have to do a thing...except maybe pay for a couple of things, but that's it." JC fought to keep the dog. His plan wasn't going at all like he expected.
"Are you sure?" Chris asked, doubtfully.
"I'm positive." JC started to look hopeful and that killed Chris. He sighed, hesitantly.
"We'll try it for a week, but if there are any problems, then no dog. Understood?" The two boys nodded insistantly. JC and Lance took their new best friend, Scooter upstairs into their room.
"Great, thanks Chris. I just lost my assistant." Justin turned around to finally start stuffing the turkey.
"Well, you know they're not going to get to keep it. Something will go wrong. That's exactly why I said that so they'd think I was at least giving them a chance."
"In a week. I need help now."
"Come on, Justin. Admit it, deep down you want the dog, but you don't want me to get mad so you're trying to side with me. You'll probably help them take care of it." Chris laughed, thinking about it.
"Not true." Justin washed his hands and put on the latex gloves he had bought and grabbed a handful of the bowled stuffing and stuck it in the turkey.
"If you really need some help, I can go try to drag Lance back down here."
"Why thank you." Justin said in mock gratitude.
"Anything to help. But seriously, do you want me to get him?" Justin shook his head.
"Nah, let him have fun with Scooter." Justin rolled his eyes.
"Scooter, huh? Kind of cute." Chris started to leave, but slowly turned back around. "Joey still in bed? 'Cause it's almost noon."
"I think so, but he'll kill you if you wake him up. It's his day to sleep in."
"But it's Thanksgiving!" Chris said, enthusiastically on his way to wake up Joey.
After hours of slaving over a hot stove, or so Justin put it, the dinner was finally done and the table had been set. Joey had just woken up a few hours ealier; it was now five-thirty, and had missed a lot of the day's events. He did however meet Scooter. First impressions weren't good.
"Why is he eating with us?" Joey asked Chris in a low voice when he noticed the dog sitting up on JC's lap. Lance kept trying to hold Scooter, but JC held on tight. Chris sighed.
"Not at the table, OK?" He said. JC frowned slightly, and put the dog down on the floor. Justin then walked in from the kitchen into the dining room with the turkey and slowly set it down in the middle of the table, surrounded by all of the traditional side dishes.
"All right, before I cut the turkey, I want everyone to know that this is my very first time cooking something like this so if it tastes bad, I apologize." Justin picked up his knife and large fork and began to slice the turkey. The other four clapped around the table and Justin smiled in embarrassment. Once the five of them all had a piece, he sat down and they all began to pass the dish that was in front of them when they had given themselves a portion.
"I was thinking," Chris started. "Maybe this year, we should start a tradition. We go around the table and say one thing we are thankful for." There were groans before he had finished.
"That's everyone else's tradition, not ours." Joey complained.
"But it should be ours too. It's a wonderful tradition. I'll even start." Chris put his fork down. "I'm thankful that I'm here with my family, the ones I love the most in the world, and that through everything that has happened to us, we came together and made it work. As a family." Chris smiled. "Lance?"
"I'm thankful that Chris is nice and let us have a dog." Lance broke off a piece of his turkey and fed it to Scooter who was begging underneath the table. It was now JC's turn.
"Well, Lance took mine." Chris chuckled. "So...I guess I'm thankful that Justin didn't screw up dinner and that it tastes really good."
"Thank you, JC." Justin said. "Let's see, I am thankful that right now my life couldn't be more perfect. I have a family that I love, and friends I care about and I want nothing to change. That's what I'm thankful for." Joey cleared his throat and began to speak.
"I know you won't except an answer like, 'I'm glad I'm out of school' because you expect it. But if I have to do this, I'll try to make it sweet. Just don't think I'm gonna get this sensitive all the time."
"Hurry up, I wanna eat." Lance whined. JC elbowed him in the side. Joey laughed lightly and continued.
"I'm thankful that y'all put up with my mood swings and how uncooperative I can be. I don't how you put up with all my crap, but I'm glad you do. I'm glad I'm a part of this family." Joey paused. "Is that sweet enough for you?"
Chris nodded and laughed. "That was very sweet. Thank you for taking this seriously."
"You're welcome, now can we eat?" Joey picked up his silverware, not even waiting for an answer.
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