Chapter 17: Thanksgiving with Mom

Thanksgiving was coming. It was the first major holiday of the holiday season and everyone sat around the living room looking at each other. They were there to decide what they were going to do to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Cat, Eve, and Raven didn't have any family with whom to celebrate the holiday. For Cat, Thanksgiving had been little more than a day off from work. Eve's family didn't celebrate Thanksgiving since her father felt that it was one of those Caucasian holidays to celebrate their theft of most of a continent. Raven had good memories of her family celebrating the holiday, but she dreaded all holidays after getting married.

Andrew, on the other hand, had always celebrated Thanksgiving with his family. He hadn't given it much thought, expecting to do the same this year. It was only when the need to discuss their plans were raised that he realized he might have to make some changes in his plans.

Amber had decided that she was spending the holiday with her parents. She didn't visit with them often enough and felt that she needed to be there over the holiday. It wasn't that she had left home under unpleasant circumstances, it was just that she didn't give them many details about what she would be doing. She knew that had left a rather bitter taste in her parents' mouths.

Amber said, "I'm going to my parents Thanksgiving morning."

Eve said, "I don't celebrate Thanksgiving."

Cat said, "I celebrate it, but I don't have any plans."

Raven said, "I'd like to celebrate it. It's been years since I've had a real sit down turkey dinner with all of the fixings."

Eve said, "I'll eat a turkey dinner if someone cooks it. If not, I'll eat pizza."

All eyes turned to Amber. She said, "Don't look at me. I'm going to my parents. I won't be here to cook anything."

Cat said, "That is a problem. I couldn't cook a turkey to save my life."

Eve said, "Same here. I'm good with having pizza for Thanksgiving."

Sad, Raven said, "I can't cook a turkey. I used to nuke Turkey TV dinners for the holidays. My ex would get drunk and watch football games all day."

The holidays were far worse for Raven than her description would suggest. Her ex and his friends would get together at one of their houses to watch football games. They'd make side bets involving their wives or girlfriends. The men would laugh and joke about being thankful that their bitches knew how to take a cock. The men had a grand old time while the women suffered in misery.

Andrew said, "I was thinking of visiting my parents."

Cat, Eve, and Raven all looked at each other. Eve was basically indifferent and didn't care what she did that day. The holiday meant nothing to her. Cat was a little disappointed by the news since she would have enjoyed a nice turkey dinner. Raven looked unhappy.

Andrew said, "I suppose I could take you to meet my parents."

Waving a hand as if swatting away a fly, Eve said, "Count me out. I don't want to have to deal with nosy or bossy parents. I'd rather lounge around the house all day."

Raven said, "I'd like to go with you."

Thinking that it would be awkward for Andrew to show up at home with two girls, Amber said, "I could see if my parents wouldn't mind if I brought a friend. Cat, would you like to come over to my parents?"

"Sure. I'd love to do that," Cat said.

Amber said, "Let me call them."

Amber went off to call her parents. She returned after five minutes and said, "They said it would be fine."

"Great," Cat said.

Amber said, "You could come too, Eve."

"No. I really don't want to deal with parents," Eve said.

"Okay," Amber said.

Andrew said, "Let me talk to my parents and see if they'd be upset if I brought a woman over for the holidays."

"Okay," Raven said.

Wearing a frown, Andrew returned after fifteen minutes and said, "My mother is overjoyed that I'm bringing a woman home for the holidays."

"That's nice of her," Raven said.

"She's really overjoyed," Andrew said clearly unhappy.

"You make that sound like a bad thing," Raven said.

Andrew shrugged his shoulders. "I'll get tickets for us to fly there."

Raven asked, "We're flying?"

"Sure," Andrew said. "We're not driving a thousand miles."

"I've never been on a plane," Raven said nervously.

Andrew's parents lived in a nice three bedroom ranch house in a typical middle class suburban neighborhood. It was in one of those developments where all of the houses looked the same. The sign at the entrance to the development proudly proclaimed that it was 'Forest Hills.' The streets were all named after different kinds of trees – maple, ash, oak, mulberry, birch, beech, and so on.

Andrew's father was driving them to the house from the airport. He pointed to the sign at the entrance and said, "The other day, the neighbor had a pile of topsoil delivered to his house. We all got excited thinking that at last we were getting a hill."

Andrew and Al laughed at what was a long standing joke. Both men had a braying laugh. Raven looked around confused, not getting the joke. The place was as flat as Kansas.

The two men discussed how the developer had made a mistake by not putting the names to the streets in alphabetical order. It was a continuation of a discussion they had many times. Raven listened to the two men thinking that the acorn didn't fall far from the tree. It was more like they were brothers than father and son.

Raven listened to the give and take between the two men. She had never seen men interact like this. It wasn't brutish, vulgar, or contemptuous of women. There was no bragging about how much they drank the night before or how many bitches they'd had sex with in the past week. When they spotted an attractive woman, they didn't talk about how they'd like to fuck her.

After discussing the housing development, the two men started exchanging quips borrowed from science fiction films. From talking about dialog, they transitioned to plots, and then to critiques of the aliens in various shows. They made cutting remarks about bad alien costumes while complimenting those that were done well. Raven contributed more than a few remarks about that topic since she found the costuming and makeup fascinating.

After Raven pointed out a few details about one of the alien costumes that both men had missed, Al said, "Andrew, you better not let this girl get away from you. She knows her stuff."

"We aren't dating," Andrew said.

He had told his mother and father that they weren't dating, but were working on a project together. He had told them that her parents weren't around and she had no one to visit over the holiday. Feeling sorry for her, he had thought about inviting her to go with him. The official story was that after getting their permission to bring her, he had invited her along, she had accepted, and he had let his parents know she was coming.

Sticking to the official story, Raven said, "We're working on a project together. I didn't have anywhere to go or anything to do for Thanksgiving, so Andrew invited me."

Al said, "Alice is going to be so disappointed. She's already picking out furniture for the nursery."

"What nursery?" Andrew asked blankly.

Raven gasped.

"The one for the baby she says you're going to have," Al said with a grin.

Andrew said, "Gosh, Dad. We aren't having a baby. We'd have to be married first."

"You and I both know that some young couples aren't that good at executing the program that is their relationship in the proper sequence," Al said.

Andrew said, "Give me some credit, Dad."

"I do, Son. It's just that your mother is a little excited. You've never brought home a girlfriend," Al said.

"I'm not a girlfriend," Raven protested.

"Sorry, I mean to say that he's never brought home a gorgeous unattached woman," Al said.

Andrew said, "I've never brought a woman ever, gorgeous, ugly, unattached, or married."

"Maybe so, but you've got to admit she's gorgeous and from what you say she's not married or engaged to anyone," Al said.

"She works on a project with me," Andrew said.

Al pulled into the driveway of his home. "You're mother is anxious to meet your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," Andrew said.

"Explain that to your mother," Al said.

Sitting in the back seat, Raven covered her eyes with a hand and said, "Jeez Louise. This is going to be a long weekend."

Alice King, the loving wife of Al King, was waiting at the door to meet the young woman Andrew had brought home. Al got out of the car. Then Andrew got out of the car. He opened the door for Raven. She stepped out to find that Alice had pushed Andrew out of the way. The older woman immediately started hugging Raven like she was a long lost member of the family.

"You must be Raven."

"Yes, I am. You must be Mrs. King."

"Call me Alice," she paused, "or you might want to call me, Mom."

'She wants me to call her Mom? Oh my, God! What have I gotten into, ' Raven thought. Attempting to keep the panic she was feeling from her voice, she said, "Thank you. I think I'd prefer to call you, Alice."

"You are such a lovely young woman," Alice gushed.

"Thanks."

Raven was surprised at how attractive Andrew's mother was, particularly after having met Al. He didn't strike her as being much of a ladies man. He and Andrew dressed alike, meaning that they both looked like nerds. She wondered how Al managed to snag a good looking woman like Alice.

Alice said, "I always told Andrew that he'd find a beautiful girl to love him if he always treated women with politeness. Now I can say that mother knows best."

"I'm not his girlfriend," Raven protested.

"There's no need to pretend on our account. I know young people are driven by their hormones. I fixed up his room for the two of you," Alice said.

Once again, Andrew's curiosity overwhelmed common sense. He said, "I've got a twin bed. How could you fix up my room for two of us?"

"I had your father move your old bed out and we had a queen sized bed put in its place," Alice said.

"Oh my Gosh," Raven said staring at Alice.

"Mom, she's not my girlfriend. We are working on a project together," Andrew said.

"That's right. We work together. We aren't lovers or anything," Raven said.

Alice looked at Raven and asked, "What? Isn't my son good enough for you?"

Thinking she knew how to squash any further questions, Raven said, "He's good enough for me. I'm not good enough for him."

"Why?" Alice said looking at Raven through narrowed eyes...

Raven leaned over and whispered, "I used to be a prostitute."

"You've quit?"

"Yes."

"Does he know?"

"He doesn't know what I used to do," Raven whispered in Alice's ear.

"But you've quit?"

"Yes," Raven answered.

This had to be the most ridiculous conversation that she'd ever had. She was trying to convince a guy's mother that she had once been a whore to avoid a full court press at matchmaking.

"What he doesn't know, won't hurt him," Alice said dismissively.

Raven was shocked. "What?"

"Hey, I turned a trick or two when I was young and sowing my wild oats. That's how I met Al," Alice whispered to Raven.

"No!" Raven exclaimed.

Patting Raven on the arm, Alice whispered, "You two can sleep together tonight. Let nature take its course. You'll have him roped and branded in no time. You'll be happy, he'll be happy, and I'll be a very happy grandmother."

Al asked, "What are you two whispering about over there?"

"Women stuff," Alice said. She turned to Andrew and asked, "Will you need any rubbers?"

"Mother!"

"Hey, remember what I said about young couples having a problem with getting things in the proper sequence," Al said.

Alice said, "Why don't you two get the luggage while I show Raven around the house?"

Al said, "Sure, Honey-bunch."

As Alice was dragging Raven off to the house, Raven looked back at Andrew and mouthed, "Help!"

Thursday morning, Raven was in the kitchen peeling potatoes for mashed potatoes. She had spent a very uncomfortable night on a fold-out couch. For half of the night, she wondered if she wouldn't have had a better chance of getting a good night's sleep sharing a bed with Andrew.

It must be said that Alice hadn't insisted that they sleep together, although she had dropped hints that no one would know if she tip-toed down the hallway. She was pretty good at dropping hints that being with Andrew would be the best thing to ever happen to her.

Alice was energetically bustling about the kitchen. She'd spend a minute doing things with the turkey. Then she'd check to make sure that her homemade dinner rolls were rising properly. She'd flit over to her list and check to see what needed to be done next. She was happily humming the whole time.

Alice said, "I didn't hear any love sounds coming out of Andrew's room last night."

"We didn't do anything," Raven said.

"I was afraid of that," Alice said.

"Afraid of what?"

Alice said, "Andrew must have had performance anxiety because his father and I were in the house."

"We were tired from the trip," Raven said shaking her head as if trying to clear it.

"Maybe you'll get lucky tonight," Alice said.

Raven stopped what she was doing and looked at Alice. There was no way she had once been a prostitute. She figured that Alice had only said that to make her feel better.

She said, "You're a lovely woman. Al isn't a handsome guy. How did he end up with you?"

"That's easy. He was a customer of mine. One night, he said to me that he'd love to make love to me for the rest of his life. I told him that it was easily arranged – all he had to do was marry me. I promised him that I'd be the best wife and mother in the world and that I'd never touch another man. He proposed, I said yes, and he married me. That was the best thing that ever happened to me," Alice said.