The park was covered with fall colors.
The Sky was high and clear with autumn breeze.
There was no one in the park and we were having a great time having the Wonderland Park all for ourselves. After making a sand castle, and laughing at every little thing that wasn't even funny, we sat on the bench to have Lisa's tuna sandwich and Kenny's cinnamon rolls.
"Are you coming to our Thanksgiving?" Munching tuna sandwich, Kenny questioned Lisa. He was trying on the look of indifference, but I knew that was his major concern for last a few weeks. "Is Lisa able to join our party? ""Is Mom making Turkey this year or is she going to cancel Turkey since Lisa is not here with us?" He had been asking me every time he saw me, which also made me more worried about our Thanksgiving plan for this year.
In a second of silence, peeking at a brown bag for cinnamon rolls, Lisa casually said, "I was invited to visit Katherine's parents in Atlanta."
"Katherine?" Kenny and I stopped and we both stared at Lisa.
"Who's Katherine?" asked Kenny.
"Dad's girlfriend." said Lisa, shrugging her shoulder.
Kenny and I froze. Atlanta? Katherine? Those words we had never heard of made it hard for us to grasp what was going on here. When Lisa saw us confused, she softened her attitude with her smile.
"But I am not going."
"Katherine?" Kenny said, shocked.
"Where do you eat your Turkey?" I asked, concerned.
"Katherine?" Kenny repeated.
"You can't miss Mrs. Malchovich's Turkey." I said.
"I always wondered why you are so obsessed with Mom's Turkey." Rolling her eyes, Lisa scoffed. "It is not like we can eat only in November. You can find Turkeys at Von's every day."
I couldn't believe what she just said. Lisa loved Mrs. Malchovich's Turkey and she always looked forward to our Thanksgiving as much as I did. For all of us, Mrs. Malchovich's Turkey was always something very special and something we would never find anywhere. Listening to Lisa belittling Mrs. Malchovich's Turkey, I felt insulted.
"Mrs. Malchovich makes the stuffing from scratch."
"Because you have never tried one in a box. You don't know how good it is." Lisa huffed.
"Mrs. Malchovich adds oranges, too. It makes Turkey juicy. You can't find that at Von's."
"Eat Turkey with oranges. Technically it's the same thing. They all go to our stomachs anyway. "
"That doesn't make the same Turkey Mrs. Malchovich makes."
"Stop making a big deal of it." Tapping her foot, Lisa squashed a paper bag for cinnamon rolls in her hand.
"Mrs.Malchovich's Turkey is special!"
"It's just Thanksgiving!" Lisa stomped her feet, turned to me and yelled.
"Katherine?" Then here went Kenny again.
"Shut up!" Lisa' patience snapped. She screamed, stood up from the bench and threw a crumpled paper bag far away. We saw it land near the sand castle we had made. We all stared at it without a word, and then Lisa broke the silence.
"I hate Thanksgiving."
10 minutes ago we were the happiest gang making the sand castle and laughing at silly jokes, but now we were very sad. We couldn't exactly pinpoint what was making us so sad. Was it really about Thanksgiving? Or was it something more than that? But we knew that we had never ever worried about our Thanksgiving plan like this before. I heard Kenny sniffing.
"You are making Kenny cry." Staring toward a bag, Lisa said to me bluntly.
I nibbled cinnamon rolls, feeling bad. Letting out a big sigh, Lisa ran toward the bag she had thrown out, and then gave a one furious kick at the sand castle. The castle it took hours for us to make was now just a pile of sand and unrecognizable. Lisa picked up a bag , turned to us and said, "Thanksgiving is not about Turkey. It's about people you eat Turkey with. "
Kenny wiped his tears.I felt like crying.
"Divorce sucks, " Lisa resentfully let out the words. Then she went on. "But on the bright side, you get the second house your can turn to .I am sending all of you invitation cards for MY Thanksgiving party in MY second house. This year I will be the one who prepare Turkey. Mom can just bring in the side dishes."
Kenny and I looked at each other.
"How about Katherine?" asked Kenny.
"Don't worry. They are going to Atlanta. Dad wants to see her parents." said Lisa.
I heard Kenny mumble something, so I took a look at Kenny from the corner of my eyes, feeling that Kenny might start crying out loud. But he was squeezing his sandwich and just staring at it. Walking toward us, Lisa talked.
"I promise I won't use the stuffing from the box. I will make it from scratch. I promise I put onions and oranges into Turkey and make juiciest Turkey ever. I promise my Turkey will be just like Mom's Thanksgiving Turkey. As long as all of us can be together, wherever we celebrate Thanksgiving doesn't make that much difference, Right? "
Kenny and I looked at each other and we both nodded. "OK." said Kenny with tear drops still on his check. "OK," I followed him. Lisa was absolutely right. What was the most important was that all of us were together at the table to celebrate Thanksgiving and share our prayers.
"Lisa is always right." said Kenny, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Yes, right." I said, devouring my sandwich.
We looked at each other again and smiled. But then the thought occurred to me.
"How about you preparing the side dishes and Mrs.Malchovich bringing her Turkey?"
Lisa frowned and shook her head to me without saying anything.
But when I saw him, I couldn't wait for a second to share Lisa's Thanksgiving party plan we had come up with. But soon I realized that I was the only one talking here and Don wasn't responding to me at all. 
