Keith walked along the quiet country road, leaving his overheated car behind. He had made it as far as Havana, Florida on that warm Thanksgiving Day. Visions of Turkey, dressing and other goodies danced in his head, making his stomach growl. He held his thumb out as only a few cars passed by him. Couldn't someone give him a break, he thought as he started to jog.
He set his sites on a small building off in the distance. He would rest there, and hopefully there would be a phone. A few yards from the building, he notices it is a church. He stood staring at the sign, and wondered if he entered the building if it would fall in on him.
"Shit." He says, as he opens the door and hears the gospel music playing. He could stand the heat no longer, and the rush of cold air as he opened the door more than invited him in. He sat behind a young couple with a small child. The child turned around as he heard Keith enter, and smiled at him. He had to have been no more than two, Keith thought as he smiled back at him. Keith reached out and touched the outstretched hand of the child.
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Michelle, Rachel and Meri sat on Michelle's couch and listened to Richard's story. Michelle sat dumbfounded, Richard made a beautiful woman. Meri started to cry, as she wondered if it was her fault he had come back as a woman. Rachel only got the giggles.
"What are you laughing at?? It's all my fault he is this way, Rachel!!" Meri says, as she starts to get angry at Rachel.
"Did you get a sex change?" Rachel asks, ignoring Meri.
Meri starts to cry even harder and runs out of the room.
"Keith is coming? Are you sure it was him?" Michelle asks Richard.
"It was him, no doubt about it. He had a picture of you in his wallet. Michelle,I have never forgiven him for kicking your camera. " He says, as he hands her the picture he had gotten developed of Keith.
"I better go find Meri." Rachel says, and leaves them alone.
"How much time do you think I have before he gets here?" Michelle asks, as she stares at the picture, with tears in her eyes.
"Last time I saw him, he was in Savannah, Georgia. We had gotten lost. With any luck, he may never make it here." He says with a small laugh.
Michelle starts to cry. She had thought she had finally left her past behind. Now it was coming back to haunt her. She buried her face in her hands, as Richard rubbed her back.
"Don't cry. We won't let him hurt you. You've got so many friends around here, he would have to go through them first." Richard said, hoping his words would make her feel better.
"Meri took off in her car before I could get to her." Rachel says, as she appears in the room again.
"I don't want to stay here alone." Michelle said, thinking the last time she felt this way, was before her and Chris even got together.
"We can stay tonight. It will be fun to have a girls night, right Richard! Or should I call you Josephine." Rachel says laughing.
Michelle looks from Richard to Rachel and starts to laugh through her tears.
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"Dad is going to cut the turkey, Matt." Jeff says, as he sits at the table ready to eat.
"Matt's not cutting it, he's just getting the knife ready!" Snaps Lily, as she looks at him with a frown on her face.
Jeff looks at his brother with eyebrows raised, and leaves the table. He'd come back when everyone else was there.
"Aren't we waiting for Rachel to make an appearance?" Lily asks, as Matt gives her a stern look. "What?" She asks. "And where are the others, don't we have others coming?" She asks, throwing up her hands. "Can't people be on time?"
"We have a houseload coming Lily." Matt says to her. Matt puts the knife down, and goes to find Jeff. He knew right where Jeff would be, up in his room sulking over Beth. Matt really needed some advice, he thought. He knocks on his brothers, door and walks in without waiting for a response.
"What?" Jeff says, not turning around.
"I need your help." Matt says to his brother.
"With what?" Jeff asks, as he turns on his back, and looks at Matt as he sits next to him.
"With Lily. Did I make the right decision?" Matt asks.
"Matt, if you have to ask me this question, the answer is no. She's changed, man. She went to war with Amy until she got you. I don't like her. But just because I don't like her means that you can't. She did Amy wrong."Jeff says, realizing it wasn't his place to tell him about the poem.
"I messed up with Amy didn't I. It's just that Lily started to remind me of Christi." Matt says as he looks around the room.
"Look at where that relationship got you." Jeff says laughing.
Matt stares at a picture of Beth on Jeff's dresser. "Have you tried calling Beth lately?" Matt asks, getting the subject off of him.
"Gee Matt, I haven't thought of that. Only one hundred times in the last two days." Jeff says, as he pulls the phone towards him.
Matt laughs, flips him off, and then leaves the room. Hopefully he would have more success than he did at a relationship. He was so unsure now about him and Lily.
Jeff dials Beth's number and lets the phone ring a few times before he hangs up. He wondered where she was. He missed her, missed everything about her.
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Beth sat on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet for the third time that day. She sat, feeling dizzy and nauseous. She hopped whoever was calling her would leave a message. She hated being sick, especially being sick alone. Trendi had gone to her parents home in Southern California for Thanksgiving.
She stood at the sink and washed her face off. If she didn't eat, she would probably feel more dizzy from hunger, she thought. She walked into the kitchen and decided to make a sandwich. The smell of the mustard and meat only made her more nauseous. She made it to the sink and dry heaved. When she finished, she sat on the floor and started to cry. She missed Jeff. She wished he was there to take care of her.
She picked up the phone to call him, and one number away, she hung up. Dialing again, she dials Michelle's number instead.
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Chris and Sarah, Cindy's cousin, brushed down the horses they had just ridden. They had been in each others company for a few days now, and he really enjoyed talking to her. She was sweet, and really shy. Her hair was a beautiful Raven black, and her eyes were blue. He wondered if she wore contacts, they were so blue. Her eyes sparkled when she smiled.
"Chris, are you finished brushing your horse?" She asks, as he hands her his brush.
He smiled as he watched her put away the brushes. Something stirred inside him. Could she be the one to help him not think about Michelle, he wondered?
They make their way back up to the house in silence. They enter to the smell of the Thanksgiving Day Feast. Tommy had killed a huge Turkey the day before, and Chris wasn't sure if he would be able to eat it, until he smelled the delicious smell. Both smelling of horses, they raced to the huge shower to see who would get the hot water first.
Chris finished his cold shower, and found Sarah finishing up the final touch on a Pecan Pie.
"Smells great in here." Cindy says with a smile. "OK you guys, I want a picture of the two of you together." She says, as she pushes Sarah into Chris.
Chris smiles at her, as he puts an arm around her shoulders.
"Can I have a copy when it gets developed?" Sarah asks Cindy, quietly.
"Sure thing butter bean." Cindy says, as she smiles at the both of them.
Sarah blushes and turns her attention to another pie. She liked Chris, and her cousin had good intentions. But, relationships just weren't in her vocabulary at the moment, Sarah thought.
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Keith sat in the bathroom of the family that he had sat behind at the Church. They had invited him over for their Thanksgiving Meal. He was suprised they let him visit, he wasn't looking his best, he thought. He laughed, as he looked at himself in a mirror. He was unshaven, and his hair a greasy mess.
His cocaine sat on the sink ready for him to snort, but his mind wasn't on it. For once his mind was on the sermon he had listened to at the Church. It was the first time since he was a kid that he had been to church. When he listened to the preacher, he took everything he said to heart.
A knock on the door made him jump.
"I need to pee." A child says through the door.
"Yeah, yeah, give me second." Keith says, as he snorts up the cocaine. He wipes off his nose, and walks out the door for the child to use the bathroom. He looked awful he thought, and there was really nothing at all he could do about it. He walked outside and stood on the porch and watched the family that surrounded him.
"Are you OK?" The wife asks him.
"Just not used to family is all." Keith replies, as he follows her into the backyard.
"Family is everything. It must be lonely not having any family." She says, as she looks at Keith closely.
"You get used to it." Keith says, as he helps her with a tray of Lemonade.
A child runs up to him and takes his hand. "Come play with us." He says, as he tries to pull him to the other children.
Keith smiles at the little boy as he puts the tray on a picnic table. He never really had had a childhood, he thought. He was out on the streets by age ten, playing the part of a little hoodlum. He watched as the children played around him. He laughed in delight for the first time in years.
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The house was noisy with people arriving. Rachel had claimed her spot on the swing with Adam and Jeff. Amy and Michelle sat on the steps, as a few more people arrived.
"Too bad we didn't have this back in Cameron." Rachel said, as she took Jeff's hand in hers.
"You guys would probably be off hiding in the weeds." Adam says as he puts an arm around Rachel.
Rachel and Jeff nod yes and start to laugh.
Sean steps out on the porch with Lily not far behind him. Lily sat next to Michelle on the steps. The three people on the swing stared at Lily and Amy sitting only two people apart. Lily had a lot of nerve, Rachel thought.
"Is Chris coming? Has anyone heard from him?" Adam asks anyone who is listening.
"He said he was going to the ranch. Tommy had someone there he wanted Chris to meet." Jeff said, as Michelle turned to look at him.
"What??" Michelle asks Jeff.
"I don't know any more than that." Jeff says, as he holds up his hands.
"Where is Beth at?" Jay says, as him and Denise sit on the porch railing.
"She's at home sick."Michelle says, as Jeff looks back at her. "That's all I know." Michelle says, and holds up her hands.
Matt walks out onto the porch, and informs everyone that the meal is ready. Amy stands up to walk in behind him, and Lily rushes past her almost knocking her over.
"Move!" Lily hisses, as she holds on to Matt's belt loop.
Amy stares at the back of Lily's head and makes a face.
"Oh please let no fights break out today." Rachel says, as Adam pulls her off the swing to go into the house.
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Beth lay in bed, not having touched any of her Hungry Man Thanksgiving dinner. She stared at pregnancy test number three, wondering if all of them could be wrong. How could she take care of a child now, when she could barely take care of herself? Abortion was never something she thought of, until now. She needed to talk to someone quick. She knew Jeff wasn't ready for this. Maybe she just wouldn't tell him. He would never have to know.
Maybe she was just using faulty kits. She got out of bed to open the bag that had two more kits in it. If these said the same thing, maybe she would try again tomorrow, she thought. She picked up the tests and sat them on her dresser.
"Just to be sure." She said to herself, as tears ran down her cheeks.
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Keith sat on the toilet with his cocaine sitting on the sink. It was the last line he would have for a while, he thought. The door opened and the lady of the house stared from him to the cocaine, in shock.
"What is this?" She asks.
"Do you want me to leave?" He asks, quietly.
"No." She says as she closes the bathroom door, and leans against it. "Maybe we should talk. To tell you the truth, I used to be addicted to Heroine. I even have the track marks to show for it." She said, as she showed him the marks from the needles she had used.
"What changed you? Did you find God or something?" Keith asked her.
"No, I was already into my Religion at the time. Can you believe it, go to Church on Sundays and drug it up the rest of the week. What helped me was seeing my children's faces. I realized what I had when I almost killed myself one day. I didn't want to loose all this because of a high." She said, as she looked him straight in the eye.
"How long have you been straight?" He asks.
"About five long, hard years. I still crave it every now and then, but I keep busy. I see my children and thank them. To stop, you have to love yourself." She says, as she gets the clothes out of the dirty clothes bag. "Why do you get high?" She asks.
He thinks for a moment, and then replies. "I don't know. At first it was just a social thing, it helped me relax. Now, I just do it."
"Do you know how hard it is for me to be in here with you and the cocaine sitting here?" She asks, as she stares at the cocaine.
"I'm sorry." He says, and turns to the cocaine and blows it off the sink.
"Thank you." She says and smiles at him. She walks out the door, leaving him still sitting on the toilet.
He starts to cry, as he can feel his whole world start to change.
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Rachel sat watching all the people eating and noticed the glances from each people. Amy looked at Lily. Matt looked at Amy. Lily looked at Matt. Jay looked at Amy. Denise stared at her plate. Michelle looked off into space. Rachel started to giggle along with Jeff, as she felt a soft kick from Adam from under the table.
The Thanksgiving dinner was quiet. Jay and Denise looked as if they had been fighting before they arrived. Michelle was quiet ever since the comment was made about Chris. She was hardly even eating. Meri hadn't even shown up for the meal, Rachel thought. That was who was missing, she realized as she stared at the empty chair at the table.
"Has anyone seen Meri?" Rachel asks the people at the table.
"I haven't seen her since she ran out earlier." Michelle responds sadly.
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Meri had forgotten about Thanksgiving dinner at Rachel's and had wondered around the town aimlessly. She had made it back to Michelle's house an hour before, and sat on the patio. Nothing had gone right for her in the past few months. She lost her job, lost her apartment, and now with Richard back. She cringed at the thought of him as a woman. For once, she thought about suicide.
She stood at the edge of the pool, wondering if drowning would be a quick way to go. If she ended her misery now, would anyone care? Would anyone even come to her funeral? She jumped into the cool water, and pushed all the air out of her lungs. She settle to the bottom, as she thought of the past few months. Was it really worth dying over? Was she really this stupid and pathetic to kill herself like this?
She resurfaced and gasped for air. She swam to the side of the pool and pulled herself up on the side. That was as close to death as she wanted to get at the moment, she thought. Getting out of the pool, she starts to walk away and slips on a puddle of pool water.
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Fear watches as Meri falls with a sickening thud. He starts to whimper through the glass door when she doesn't move to get up. Keeping guard through the window, he grows quiet and still.