The Start of a Tradition
Summary: Cook is getting ready for Thanksgiving. A nice turkey is being prepared, when something happens… something that changes everything forever
Note: I thought of this during Math class, so it's not that good but hopefully you enjoy the fun loving Quartermaines. This story takes place in the past, so everyone is younger than they are now and there are many Quartermaines that don't exist anymore. Emily is Alan and Monica's daughter.
Chapter 1: Preparation
The Quartermaines were out on the town and that meant that Alice and Cook were left in the mansion to prepare for the Thanksgiving dinner. This was going to be the biggest dinner ever. Quartermaines from far and wide were gathering together for a tasty meal prepared by Cook. The Quartermaines could never be in the same room together without fighting, but come the big holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving they put there differences aside and came together as a family.
Alice and Cook had different views on Thanksgiving. Alice hated it because it was more dishes to clean up, but Cook loved it because it was a chance to shine. Every year Cook got praised for preparing a marvelous meal. The famous part of the meal was Cook's fantastic, juicy turkey. Alice was setting the table for 8 and Cook was hoping from one end of the kitchen to the other, seasoning, cutting and chopping. Things were getting crazy around the mansion because the Quartermaines would be back in half an hour.
Meanwhile, Alan and Monica had to go to the hospital to perform surgery on a little boy who fell out of a tree in his backyard. Edward and Lila agreed to watch A.J. (age 5), Jason (age 2) and Emily (age 4 months) while they played in the park and told the doctors to meet them at the mansion for the dinner. Alan and Monica kissed their three children on the forehead and headed for the hospital. Emily was sound asleep in her stroller while A.J and Jason were racing down the slides. Edward went to push A.J. and Jason on the swings while Lila sat on the sidelines with Emily in her arms and watched Edward having so much fun with his grandsons. Emily was now awake and cranky. Lila was trying to calm her down, but nothing was working. Edward walked up to them and said that maybe it would be better if they went home and put Emily in her own crib. Lila agreed that it probably would be best to at least get Emily home. Edward called out to A.J. and Jason and told them that they were going home. A.J. and Jason were upset to leave the park, but Edward told them that once they got Emily settled down that they would see about coming back to the park. The boys got into the limo while Edward, Lila and Emily followed in.
Chapter 2: Disaster Strikes The Quartermaine Mansion
When they arrived at the mansion, Alice had everything set up and Cook was just finishing up the cooking the turkey. The timer on the counter read 10 minutes 18 seconds when Cook left. Jason and A.J. came down from helping Edward put Emily down for a nap and Cook gave them specific instructions not to go into the kitchen. Jason and A.J. told her that they weren't going to go into the kitchen as they looked at each other and started laughing. "I got my eyes on you boys" said Cook in a demanding voice. The boys immediately stopped laughing and just looked at Cook with the sweet, adorable eyes. Cook melted at the sight of them and told them that there was nothing to do in the kitchen. Jason and A.J. had to agree that the kitchen would be pretty boring so they relocated to the main dining room. A.J. grabbed his remote control car and started driving it around the room. Jason watched in awe at how amazing his big brother was driving the car. Jason then looked at A.J. and said "Gimme car. Gimme." A.J. knew it was a bad idea to let Jason drive the car, so he didn't let him drive it. Jason started running and A.J. chased after him when Cook came in screaming her head off.
"Ahhhh!" she screamed. Her scream sent all the Quartermaines to follow the voice and figure out what was going on. Edward, Lila and Alice came into the main dining room to see Jason and A.J. looking up at Cook. "What's wrong now Cook?" asked Edward. "Someone moved the seasoning. You all know that the kitchen is set up so I know where everything is. No one touches anything in my kitchen" she screamed. "Cook. You need to calm down. It was probably just a mishap" said Alice. "Mishap my foot. Someone deliberately moved the seasoning to tick me off. You know that I can't work under these circumstances. I quit!" she screamed as she stormed out of the mansion. Monica and Alan crossed paths with Cook as she was leaving. The doctors walked into the main dining room and asked what was going on. Lila explained what happened… or at least what she understood of it. Alice and Edward had to agree with Lila's story. Emily started crying from upstairs and Monica ran up the stairs to comfort her crying daughter. Alan told A.J. and Jason to go upstairs and help Monica with Emily. The boys ran upstairs and into their little sisters room.
Alan turned to Alice and said "Go check the turkey." Alice left. Lila and Edward looked at Alan and Alan asked "What happens if the turkey isn't done?" Edward said that they would let the turkey sit in the oven for the remainder of it's time and then it should be good to eat. They heard the buzzer go off in the kitchen. They all walked into the kitchen and told Alice to take out the turkey. "This isn't my job" said Alice. "You'll do it if you still want a job here" said Edward. Alice took out the turkey and put it on the platter. Alice then took the turkey into the main dining room and set it in the middle of the table. Lila, Edward, Monica, Alan, A.J., Jason and Emily gathered around the table with Alice standing with the turkey in front of her. "We must continue out a tradition" said Edward. "Aww man, father, do we really need to sing that song?" asked Alan. "Alan. It's been a tradition since you and your sister were babies. Come on. Sing the song. For me" said Lila in her sweet voice. "You know I can't say no to my mother" said Alan. "We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing; he chastens and hastens his will to make known. The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing. Sing praises to his name, he forgets not his own" sang Edward. "Come on everyone" said Edward. Everyone joined in on the singing and they sat down at the table to eat the turkey.
Chapter 3: Traditions Can Be Altered
Alice carved the turkey and placed pieces on everyone's plate. Alan looked at his family with hope in his eyes. Hope that the turkey was going to be great. They all picked up their forks, put a piece of turkey on it and put it in their mouths. They spit out the turkey in unison. "This is awful" said A.J. with disgust in his voice. "Yuck" said Jason. "Cook must have always done something to the turkey after she took it out of the oven" said Lila. "What are we going to do now?" asked Monica. "Well, it's not very traditional but I think the pizzeria is open. How about we order pizza?" asked Alice. "No way. Turkey is a traditional Thanksgiving dinner… not pizza" said Edward in an outraged voice. "Edward. Traditions are allowed to be altered" said Lila. "Ya. Father. It's pizza or nothing and I don't think you want to see the boys hungry. They get really cranky" said Alan. "Come on grandfather" the boys begged. Edward looked at his family, all of them were begging. Emily began to cry.
Edward walked out of the room and the Quartermaines looked really upset. Edward came back into the room and handed Alice the phone. "Call the pizzeria" said Edward. They all cheered. Edward made it really clear that he didn't want this to become a tradition, but the rest of his family thought it would be a great idea. Edward agreed that this could become a new tradition, as long as they can still sing the song. The family agreed to Edward's terms.
Moments later the doorbell rang and Alice went to go answer it. She walked back into the dining room to meet the Quartermaines. "Pizza's here" she said as she put the pizza on the table (which had been completely cleared off since the turkey fiasco). Everyone got their slices of pizza and sat down to start a new tradition, but before they ate Alan had a proposition. "We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing; he chastens and hastens his will to make known. The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing. Sing praises to his name, he forgets not his own" he sang. He told everyone to join in, but once was enough for all of them (except Edward) who joined Alan the minute he started singing. They took bites into their pizza and Edward thought that this was actually more fun than a traditional turkey, but he would never admit it.
Epilogue: For Years To Come
Every Thanksgiving became the same for the Quartermaine family after that one incident. They all gathered together, ordered pizza for delivery in a variety of flavors (the more Quartermaines that came, the more variety they got), and sang the song (well Edward did, everyone else faked it. They thought it was great at first, but now it was driving them crazy). Over the years, Quartermaines have come and gone but the tradition never changes.