Looking up from his research, Professor Oak sighed and glanced out the window of his hilltop laboratory. Even though today was Thanksgiving, it was just another workday to him. His wife was dead, his son was off on a research expedition in some remote jungle, his daughter-in-law was with grandson Gary in Johto, and granddaughter May was spending the holiday weekend with her boyfriend at college. Even his assistant Tracey had left for the Orange Islands the day before to spend the holiday with his family. Sure, he had his Pokémon to keep him company, but today was a day that you normally spent with family and friends. The closest thing he had come to actually being with a friend was when Ash had called earlier to tell him about the latest Pokémon that he had caught. Professor Oak had hoped that working on his latest research project would help him forget that today was a holiday, but no luck. As he looked out the window, he caught sight of a white house with a picket fence at the bottom of the hill. Even though he was fairly certain that Ash would've also called his mother today, he decided to go tell Delia about Ash's message. At least it would give him an excuse to get out of the house and forget about being alone today. If he could spend at least part of the day with one live person, then perhaps today wouldn't be so depressing.
---
Delia Ketchum was startled by the knock at her door. She was even more surprised to see that her visitor was Professor Oak.
"Professor? What are you doing here? " she asked as she opened the door. "I thought you'd be spending the day with your family."
"Unfortunately, my family's scattered about the country today," he said with a sad smile.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," she said sympathetically. "Would you like to come in for a moment?"
"That's very kind of you, Delia. I'd like that." He stepped inside and noticed something odd. "No cooking? I'd thought that you would've had a turkey going." He had hoped that he would've been able to share part of her Thanksgiving dinner; Delia was a fantastic cook.
"No," she said with a trace of sadness in her voice. "I didn't see much point in it, being that it's just me this year." Professor Oak followed her to the empty kitchen. "Years ago when my husband was alive and Ash was little, we used to have a huge Thanksgiving feast: turkey, cranberries, stuffing, pie." She smiled at the memory.
Professor Oak was salivating.
Delia's smile faded. "But now, I don't even have Ash here this year. No one at all."
"Oh, that reminds me. The reason I stopped by was to tell you that Ash called and he wanted me to tell you that he was sorry that he couldn't be with you today."
"He did? Oh, that's so sweet. He left a message on my answering machine earlier while I was out in the garden."
"Well, guess I'd better go, then. That was the reason I stopped by." He turned to go.
"Wait," Delia said, laying a hand on his arm. "I hate the thought of you having to go back to an empty house, especially with it being Thanksgiving and all." Her face brightened. "I have an idea. Seeing that you're alone today and I'm alone today, why don't we spend Thanksgiving together? That way neither one of us will be alone."
"Well, I'd hate for you to have to put yourself out just for me."
"Nonsense," she said as she led him back to the kitchen. "It's no trouble at all." She began searching through the refrigerator. "Now what shall we eat?" she wondered as she pulled out a loaf of bread." I didn't even bother getting a turkey. It's too much for just one person."
"Oh, Delia, don't worry about that. Anything will be fine." He started looking though the cabinets. "How about this?" he said as he pulled out a box of microwave popcorn.
"Popcorn? For Thanksgiving?"
"Sure, why not? Sometimes I'll eat a whole bag of this for dinner."
Delia made a face. "You need to eat better than that, Professor." She continued rummaging through the contents of her refrigerator and located a package of sliced cheese. "How about grilled cheese sandwiches instead?"
"That would be wonderful."
"Oh, look," Delia said as she pulled a bottle out of the back of the refrigerator. "I'd forgotten about this."
"What is it?"
"It's a bottle of wine," she said, inspecting the contents. "And it's been here for ages."
Professor Oak took the bottle of wine from her and examined the label. "Looks like it may still be good. Does red wine go with grilled cheese sandwiches?"
Delia smiled as she put the bread and cheese on the countertop and began searching in a nearby drawer for a corkscrew. "Let's find out. Besides, I was saving that for a special occasion and Thanksgiving would fall into that category, don't you think?"
---
After their enjoyable non-traditional Thanksgiving supper, the pair ended up on the couch. As the evening progressed and the level in the wine bottle grew lower and lower, the two began to get slightly tipsy.
"Which glass is this?" Delia asked as she sloshed more wine into her companion's glass.
"I don't know," he said. "I lost count."
"What shall we toast to now?" Delia asked, raising her glass.
Professor Oak stared at her with a crooked smile. "How about a toast to Delia Ketchum, a superb hostess and fine-looking woman."
Delia giggled. "A fine-looking woman? I didn't know you thought of me like that."
"Oh, yes," Samuel slurred as he sipped his wine. "I think about you a lot. Like the time a few weeks ago when you were working in the garden and you were wearing those blue jeans. I thought to myself, 'Delia has the most incredible hips.'"
Delia was pleasantly surprised. "Really? I thought the only reason you stopped by was to check out my tomatoes."
"Well, those were pretty nice too." But he wasn't referring to her vegetables.
"That's surprising. I thought the only thing you ever thought about was Pokémon."
Samuel made a face. "Oh no, no. I enjoy studying Pokémon, but I also enjoy studying you, too. Your hair, your face, your..." His gaze moved downward.
Delia gasped in mock horror. "Why, Professor Oak! You really are a naughty professor, aren't you?"
Delia's reaction made him realize that he had probably shared a little too much personal information with her. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have said that. You must think I'm a dirty old man."
"No, no," she assured him. "Actually, I think you're pretty cute. It's rather refreshing to see this side of you. Knowing that you're not just some cold, clinical scientist who thinks about nothing but work all the time."
"Is that what you think of me?"
"Well, not always." She grinned roguishly. "The other day when I stopped by your place, you were on the floor looking for something."
"Oh, yes. I had dropped my pen and it rolled under my desk."
Delia smiled mischievously. "Well, while you were looking for your pen, I was checking out your rear end."
Samuel was shocked. "You were?"
"Yes," Delia grinned. "You do have a cute butt, you know. Except you keep it hidden under that lab coat of yours all the time."
"Well, I do work out in the mornings with Machamp and Hitmonlee," he admitted.
"You're in fantastic shape for a man who's...who's...say, how old are you anyway?"
"I turned fifty-four back in August."
"You had a birthday in August?" Delia's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh no! I forgot all about it."
"Oh, Delia, that's all right. Don't worry about it."
"No. It's not all right. I forgot about your birthday and I'm going to make it up to you. Wait here." She slowly got to her feet and staggered to the kitchen. A couple of minutes later she returned with a Twinkie topped with a candle. "There. Happy birthday. I couldn't find a cake, so I had to use this instead. And I didn't have fifty-four candles, either. Just this one."
He was touched by her gesture. "Oh, Delia, you didn't have to go to all this trouble just for me."
"No. It's the least I can do after I forgot your birthday and all." She started to sing. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy..." She paused in mid-song. "Uh, I forgot the rest of the words. Now you have to make a wish and blow out the candle," which was tipping over.
He thought for a second, then blew out the candle as it fell off the cake.
Delia cheered. "Yeah! Now you'll get your wish. What did you wish for?"
"I can't tell you or it won't come true. Besides," he looked at her lustfully, "you'd probably slap me if I told you what it was."
Delia giggled again. "Samuel, you really are naughty! But you're a real cutie, too." She leaned over and started playing with his hair. "You know, you would be even cuter if you could get this one piece of hair to stay put."
"I know, I know. That one section always seems to have a mind of its own."
"You know, every time you stop by I keep saying to myself that I'm going to get a comb and...hey! Wait here." She stood up, tottered for a moment, then disappeared into the kitchen. When she returned a moment later, she had a small comb in her hand. Standing in front of him, she started running the comb through his hair. "There! Now I'll make that wild hair of yours behave." When she had finished with the front of his head, instead of sitting down next to him to work on the back, she leaned over further until Samuel found himself in the enviable position of having his head buried in Delia's cleavage. When she had finished, she stepped back to admire her handiwork. "There, that's pretty good, if I do say so myself."
"I was just thinking the same thing," he said, looking at her chest.
Delia tossed the comb on the floor and reached for the bottle of wine. "Let's have some more...oh!" She gasped as she accidentally spilled the remaining contents of the bottle on his shirt. "Oh, no! Oh, I'm so sorry, Samuel." She started dabbing at the stain with the edge of his lab coat but stopped when she saw that she was making a red stain on it, too.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Delia," he reassured her. "It's a red shirt and the wine's red. It'll blend in."
"No. It'll leave a permanent stain if I don't wash that out right away. Take off your shirt and I'll throw it in the washing machine right now."
"Delia, that's not..."
Before he could stop her, she started pulling off his lab coat. The next thing he knew, she was tugging at his shirt.
"Wow, you have been working out, haven't you?" Delia said admiringly as she yanked the shirt over his head. "You know, you really do need to walk around without that lab coat on once in a while."
She gathered up his things and started for the laundry room. "Oh, wait. I hate to run the washing machine with such a small load." To his amazement, Delia started unbuttoning her sweater. His eyes grew even wider as she took off her shirt and added it to the pile of clothes. "There, now we'll have a full load of laundry." His eyes followed her every movement as she disappeared into the laundry room. He heard her start the washing machine and she reappeared a minute later. "There, that feels much better," she said as she plopped down on the sofa. "It's getting pretty hot in here, don't you think?"
"Oh, yes," he said, his eyes riveted to her pink bra. "Very hot."
"Well, what should we do while we're waiting for the laundry?" she asked as she took another sip of wine.
"Oh, I have several ideas," he said with a sly grin.
"Samuel, you really are bad. But I like seeing this side of you." Before he knew what was happening, Delia leaned over and kissed him. She pulled away and made a face. "You really are a nice-looking man, but you need to learn something about kissing." He had been so shocked by her advances that he hadn't even attempted to return her kiss. "Let's try again." As she kissed him again, he placed his arms around her and let his hands roam across her bare back. "Now that's more like it," Delia said, giggling, as she pushed him down on the sofa.
