Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Author's Note: Hello everyone! Okay first off let me say I am so so so SO very sorry that I didn't update on Thanksgiving. I can't tell you how terrible I fell about that. I really wanted to post this chapter, heck any chapter really on that day because well it was Thanksgiving and the story takes place on Thanksgiving. But I guess it wasn't meant to be. See I got bust helping out with the fixing of the dinner but still had done more than half of the chapter, I figured if worse came to worse I would post another short chapter just to make sure I posted something! But then when I came to my laptop to work on the chapter some more my USB had gone crazy and deleted everything! I lost a bunch of stuff—luckily recovered most from saving on actual computer and such—but that included this chapter. This, the first half is actually a rewritten so I hope you all will still enjoy it. I really hope you all will forgive me for not posting on Thanksgiving. I really am so very sorry. I do also want to take a minute to say thank you to all of you for your amazing reviews, they really mean so much, you all are so awesome! You wonderful readers are among the many things I am thankful for. Warm chocolate chip cookies for all of you! Really hope you enjoy this chapter, it's longer than the others because I felt bad about not posting on Thanksgiving and because…well you'll see! Okay now I'm sure you're pretty curious now so go on, Enjoy!
Upstairs in the Forman living room the children had wasted no time in setting up their game again. Though at first they had been a little hesitant, worried that their grandfather was still somewhere in the house and there was no way he'd be a fan of them turning off his football game to play their own video game; but after their Grandma Kitty had assured them once again that Red wasn't there—and then sending Katie into the kitchen to make sure the Toyota was missing from the driveway—they went back to untangling and connecting the various wires so they could begin their game.
Once the wires were securely plugged into the TV and the game was locked into it the game system, the eight kids once again blocked out everything and anything that wasn't related to Ninja Turtles or cheat codes to help them complete the game.
Mesmerized by the glowing set, neither of the children notice their grandma come into the room with a plate full of cookies and a large smile on her face. That smile, however, vanishing the moment she noticed that the scene before her was the exact same scene she'd witness down in the basement!
"No, no, no." she said with a shake of her head while stepping farther into the room, "What are you doing?"
"Playing Ninja Turtles." Luke replied, his gaze fixated on the pixel image of Ninja Turtle Michelangelo.
Kitty scowled, "But I thought you were playing that downstairs."
"Yeah and now we're playing it upstairs." The youngest Kelso answered as if it were the most obvious thing which made Kitty's scowl deepen but before she could say a word another one of her grandchildren spoke up.
"Yeah…" DJ agreed though only half listening to the conversation after all his attention had to be focused on the game, he was the one currently playing, "Hey Grandma, can you let us know if Mom is coming into the room."
Curiosity filled Kitty as she watched her grandson with game controller in his hand squirm and twist in his seat as he played the video game.
"Why?"
"She unplugged the game earlier; shutting the game down and making us loose all the data." Betsy explained quickly.
At first, hearing about her daughter-in-law's actions impressed Kitty and she raised bother eyebrows with interest, she actually even considered repeating the act or at least coming up with one that had the same idea and results—putting an end to the grandchildren-stealing-game. However at the last minute, Kitty decided against it and swung her head back and forth to erase the thought from her mind, deciding to take a different approach.
"Ok, I'll do that." Kitty started to say, getting ready to make her negotiation, "But you all have to take a break…even if it's a little one…from this turtle game and dear, old, grandmother. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Alright Grandma."
"Sure, okay."
"Yeah, alright."
And other similar words were the responses that Kitty received from the group and it made her bright smile quickly reappear; but like the old saying goes, 'Actions speak louder than words' and the children's actions were definitely going against the agreement they made with their grandmother. They continued to sit immobile in their seats watching the darn TV screen! This of course made Kitty very unhappy to see, yet, as she looked over the scene in front of her another old saying entered her thoughts. 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'
With a small sigh Kitty placed the plate of cookies on the coffee table and then began to walk around the back of couch. Making conversation about the game and trying to understand it would probably be the only way that she would be able to get her grandchildren to participate in an actual, engaging, conversation with her. Well there was another way, but she couldn't even begin to think of how one would dress up as one of those mutant turtles.
Kitty made her way through the small walking space between the sofa and table; walking in front of her grandchildren as she did so and causing them to swing the head back and forth to keep their view on the television unblocked. It was an action that didn't go unnoticed by Kitty but was one that she ignored. Though most of seats on the couch were taken, Kitty still managed to make room for herself by lifting up her youngest grandson from where he was seated, sitting in his spot and then placing him back down on to her lap.
"Alright." She began with a small sigh, sadden that it had actually come to this, "What's this game about again?"
"It's The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Game…like the TV show." DJ explained as he pressed down on several of the controller's buttons.
Luke threw a small kick in the air as Michelangelo in the video game did the same thing, "It takes place in the sewers of New York City…"
"The sewers of New York City?" Kitty repeated but in a more questioning tone, then let an understanding look come onto her face as she shrugged "Well I suppose that's why's they're mutants."
"And ninjas!" Ricky happily added from his seat on Kitty's lap.
Kitty released a giggled and hugged the boy closer to her, "Yes and Ninjas."
"There're six different missions." Rebecca began to explain, "Right now we're on the first one since Mom made us lose everything from the last game."
"In this mission the turtles have to save April O'Neil from Bebop and Rocksteady." Mandy added in some more information.
"Ooh!" Kitty said, actually starting to pay closer attention to the rules and story of the game; maybe it wasn't so bad. "So it's like in the fairytales where knights…well now they're ninja and…turtles… save the princess from the bad guys."
"Kinda. Except April isn't a princess." Luke answered in a matter of fact tone that sounded much like his father's when he discussed Star Wars, "She's a news reporter for Channel 6 news on the cartoon but in the comics she's a computer programmer and was Baxtar's assistant."
Nodding and frowning just slightly, Kitty tired to follow along with what she was being told.
Mikey grinned the goofy-Kelso smile, "I don't care what her job is. She's hot."
"You're so weird." Mandy spat out with a snarl, "You're in love with a cartoon character."
"So? You're in love with a cartoon Character who's a turtle. Who's the weird one now?" Mikey fired back.
"Now kids…"Kitty started to say, not wanting to see any fighting on Thanksgiving, when suddenly she stopped mid sentence as her eye caught something on the game's image on the TV "What is that?"
"That's pizza." DJ replied as he made his ninja turtle jump in the air and over his enemy and then picking up the slice of pizza Kitty had pointed out, "It restores the turtles' health."
Kitty frowned again, "Oh well that's just not right. What kind of example is that giving to you kids? Pizza does not restore health…it's not a vegetable."
"That's all The Turtles eat." Becky informed, eyes remaining on the TV.
"So all you do is fight these bad guys until you reach…April and then save her?" Kitty asked after taking a few seconds to remember the 'damsel in distress's' name.
DJ nodded, "Yeah, but these guys are like…the guards." He explained trying to keep it in terms that his grandmother would understand instead of Fire Freaks and Mousers, "After we fight them we have to fight the main guys Bebop and Rocksteady."
The room slowly drifted back into its soundless—except for the video game music from the television—as Kitty too began to get suck up into the adventure of the game. Silently the nine pairs of eyes watched the screen watching as the teenage ninja turtle that DJ was controlling, flipped and kicked and threw a few of his weapons to defeat his enemies. A minute or two passed before the stillness of the room was brought to an end.
"Ok well let me try." Kitty said suddenly in a happy and excited tone of voice.
Her grandchildren though did not have similar reactions. Gradually they each turned their heads, almost at the same time, to look at Kitty wearing either small frowns or looks with surprised raised eyebrows. Seeing the kids reactions made Kitty frown looking more upset than hurt.
"What?" she asked, "You don't think your grandma can play a simple video game."
"No." they all replied without missing a beat.
Kitty's scowl deepened as she lifted her youngest grandson from her lap and then turned to her grandson with the game controller, reaching out her open palm and ordering, "Give me the remote."
Not sure of what to do, mostly because he wasn't sure if his grandma had meant the game controller that she kept referring to as a remote or the TV remote so she could change the channel, DJ cautiously passed the game controller over. Like the rest of his cousins, DJ wasn't a fan of giving up the game so easily but he'd heard stories of what the adults referred to as 'Menopause Kitty' and he didn't want to see that in person.
Once Kitty had the rectangular shaped controller in her hands she looked down at it with much puzzlement, "Alright…which buttons do I press?"
"This one is to jump…"Luke started to inform, leaning over to point out each button and their purpose, "This one to run. And this one to duck. To throw you press that one."
"Okay, okay."Kitty said, ready to begin her turn with the game.
Watching her grandchildren play the video game…they made it look so easy; Kitty had truly thought when she started to play she would be able to get into as much as the kids and be just as good at it. Unfortunately that wasn't what happened and reality hit a lot quicker than Kitty had expected.
This Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game was not as easy as it looked or sounded. Kitty was having a hard time recalling which buttons were for which, she pressed the red button thinking it was to run but instead ended up punching the nonexistent enemy. And keeping her eye on the TV screen while also keep track of which buttons she was pressing was no picnic either. Then of course there was that added bonus of the 'cheers' coming from her grandchildren that only seemed to confuse Kitty even more. The room was filled with shouts as the young group talked over each other pointing at the TV screen and throwing their own punches and kicks.
"Jump! Jump! You've gotta jump!"
"Get the pizza!"
"Press the arrow button! No not that one the other one!"
"You're losing your health!"
"Watch out for that guy over there!'
And other exclamations came from the children as Kitty frantically tried to keep up with what they were saying and try to follow their orders…um suggestions. The room was getting louder and louder, you couldn't even hear the video games music that is until a certain unhappy tone played and the room became silent once again as Kitty and the children stared at the screen with unreadable expressions.
"Wow." Rebecca said breaking the silence, "I never saw someone go through their health so fast."
Her twin brother nodded, "Yeah, I didn't even know you could die like that."
"I didn't even know The Turtles could trip!" Mikey added in with excitement for some reason—he was Kelso's kid.
"That…that was just a practice turn." Kitty weakly defended herself, not ready to give up the controller or the game just yet, "Start it over and I'll try again."
"Actually it's Katie's turn, Grandma. You'd have to make sure it was okay with her first." Luke informed Kitty.
Wasting no time at all, Kitty turned to her youngest grandchild who was sitting on the floor playing black strap of her mary jane shoes until she heard her name and her head shot up and bright innocent smile emerged onto her little face. Kitty returned the smile to her namesake and thought that getting her granddaughter to give up her turn would be a piece of cake.
"Katie, sweetie." The elder woman began to speak in a soft, cooing like voice, "Can Grandma play another turn and then you can play after me?"
"No." the little girl replied firmly as she crossed her arms over her chest—the stubbornness of her parents shinning through.
Kitty's facial expression showed her surprise but she did not give up just yet, "Well what if I give you a cookie."
The tiny girl shook her head again, "No."
"How about two cookies?" Kitty suggested.
And just like that Katie's big smile returned to her face and she nodded joyfully, "Okay!"
Happy to have been able to reach an agreement with the young girl Kitty smiled and let out a small giggle before reaching over and grabbing two cookie off the plate she'd brought into the room, and then handing them to Katie—who'd quickly but at the same time graciously taken them. Katie's actions made Kitty's giggle go on even longer, however it came to a stop the second she felt the controller being taken out of her hands. Frowning a puzzled frown Kitty turned to her right and saw her grandson with the remote in his hands.
"I'm starting the game over, Grandma." Luke explained to Kitty as she felt her curious eyes upon him, "Look you can choose which turtle you want to play. Who do you want to be?"
Kitty stared at the screen for a few seconds, studying it carefully, before giving her answer, "Oh, I'll be the girl Turtle."
"There's not girl turtle." Betsy voiced the thought in most her cousin's minds.
"The one right there." came Kitty's reply as she gestured towards the TV, "Wearing the purple bandana. Isn't that a girl?"
"No, Grandma, that's Donatello. He's a boy." clarified DJ, after he'd let out a sigh, "It's Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael."
Luke decided to repeat his question, "Who do you want to be?"
"Well…" she started to say, drifting off a little as she thought over her choices, "I guess Michelangelo. I've always loved those ceiling paintings that he did."
Nodding his head Luke began to click the bottom arrow until he reached the square with Michelangelo's image and was about to make the final section when a disappointed tone coming from his grandmother stopped him from clicking the confirming button.
"Oh wait he's not the one in blue?" she asked sounding almost saddened, "I was hoping he was. It's such a pretty color."
Kitty's statement caused several different reactions from her grandkids. Some dropped their heads into their hands, or just shut their eyes closed, others held in their giggles, and there were even two of them who nodded their heads in agreement.
0o0o0o
"Hey, you guys think we took the turkey up on the roof and just kinda pushed it out off it would fly like when the parents kick the baby birds out of the next to teach them how to fly?" Michael Kelso asked the group sitting in the basement as he and his foreign friend stepped out of their 'office' and over to the seating area—nether one looking like their joyful, goofy selves and instead looking frustrated and tried.
Hyde frowned as he looked over at the tall man standing a few feet away from him, "Seriously, man? That's the best idea you've got?"
"Well you try coming up with an idea to make a dead turkey fly, Hyde! God!" came the outraged reply from Kelso, along with the angry frown he sent Hyde's way.
With a sad pout and a nod of his head Fez dropped himself into the space next to his wife on the couch, "It is not easy."
"Aww, Fezzie Bear." Laurie cooed gently while patting her husband's head that he leaned against her shoulder, after a few seconds though, a mischievous smile faded onto her face, "I know something that'll cheer you up."
"I'll give you a hundred dollars if you don't say 'mattress dancing." Eric practically begged which made Fez scowl with confusion first looking at his brother-in-law and then at his wife.
"How does he know about out nickname for the horizontal tango?" he asked but Laurie merely shrugged while fighting off the grin that started to form when she heard her brother groan with apparent annoyance.
Not wanting to know more any more details about what her friends did behind closed doors—over the years, she'd already learned and seen more than she needed too, closed doors didn't mean they were always locked doors—Brooke made the decision to change the subject back to the topic her husband had brought up just a few seconds ago. She looked up and saw her husband still standing in his spot with his arms crossed over his chest looking like a small child who had just been told he couldn't have candy for breakfast.
"Michael, honey," she began to say, "maybe you not being able to come up with a way to make a turkey fly means you shouldn't make a turkey…our thanksgiving meal…fly, today."
"But…but it's our Thanksgiving shenanigan." Kelso answered in an almost heartbroken tone.
"Well maybe you should spend some time with us and just skip the shenanigans this holiday season. Would that really be so terrible?" Brooke questioned, this time making her voice sound more firm than before.
"Yes! God, Brooke! It's like you don't even know me!" came her husband's dramatic response.
Kelso was even about to flop himself onto the old sofa in a tantrum like form but stopped when he saw there wasn't any space to do so, and instead settle for angrily sitting himself down on the couch's arm, his own arms remaining tightly folded over his chest and unhappy, offended gazed pointed downwards at the floor of the basement.
Donna cracked a smile at the actions of her friend before she spoke up to ask him a question, "Why don't you guys just come up with another shenanigan?"
Together Kelso and Fez stopped their sulking and looked over at Donna, staring at her for a few seconds, and then turned their heads to face one another before bursting out with laughter. This made the redhead scowl with a mix of anger and perplexity, and the looks on the additional occupants of the room weren't that far off either.
"Oh Donna, Donna, Donna." Fez said while grinning and slowly shaking his head back and forth, "That is a good one."
Kelso's dopey grin was in place as he added more, "Yeah. You can't just come up with another shenanigan just like that!"
The foreign man stopped moving his head from left to right and changed the direction to up and down before speaking, "Yes, it takes a lot of thinking, and brainstorming, and planning, and…and…" suddenly Fez's thoughts got off track and another idea came into his mind; an idea he wasted no time in sharing with his best buddy, "We should write a children's book!"
Watching the reaction in front of hem the group of friends weren't sure if it was because of the excited tone that Fez used or if it was the actual thought that he'd shared but something had made their kettlehead friend jump up from his seat and light up his face like a child's—or like his face—on Christmas morning.
"Fez! That's an awesome idea!" Kelso just about shouted.
Fez beamed with pride, "Thank you, thank you."
"Yeah, Fez, that's a great idea." Eric complimented in tone that sounded almost bitter, "Just like it was a great idea when I came up with it."
Both men furrowed their brows at the claim Eric made. They looked to be searching their brains, as if trying to remember their friend making the suggestion before now…though if that what they were actually doing—and not just scrunching their faces up with puzzlement—would never really be known. Seconds passed as Fez and Kelso continued to wear their pondering expression before they once again turned to look at each other then back at the person who was talking to them. Simultaneously they shook their heads, showing their disagreement with the statement.
"I do not recall that." Fez stated in a high and mighty tone of voice.
And of course Kelso began to back him up, "Me neither."
"What?" screeched a surprised Eric, he wore an outraged frown but had his eyes still wide, filled with the shock of his friends stealing his idea and not giving him the credit, "How can you guys not remember? It wasn't even that long ago…" he began to argue but then realized he may do better if he had some of his own back up; he turned to his adopted brother, "Hyde, you remember me giving them that idea earlier right?"
Hyde smirked; he remembered yeah, but agreed with Eric so quickly wasn't as fun as messing with him for a bit, "Sorry, man doesn't ring a bell."
"Hyde, man, what the hell? You've gotta remember!" Eric proclaimed then went on to paint a picture to hopefully jog of the curly haired man's memory back, "We were upstairs in the living room. We…well you were watching the game with Dad and then these guys came in…you suggested they fry a turkey!"
"Steven!" Jackie scolded and proceeded to deliver a sharp smack on to her husband's chest.
"Ow! Jackie…what was that for?"
The brunette crossed her arms over chest, but stayed in her seat on his lap, the content look that she usually wore when seated there was nowhere to be found, "You made the suggestion to fry a turkey to Michael and Fez! Don't you know how dangerous that is?"
"Jackie, relax." Hyde tried, "It's not like I suggested it to our kids."
"I'd trust our kids more to fry a turkey than these two." Jackie stated as she waved her hand in the directions of where Fez and Kelso were.
Kelso, having not been paying much attention to what his ex-girlfriend and her husband were yapping on about, switched things back to finding out who really came up with the writing a children's book idea first.
"You know," Kelso began to say in a suspicious tone, "I think Eric saying he came up with the idea first is like when said he was a cool teacher."
"I am a cool teacher!" Eric quickly argued; he was clearly getting more and more upset which had made some of the people hold back their laughs. He didn't see them though and instead turned to his wife, "Donna, tell them that I'm a cool teacher! Tell them how many Christmas gifts I got from my students last year! Both homemade and store bought."
Donna laughed softly at how wired up her husband appeared at the moment, "Eric, you are a 'cool' teacher." A smile sprung on Eric's lip but before he could get a word out, Donna continued with her thought, "But I wouldn't base that on how many Christmas gifts your students gave you."
"Donna, there were twenty eight gifts and I had twenty six kids in that class." He reminded before Jackie cut in.
"Yeah and more than half of those were probably given to you so you would raise up their grades."
"What? No! No that's not how it works." Eric protested, not wanting to believe what he'd heard, "Kids given presents to their favorite teachers, the cool teachers…Brooke, don't you get Christmas gifts from some of the students?"
Brooke nodded as she began her answer, "Well yeah…"
"See and she don't have anything to do with grades!" Eric pointed out to his friends and family in the room, proud to have proven them wrong…or at least thinking he had until Brooke finished her response.
"But most of them are from kids who have overdue books or fines." She explained then smiled softly, "And I do end up getting clearing up their fines."
"See?" Jackie asked though it was apparent by expression on Eric's face that showed his shock, his hurt, the slightest of confusion…it was like his whole world had changed…it was like when he found out Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father. Things were never going to be the same.
Timidly, Eric shook his head in disbelief, "I…I can't believe this."
"I can't believe you didn't know his before, man.' Hyde commented, wearing a smug smirk.
"Yeah, jeeze Eric." the eldest Forman child piped up, "How do you think I graduated top of my class?"
While Eric's confused, lost little puppy frown turned into one of more disgust, Laurie's husband grinned largely when he heard her words.
"Oo I bet it was because of those scrumptious cupcakes of yours." he said with his best smoldering look, complete with wiggling eyebrows; Laurie returned the smile as her brother's look showed more and more of his repulse, "They are always so very delicious."
"Oh yeah!" Kelso jumped into the conversation, "I've had some of Laurie's cupcakes, they're awesome."
Fez stared at his wife with growing desire, "Yummy."
"Okay that's it! That's just too much information that a brother has to know about his sister! I'm out of here!" Eric nearly exclaimed as he leapt out of his seat and out to his feet, just about ready to make a run for the closest exit however he still had a few more things to say before he left and he lifted up his index finger before making his points to the others.
"And you know what?" he asked, his twitchiness shinning through, "I'll tell you what! I'll tell you two whats. First of all the children's book idea was my idea and second…I am a cool teacher!"
With what he wanted to say now out in the open and wanting to make sure they were the last words to end the argument, Eric marched himself up the basement's wooden stairs. Some of the group members watched Eric leave while other just smiled and shook their heads—though none of them even tried to stop him. Once Eric was out of the room it became quiet, a peaceful kind of quiet, that ended when Donna voiced the question in her mind.
"You guys were talking about actual cupcakes weren't you?"
Fez nodded still grinning a look of hunger, though obviously a different type of hunger than the kind Eric thought he was looking at his sister with, "Yes. Her double chocolaty fudge cupcakes. So tasty."
"Mom taught me how to make them when I was in third grade or something." Laurie shared with a shrug of her shoulders before smiling a ditzy smile, "They earned me an A+ in every class after that."
"Wait a minute. I thought we were talking about Laurie's boobs." Kelso said aloud with a confused expression that soon vanished and was speedily replaced by a look of pain after his wife hit his arm with her open palm.
0o0o0o
"I'm not a cool teacher." Eric repeated his friends words, as he walked into his mother's kitchen, "I'm totally a cool teacher! I'm the Mr. Kotter of fifth grade!"
As Eric continued to mumble to himself and arguing against them—for some reason now that he was in another room from them and minutes had passed he had better comebacks to their statements—he noticed that the kitchen was quiet and empty. Something that it rarely was especially on Thanksgiving. However instead of questioning it, Eric realized this was a perfect opportunity to do a little taste-testing on the food that was ready.
The first dish that caught his eye was a finished dessert that most of the family came back for for seconds and thirds. His mother's special yams.
Carefully stepping closer to the casserole dish that the dessert rested in, Eric made sure to look over his shoulder several time to ensure that he was alone. The last thing he needed was for his mother to catch him sampling the food or worse his father catching him picking at his yams. Yeah, that would definitely get him a foot in the ass.
Once he saw that the coast was clear, Eric inched his hand closer and closer to dessert his eyes set on a toasty mini-marshmallow that was buried deep in the yams but was still sticking out far enough to be able to pull out of the dessert, hopefully with a few pieces of yams stuck to it too. Reaching in for the marshmallow, cautiously, and very very slowly, Eric was a mere centimeter or so away from gasping the treat between his thumb and index finger, when a loud ringing sound startled him making him jump back a good foot or two away from the yams.
Though still a bit shaken up, Eric looked around the room and realized the ringing was coming from the yellow phone on the wall.
He looked around again, this time not out of fear but confusion, he wasn't used to answering this phone; he didn't think he'd answered it since he and Donna moved next door. After all whenever he was over here, everyone else usually was too so there were never too many phone calls made during those times, and other time his mother would just automatically pick up the receiver and find out who was on the other line, his dad sometimes picked up as well but typically after the person gave their name and why they were calling he'd hang it back up.
But Eric didn't know where his mother was and his father was still at the market; he was the only one currently in the room. Forgetting about the yams for now Eric walked over to wall phone and picked up the receiver.
"Hello." Eric said in a careful voice into the mouthpiece of the phone, "Forman Residence."
"Oh thank God." The person on the other line breathed a sigh of relief.
Eric furrowed his brow at what he heard, "Wow. I don't think anyone has responded to those words like that in like…ever."
Laughter came from the other end before the explanation, "Sorry I'm just…you have no idea how relieved I am to have gotten in touch with you guys. I mean it's been years since I've called the number I was afraid maybe it had been changed or you all had moved…"
"No, no. We're still here." came Eric's reply before it turned to a more dry tone, "Unfortunately."
What sounded like a giggle filled Eric's ears before the voice, he was trying to recognize spoke up again, "Point Place is a great little town. I mean it wasn't really for me."
"Right, right. Because you moved." Eric said, trying to put the clues the mystery person was giving him together and coming up with a familiar face.
It wasn't working.
"Right. Is…um…is Hyde there by any chance?"
"Um yeah, yeah." He nodded, not realizing that the person asking for Hyde could be a clue to finding out the person's identity, "He's down in the basement with everyone."
"Gee, it sounds like nothing's changed over there!" the person on the other end added in jokingly.
The happy, cheerful voice that this person spoke in made Eric feel guilty. They obviously knew who he was but he couldn't even come up with an image to go along with their voice. Eric knew he could have tried to get more puzzle pieces but eventually with the track record he had, he might just end up making things worse and so he decided to just come out with the truth and hope they weren't too offended.
"I'm sorry." He apologized right off the back, "I'm really trying to put a name and a face to your voice but I just can't. I'm sorry."
"Oh don't worry about it. My voice is usually the last thing people remember about me anyways. I'm…" suddenly the person drifted off as if remembering something, "Wait, where are my manners? Happy Thanksgiving…who am I talking to?"
"Eric." Eric answered, no longer feeling too bad about not knowing who it was he was talking to; they didn't know who he was either!
"Eric? Oh, I heard a lot about you. You're Red and Kitty's son, right?"
"That's what my birth certificate says." Eric commented lightheartedly and another laugh was heard, "Wait so you're friends with my parents?'
"Sorta. I'm more of a friend of…well your friends." They informed, "Mostly Hyde and well Donna."
Nodding his head Eric started to ponder over whether this person was someone from high school…or really any other level of school…that had been friends with Hyde and Donna. Someone that they may be had in a class together. Or maybe someone with the radio station or something of the sorts from when Donna was still working at the station and with Hyde having Grooves it was a pretty good possibility. Or maybe they were someone who his wife and brother had met while he was away in Africa. However, before Eric could find out more about this person they began to speak again.
"Look, I'm almost out of change so I'm sorry if this comes out rushed or rude." The person started to say in a sincere tone of voice, "But I was on my way home and my plane got delayed till later tonight. I didn't want to spend Thanksgiving in an overcrowded airport so I took the first bus out of Milwaukee and it was to here, Point Place. I took it as a kind of sign I guess and decided to just go ahead and call. And see if maybe I could stop by for a quick visit…until my plane leaves of course…and maybe even stay…"
"For Thanksgiving Dinner?" Eric finished the sentence for them.
"Yeah." Was the reply along with an unseen nod, "I'm sorry if this sounds just completely crazy. I know it's been years but I remember how close everyone was over there. How you guys were more than friends but family, and your parents were always so welcoming…"
"My parents…welcoming?" Eric interrupted with a question, he wasn't used to hearing that both his parents were welcoming, "You do mean Red and Kitty Forman right?"
"Yeah."
Eric still wasn't sure, "Reginald and Katherine Forman?"
"I don't really know if those are their full names but it would make sense." The person on the other end replied and then went on to prove that they did in fact know The Formans, "She's a nurse and he has a car shop or something and likes the word dumbass."
"Wow. I don't know if I should be frightened or feel pity on you for thinking Red Forman is a welcoming man." stated Eric and ten heard the other person let out a slight laugh.
"So does that mean I can come?" the question was asked in a tone filled with hope.
"You know what…come on over!" Eric said joyfully, taking after his mother in seeing no problem of having a full house for the holidays, "It's Thanksgiving and no one should be alone on Thanksgiving."
"Oh thank you so much, Eric. I really do appreciate it."
"Hey don't mention it. You said you're a friend of Hyde and Donna's right? And any friend of theirs is a friend of mine…" suddenly Eric realized how true that statement was, "Mainly because we all have the same friends."
"Well thank you again." they repeated.
Eric grinned, "Sure thing. You know how to get here right?"
"Of course."
"Great." Eric nodded and was about to begin his goodbye when it dawned on him, he still didn't know who he was speaking to, or who he had invited over to Thanksgiving dinner. Uh-o. "Um sorry again but I don't think I ever caught your name."
"Oh right! Sorry about that." the bubbly voice replied, "I'm Samantha. But everyone just calls me Sam."
"Sam." He repeated and then replayed in his head a couple more time to see if it rang any bells. Then finally after a few seconds Eric began to speak once more. "Well I guess, we'll see you in a bit then, Sam!"
No bells had been set off by the mention of the name but then again no alarms of danger went off either. She seemed like a nice enough people and it was always great seeing old friends. What could go wrong?
Author's Note: And that my friends is Chapter 8 of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Hope you liked!
So I gotta ask is that who you all thought the mysterious guess was? How long did it take you to figure it out? Sorry if it was kinda predictable as to who the guest was but I had fun keeping things as a secret for awhile. Of course this doesn't mean the stories over just yet :D
How was your Thanksgiving? Did you have any surprise guests?
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day, and remember only 358 more days until Thanksgiving!