Whumpmas Day Three: Three French Hens: Failed Escape.

Turkeys are scary, scary birds. Especially when they are bigger than you are.

Gordon looked fearfully at the tom turkey his grandpa had reared and the turkey looked down on him. It looked down on him! He was small for his age, and the turkey towered over him.

Yet, Gordon couldn't stay away. Every weekend they came to the farm Gordon made a beeline to see the bird grow. He'd held it in his hand when it had arrived as a poult – until Grandpa had caught him. He'd been in so much trouble, especially since Grandpa and Dad had both warned him to not touch the Bourbon Red.

And he'd watched as the bird grew and grew and grew. Pretty soon he was bigger than Gordon was. And still Gordon couldn't stay away from him.

And then one day in late October, while Gordon was on the outside of the large enclosure and Grandpa, Dad and Scott (brave, brave Scott who was taller than the turkey) were inside the turkey area, he heard what fate was in store for Michael.

(Gordon had been told that the turkey didn't get a name like the cows and the horses and the dogs, but that hadn't felt right since he'd seen that bird from poult to bird, so he had named him after his favourite swimmer.)

As Grant and Jeff talked about how well the bird had grown and how it would feed them all for thanksgiving and the best way to kill it, only Scott seemed to be paying any attention to Gordon. He certainly noticed the look of horror on his youngest brother's face as the kill method was discussed, and he was the one who reacted when the five-year-old gasped, spun around and ran.

Scott caught him at the bottom field, glumly sitting on the fence. There were tear tracks, and Gordon hurried to wipe his face when he realised he wasn't alone any longer. Scott climbed up beside him and just sat, arm around his brother's shoulder, and waited.

The Squid could never stay silent for long.

'We need to rescue Michael.' And there it was.

He'd had never really worried about living on the farm and raising animals with the sole purpose of eating them, but Scott had seen a similar issue with Virgil, and knowing how much his second and third brothers felt about animals this reaction had come as no surprise. If anything, Scott was more surprised that Gordon hadn't made the connection earlier – or that Virgil hadn't mentioned it.

'What are you thinking, Squid?'

'We need to save him!'

'You want to ruin Thanksgiving?'

'Nooo…if he escapes now it will give Grandpa enough time to buy something else.'

Those earnest brown eyes, so reminiscent of Virgil's, looked at him with utter belief and the eleven-year-old wavered. He knew that Grandpa – and Dad – would be furious, and he also knew that they would just buy a ready-prepared turkey, so in that sense nothing would have changed, but Scott also didn't want to let his brother down. He could see how much this meant to him.

'So. An escape plan. How about you and I and Virgil and John have a secret meeting in the treehouse and come up with a plan?'

Keeping Gordon's mouth shut for the rest of the visit now became the number one priority. The child couldn't keep a secret at all, and several times Scott had stood on his foot or put a hand over his mouth when something came up in conversation that could have let Gordon spill the beans.

That Monday after school the four brothers gathered in the treehouse and plotted. Scott was a natural tactician, and John was good at pointing out all the thing that could go wrong. Virgil was just happy that they would be saving the bird.

Lucy knew something was up from the minute Jeff brought the boys home from their grandparents that weekend. Three months pregnant with her fifth, she had a keen sense when they were planning something, and they were definitely triggering her well-honed Mom-Sense.

It was rare for the four of them to ask to disappear up to the treehouse after school, even rarer for John and Virgil to willingly put homework aside until after they had finished, but Scott had said they had needed a chat and had promised to make sure everyone's homework was completed, and she trusted him implicitly on this. He had then embraced her, putting his head on her currently teeny-tiny bump and whispering to it as he did every day on returning from school:

'Hi, Bump. I'm your biggest brother Scott and I'm going to look after you.'

She smiled at the words, knowing full well that Scott meant every one of them. After all, he'd done exactly the same for both Gordon and Virgil. He may not have said those exact words for John, but the hugging the Bump was tradition. Scott had witnessed his Dad do it before leaving for the moon and Jeff had appointed him man of the house and told him to look after his mom and his brother, and he had ever since, sometimes to Jeff's despair.

She watched her four boys disappear up the track to the treehouse and smiled to herself. Whatever they were planning, it was going to be something extra special if they were all involved.

Scott lay down the reasons why they were going to free Michael. Virgil was just as happy as Gordon was, but John was like him, didn't really see how they were helping but willing to do it for their younger brothers.

And so the plan began to take form.

Every evening after school they met in the treehouse to go over plans and make adjustments as John brought up different obstacles that they could face. Then Scott would help their Mom while John and Virgil kept Gordon busy so that he didn't blab. They had a couple of close calls, but John was inventive and Virgil was a natural peacemaker and Scott hoped (fingers and toes crossed) that their parents were none the wiser.

The Great Escape Plan was due to be put into action on Saturday afternoon.

Scott had wanted to do it on Sunday, but John had pointed out that Saturday both Grandma and Mom would be busy visiting neighbours and distributing gifts since it would be 12 days until Thanksgiving, and Grandpa and Dad would be working out on the farm. Michael wasn't scheduled for execution until Monday, and he wouldn't get fed Sunday, so Saturday seemed best for less adults and a well-fed (and hopefully happy) turkey.

Of course, things didn't go to plan.

John was lookout.

Virgil and Gordon were the distraction should Grandpa and Dad come back early.

Scott would go in the pen and rescue the bird, since Michael knew him – and he was the only one who was taller.

But Grandma and Mom didn't go to visit the neighbours with gifts. Mom had come over unwell on the journey over, so the two were in the house, resting. Which meant that Grandpa and Dad didn't travel far away.

It was Virgil's bright idea. After all, he and Scott had already done it once, and it had worked, so why not again? This time he was bigger, and he was pretty sure he could keep the tractor running straight and not crash into the wall. Again. Gordon, at five, had been a bump himself when Scott and Virgil had last crashed Grandpa's brand-new tractor.

Scott and John were not too happy, but they needed the two adults out of the back yard area completely otherwise they would work out that something was happening in the turkey enclosure. They reluctantly agreed, provided that Gordon was secured just in case the vehicle crashed again. Gordon was ecstatic at the idea.

And so the plan commenced.

And began to go wrong from the very start.

When Virgil and Gordon arrived at the barn that housed the tractor they were immediately stymied. Grandpa and Dad were working on the tractor, so that idea was out the window. And, of course, it took seconds for Virgil to get interested in what they were doing. He inched his way closer and closer until he was standing in front of the two men, on tiptoe and peering inside the belly of the machine, with Gordon on the periphery, literally hopping from one foot to the other and casting glances at the door.

All the adults knew that something was up. All four boys had been too well-behaved, and while they knew that they were (mostly) trustworthy, they were also mischievous and, well, boys. So they had decided Grant and Jeff would stay close to find out what was going on.

It came as no surprise when Virgil joined them looking at the tractor. The surprise was that Gordon was the one with him and not Scott. That immediately rang alarm bells for Jeff, but he bided his time, watching Gordon's obvious discomfort with growing concern.

John had taken up a position sitting on the fence. Michael's enclosure was large for just one bird, and Grandpa had put up a hip-high wooden fence and used it to secure the chicken wire to so that Michael couldn't get out. Hip-height to Grandpa was head-height to John but climbing up was no problem and he made himself comfortable and sat akimbo so he could see Scott and still keep an eye out for Grandpa and Dad.

Scott was convinced he knew what he was doing. He'd been there every weekend when Grandpa had caught Michael and hefted him to check his weight and to make sure that he was healthy. What he hadn't really considered was that his grandpa was far bigger than he was…

Michael was grouchy. He'd not been given his morning feed. And then he saw Scott. Thinking the boy was going to feed him he came strolling up. Scott reached forward and the bird immediately backed away.

John watched with increasing amusement as Scott basically followed the turkey around, increasing in speed. A few times he dived at the bird's feet and tail, as he had seen Grandpa do. He totally forgot he was supposed to be on lookout, and after the fifth time of seeing Scott eat dirt John fell off the fence laughing.

Scott was getting increasingly more frustrated with the dumb bird. He'd planned this to be quick and easy…it was anything but. John was no help at all, and as he stood up and brushed himself down he threw his brother a glare. Right. He had a job to do, he'd promised Gordon and he never broke his word.

He squared up to Michael. And jumped. He'd caught the tail and one back leg and he held on tight.

Michael kicked him in the face but Scott hung on, trying desperately to grab the second leg and stop the bird in his tracks. But instead, he found himself face down in the dirt with a handful of tailfeathers. And a very angry turkey standing over him. The bird looked like he was about to peck Scott's eyes out and he screwed his face shut.

All the noise had set the dogs off, which in turn pulled all four adults, Virgil and Gordon out to find the source. Grant and Jeff jumped the fence and, while Jeff headed for John, Grant took advantage of the confusion to grab the turkey. In turn this action, while freeing Scott, caused Gordon to scream, which in turn upset Virgil, and suddenly there were two tearful children, one child having hysterics and one very grumpy, very dirty older brother with a scratched face that was bleeding.

Ruth and Lucy took charge, ushering the three youngest children into the kitchen while Grant and Jeff took care of the bird and Scott. Michael was let back into his enclosure, but he was confined to the house Grant had built for him. Jeff cleaned Scott up, and then they joined the others.

It took a lot of talking over each other, some shouting, more tears and lots of hot chocolate and cookies before what had happened became clear. The adults exchanged glances. All this over one turkey?

But Gordon and Virgil were hopeful when Grant said that maybe this year they could make Michael the Pardoned Turkey this year, like the older presidents of the United States used to do.

So, Michael the Bourbon Red, despite a failed escape attempt, was spared that year, and the Tracy Farm gained yet another new animal to add to the tally his grandsons kept 'finding'. Grant was happy, and bemused, when come Thanksgiving they all sat down and ate their usual Thanksgiving dinner and both Gordon and Virgil offered thanks for the sparing of Michael while still tucking into a delicious turkey.