"Happy Hanukkah," his mom cried when they entered Aunt Lucy's house.

Susie giggled and put her hands on her hips, "It's Thanksgiving, Aunt Lois."

His mom snapped her fingers. "Darn, I knew it was one of those holidays."

Susie giggled again and Aunt Lucy came out of the kitchen in her apron and with a big spoon in her hand. "And we're not Jewish," she said with a smile.

Everybody exchanged hugs. Aunt Lucy gave him a noogie first. Then she took Noel from his dad, "Look at you. Aren't you getting to be a big girl?" She stretched out one of Noel's curls. "If her hair was straight, it'd be all the way down to her shoulders."

"The big girl needs a diaper change," Lois said, pulling a diaper out of the diaper bag. "You're right," Lucy said making a face and giving her back to Lois. "You can change her in one of the bedrooms. Just make sure you put down on a blanket first."

"I brought a disposable diaper pad, so it's taken care of. I'll try to get her to take a nap before dinner. How long will it be?"

"I'd say another hour."

His mom and Noel headed for a bedroom.

"I have to finish cooking," Aunt Lucy said. "You boys can go watch football with Ron."

Susie folded her arms and cleared her throat.

"Pardon me," Aunt Lucy said, "and girl."

Susie smiled and skipped for the living room.

Skyler and his dad followed.

Uncle Ron looked up with a grin. "I didn't hear you guys get in. Have a seat," he said, patting the leather couch.

Skyler liked Uncle Ron. His dark brown eyes always seemed to twinkle. He was a reporter too. He used to work at the Daily Planet until he and Aunt Lucy moved outside the state.

Uncle Ron had chocolate brown skin, Aunt Lucy had white skin, and Susie's skin was a perfect blend between the two. It was the color of his mom's coffee after she put in the creamer and Skyler thought it was a pretty color. Susie's eyes were a very dark blue, they almost looked brown from a distance. Her hair had curls that were tighter than Noel's. It was a light brown with a golden tint.

"So far the Cowboys are beating the Eagles' butts," Uncle Ron announced.

"Aww, Daddy, you said the b word," Susie said, putting a hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry. I meant the Cowboys are beating the Eagles bottoms."

"Is that good?" Skyler asked his dad in a whisper.

Uncle Ron heard him. "No, that's not good. We want the Eagles to win."

"I didn't know you liked the Eagles so much," his dad remarked.

"You bet I do. My friend Ben's rooting for them."

Skyler knew his grandmother had a neighbor named Ben, but he didn't see what that had to do with anything.

His dad laughed, "Next time, you'd better have George root for them."

Skyler watched the teams running up and down the field after the ball. He'd watched football with his dad before and he had explained the game to him, but there was still a lot of fancy words he didn't understand. The one thing Skyler didn't understand right now was Uncle Ron. At halftime the score was 36 to 5. The Eagles were losing big time and Uncle Ron was looking sick.

"Are you okay, Daddy?" Susie asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," Uncle Ron said without conviction. He looked over at his dad. "Clark, do you think they have a chance of recovering?"

"Sure," his dad replied.

"Are you just saying that so I don't pass out?"

His dad smiled. "Yes."

Aunt Lucy came out and set the turkey on the table. "I timed it perfectly. Although if you ask me, halftime is the best part, except that time with Janet Jackson."

"Who's Janet Jackson, Mommy? What did she do?" Susie asked.

"Nothing," Aunt Lucy said. "Lois, dinner!"

His mom came out with Noel. "I don't know about Noel," his mom said, smiling, "But I had a nice nap. I missed my normal dose of caffeine this morning."

Aunt Lucy smiled, then looked around. "Ron, did you get Susie's old highchair out of the garage like I told you to?"

"Whoops," Ron answered.

"That's okay," Clark said. "She doesn't need one."

"Of course she does." Aunt Lucy said. "Everybody has to eat at the table on Thanksgiving."

They waited for Uncle Ron to come back with the highchair and the doorbell rang.

Aunt Lucy got it. It was Mommy's dad, the General.

"It seems I arrived right on time," he said.

It felt like all the joy had been sucked from the room as a tense silence took its place. Uncle Ron came back with the highchair. Aunt Lucy took a rag and wiped it down and then his mom put Noel in it. They all took a seat.

Mommy's dad broke the silence, "You know last year when I came to Thanksgiving, Lois, you took that as meaning you didn't have to stop by on Christmas."

"I was in labor, Daddy," said his tightlipped mom.

"Yes, but you didn't have the intention of visiting before then, did you?

Skyler gulped. He recognized that look on his mom's face. She was doing her best to keep from blowing up.

As her dad, the General should have recognized that but he didn't, or didn't care. "I expect you at my house on Christmas or Christmas Eve."

His mom's face was looking a little red, but she wasn't screaming yet. "On Christmas we're going to be celebrating with Clark's mom and on Christmas Eve we're going to have Noel's birthday party."

"You can have her birthday party at my house," the General said simply.

The spoon his mom was using to spoon out the mashed potatoes clacked heavily against Aunt Lucy's fancy china plate. Skyler could tell she was barely keeping it together and if there hadn't been kids in the room and it hadn't been Thanksgiving, she probably would have lost it by now.

She took some stuffing and started tearing it into little pieces and putting it in front of Noel.

Noel, blissfully unaware of what was going on, took them and put them in her mouth, as fast as his mom put one down.

"Uh, I guess someone should say the blessing," Uncle Ron said. No one answered, "Uh, I guess that'll be me. God, thank You for this meal and Your many blessings. Amen." He rushed though, which was probably for the best right now.

"You want a leg?" his dad asked him.

Skyler nodded. The drumstick was his favorite part. His dad pulled one off and set it on his plate. The General got the other one.

"I wanted one," Susie whined.

The General turned a critical eye on Skyler. Skyler felt like he was shrinking. "That's an awful big leg for such a little boy. Why don't you give it to your cousin?"

Skyler nodded meekly and the General put it on Susie's plate.

His mom stood up from her chair angrily. "How dare you tell my son what he can and cannot eat!"

"He said she could have it," the General replied calmly

"Only because he's a sweet boy and he's scared of you. He likes the leg! You should have given Susie yours!"

"Lois, he can have one when we go to Mom's," his dad said.

"That's not the point!" his mom shouted. "You can't favor your grandchildren like that!"

The general stood up, his face turning red, "I most certainly did not!"

Susie had gotten off her chair and motioned for Skyler to follow her. They went into her bedroom and she locked the door. They sat up against the door. "I hate it when adults fight," Susie said.

"Me too," Skyler agreed.

"It makes my stomach hurt, and we get into trouble when we yell. Why don't they?"

"I don't know."

"And when we do fight, we have to say we're sorry. Why don't they?"

Skyler shrugged. Even in Susie's room, they could still hear the yelling going back and forth. Every now and then his dad, Aunt Lucy, or Uncle Ron would try to referee.

"You think your sister will be okay?" Susie asked.

"Yeah, she's just a baby. She probably doesn't like the noise, but I don't think she's scared."

Susie gasped. "I think Grandpa just said a really bad word. He said God's name in a bad way."

"Maybe he was praying," Skyler suggested.

"People don't pray like that," Susie said. "Do your parents fight?"

"All the time, but mostly they're just playing. If they have a real fight, they go into their bedroom. "

"Mine don't and they fight a lot."

"It doesn't mean they don't love each other."

"I know," Susie sighed. "So you think Grandpa and your mom love each other?"

"I don't know," he said honestly. "Maybe."

She gasped and her eyes got big. She looked on the verge of crying. "Your mom just told Grandpa to go to the bad place. I don't want Grandpa to go there."

"I don't think she really means it," Skyler assured her. "It's just something grownups say when they're mad. You want to play something until they stop?"

"Sure," Susie agreed. "We'll play Mario racing. I'll be Princess Peach and you can be Luigi."

Skyler sighed. Susie was good-natured but bossy. He'd rather be Mario.

"I can beat anybody. I played with Superman once and I won every time."

Susie was also a liar. Her stories were good but not believable. Sometimes he lied but they were to keep him from getting in trouble. She lied for the pure fun of it. She didn't know her uncle was Superman. Skyler wasn't sure what his dad did all the time when he was flying around in the cape, but he was pretty sure he didn't play Mario racing with Susie.

The yelling stopped after a couple of races. His dad knocked on the door. "Your grandfather left, but we're going to go ahead and leave anyway."

He and Susie followed him out to the living room. His mom already had her jacket on and was putting on Noel's. His dad helped him into his to make it go faster.

"I'm sorry if I wrecked Thanksgiving for you," his mom apologized to Aunt Lucy. "Sometimes I let my temper get the best of me, especially when I'm around the General."

"I know Dad hasn't always been the best father, but he's just trying to reach out to us."

"Well, too little too late. He hasn't changed. He's just retired now and he gets lonely because he doesn't have anyone to order around. He wasn't here for me when I needed him. Why should I be there for him now? I know you're reaching out to him because you still want that father figure in your life, but I've had enough of it. You forget I was stuck under his critical coldness for my whole childhood. I had to deal with him. You only had to deal with me. That's the way the system worked."

Aunt Lucy's eyes lowered.

"I'm sorry, Luce. I know it bothers you, but believe me when I say they you were the lucky one. I used to pray that he would send me to boarding school, but I was never smart enough."

"You were plenty smart. He wanted your company because you were the strong tomboy. I was the girly, emotional one and he didn't know how to handle that."

"Be that as it may, it's all in the past now. My past left me unable to bond with him emotionally. It left you yearning for time with him. Let's leave it at that. We're not going to visit with him for Christmas if he should ask. We'll send him a card and present through the mail. I've had my fill of him for the year."

She picked up Noel and they left for grandma's. He smelled the turkey when they came through the door and his mouth watered. They hadn't gotten a chance to eat. He knew there'd be no yelling at grandma's and that made him happy.

"How was it?" his grandma asked them.

"It was like every other Lane get together." his mom replied. "Luckily, it doesn't look like the love to fight was passed onto the 3rd generation."

"Well, it's time to eat. I hope you're still hungry."

"I'm starving," Skyler told her. "We didn't get to eat. Can I have a leg, Grandma?"

"You can have 2," she smiled.

Before they ate his dad said grace and they each had to say something they were thankful for. When it got to Skyler's turn, he said, "Peace and quiet."

Everybody chuckled but he really meant it.

TBC