I was
9 or 10 and we were celebrating Thanksgiving on our South Dakota farm with a
meal made from the fruits and vegetables we had harvested, and a goose my dad
had shot just a week before. After tough times, this was
going to be a feast beyond any we’d had for several years.
The
chores were done and it was lightly snowing when we gathered in the kitchen to
help get the table ready. My 4 brothers
and I were driving mom half crazy as we bounced around the table and in-and-out
of the living room and from outside, hoping to “will” my dad’s arrival with his
Uncle George, a bachelor farmer mom had sent him to fetch so he wouldn’t be
alone. Adding to the festive scene were
a young couple who had recently moved into a neighboring farm and also would
have been alone – not going to happen once mom found out.
Just
as mom announced that the goose was ready to come out of the oven and we all
rushed inside to see, we heard the car pull up and then my dad and Uncle George
came in, brushing off the light snow.
“Everybody’s here!” mom smiled and then looking past my dad to the door,
she got a confused look on her face.
“Oh,
this is Andy,” my dad announced, stepping back and half pulling a middle-aged
man past the threshold and into the kitchen.
“Found him walking down the road about half-mile from here.” He smiled.
“Looked like he could use a little warming up, and something to
eat.” Everybody grew quiet as if unsure
what to say, and then my mom hurried forward and held out her hand in
welcome.
“You’re
in luck,” she said. “More than enough
food to go around this year, so the more eaters the merrier.” She grabbed my dad’s hand, too. “Dean, you didn’t get cleaned up before you
went to pick up George. Why don’t you
wash up.” She nodded to the homeless
man, who in those days we all called “bums” and said, “and maybe Andy wants to
get washed up too while we finish getting the meal on the table?”
The man smiled gratefully as my dad led the
way to the nearby washbasin, removing his coat and hat at my dad’s urging and
letting us boys take it back out to the entryway.
I
don’t remember all the details of how long Andy was there that day, but I do
remember how – like the rest of us – he ate and ate (it was Thanksgiving after
all) and there was lots of laughter during that meal and after. And aside from the surprise of seeing him
when he first arrived, I remember also being surprised to see a grown man with
tears in his eyes when he finished and got ready to leave and my dad offered to
give him a ride all the way into town.
“Does
Andy have a family?” I asked mom as she watched them drive away. “Yes,” she answered. “At least he does
today.” Nearly six decades later the
memory still lingers as one of the warmest in my growing up years, and especially at Thanksgiving.
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