![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/82ff397613b903685b22230ce12eeb58-thanksgiving-clap-back-memes-i-wait-300x292.jpg\")
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Mama Odelle\u2019s house smelled of roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, cigarettes, and sweat. The fat under her arm was swiftly moving every time she stirred the contents in her favorite mixing bowl.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to stir it in one direction the entire time. That\u2019s what get it all right, \u201cshe\u2019d say every year.<\/p>\n
We were all huddled in the living room watching the Hallmark channel. Mama O\u2019s tv was small and so was her living room, but we all made it work. It reminded me of the nights when all the cousins slept over. We\u2019d make pallets and sleep head to feet, feet to head. Jr. would always complain about my feet being all in his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan, I swear to God if your stinky feet touch me, I\u2019m going to fight you,\u201d he\u2019d say with a playful undertone.<\/p>\n
This year, almost everyone in the family came, just enough to fit at the table. Well, except for Aunt Sheryl\u2019s husband Jake. The family eyed him each step he took. They\u2019d only been married for a couple of months, and none of us were invited to the wedding. Aunt Sheryl said it all happened last minute, but her Facebook says differently. She and Jake were smiling big alongside his family at their ceremony. I didn\u2019t say anything about it though.<\/p>\n
Finally, the food was done and Mama Odelle shooed us all into the dining room. Everyone sat, and Auntie Jean led grace. The whole time she was being shady saying, and God please bless our unexpected <\/em>guest, Mama O took over from there. Uncle Dennis was laughing silently the entire time.<\/p>\n We began to eat and eat. Mouths were full of dressing, ham, turkey, pecan and sweet potato pie. Everyone grabbed a slice of pecan pie except Jake.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy you ain\u2019t eating none of that pecan?\u201d Auntie Jean asked.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, I\u2019m\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s allergic to pecans,\u201d Aunt Sheryl cut him off.<\/p>\n Auntie Jean sucked her teeth.<\/p>\n \u201cMmm. Well, if you brought \u2018em around more often, we\u2019d know that.\u201d<\/p>\n Uncle Dennis quickly grabbed his drink and swallowed hard, peeking from the rim of the glass.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, if you stop running the streets all night, maybe you\u2019d get to see him.\u201d<\/p>\n Mama Odelle slammed her hand on the table.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, we\u2019re not doing this year. I\u2019ve slaved over that kitchen stove to make this meal for y\u2019all ungrateful devils and all you want to do is fight,\u201d she said as she continued to eat her roll.<\/p>\n \u201cTell your daughter to grow up then Mama.\u201d Aunt Sheryl said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re the one who needs to grow up. Didn\u2019t invite your own family to your wedding. What? You\u2019re ashamed of us or something. Got you a good job and a maybe decent man and you think you all that now huh?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cLike, I said. The wedding was last minute. There were barely and guests.\u201d<\/p>\n Auntie Jean shifted in her chair and laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cGirl, stop that lying. You\u2019re lying for no reason. I saw your Facebook. Mmhmm. Maybe you should make your page private,\u201d auntie jean said.<\/p>\n I thought I was the only one who saw all the pictures. I guess I wasn\u2019t the only one snooping around. Auntie Jean an Sheryl kept arguing back and forth like they were teenagers. The rest of us continued to eat like nothing was happening. Maybe Mama O decided they\u2019d get tired eventually and shut up. Jake kept tugging at Aunt Sheryl\u2019s arm, trying to get her to calm down.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until the food was thrown across the table that everyone tuned back in.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, that was a perfectly good piece of pie, and you just wasted it,\u201d uncle Dennis said playfully.<\/p>\n He was enjoying the drama, probably was even hoping he\u2019d get to see a fist fight that day, but he didn\u2019t. After there was no more to food to chunk, they screamed I hate you<\/em> at each other and stormed out. Neither one of them told Mama O thank you or the food was good. Uncle Dennis joked for the next ten minutes until they became lame. He eventually left. The house was quiet again except the rattling of dishes. I was drying the plates for Mama Odelle. She looked sad but not sad enough to ask are you okay<\/em>. I imagined she was thinking to herself. Asking how did her kids become so angry at the world and each other. But she found solace in the fact I\u2019d always be there for her. To clean her carpet, fix her air conditioner, or whatever else she needed.<\/p>\n That was the last Thanksgiving we all had together. Aunt Sheryl and her husband moved away and never looked back. Auntie Jean was a little of everywhere, and Uncle Dennis was \u2018rebooting\u2019 his rap career up in Chicago. He\u2019d save up to get a train ticket. I was the only one who came back every Thanksgiving until Mama Odelle passed away.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mama Odelle\u2019s house smelled of roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, cigarettes, and sweat. The fat under her arm was swiftly moving every time she stirred the contents in her favorite mixing bowl. \u201cYou have to stir it in one direction the entire time. That\u2019s what get it all right, \u201cshe\u2019d say every year. We were all … Continue reading “We\u2019ll Always Know What Thanksgiving Tastes Like”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1801,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions\/1801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}