Debra went to bed that night with her mother still having not returned. She awoke the next morning, completely not surprised to see her mother asleep on the couch.
Part of her felt a little that her mother would be alone on Thanksgiving while Debra went out with her friends. Her mother wouldn’t be with Grandma Elsie either, but Annie already made it quite clear that wasn’t where she wanted to be. However, she hadn’t exactly offered up an alternative for the two of them either.
For the first time, Debra wondered if maybe Annie already had something in mind that she’d been too angry to tell her.
Her mother still sleeping, Debra did a check of the refrigerator and freezer to see if there might be some turkey her mother failed to thaw in time. She didn’t see one. However, she did find a whole frozen chicken that still appeared to be good. Debra put that down to thaw in the refrigerator, and then checked the shelves for any logical side dishes that might quickly come from a can or pouch. She rounded up a can of green beans, and a pack of instant mashed potatoes, and left those on the counter.
Maybe, just maybe, when Annie woke up, seeing a few things around might inspire her to have a small dinner ready when Debra got home and they could do something together. More than likely, though, Debra suspected she’d come home to a mother already getting dressed to go to the clubs again.
Debra could barely remember any Thanksgivings when her parents were together; most of them, Grandma Elsie made a feast and the three did their best to be family for just one day. Despite some people thinking she might not know how to appreciate things, Debra gave thanks for every special time that Grandma Elsie brought them together.
This Thanksgiving afternoon, she hoped to give her extended family a day none of them would forget.