Today was Thanksgiving and Bo was super-de-duper excited! This was funny because just a minute ago, he had no idea what that holiday was. And then he saw a super cool bird called a Fire Turkey ad then that weird voice told him he got a memory again…

And that’s how he learned of Thanksgiving!

He rushed home to tell Michi about it and the old fox sat back in his chair, thought for a minute, and then said: ‘Huh. It’s been so long since I’ve last celebrated…’

Bo hopped onto the old fox’s lap and put his paws on his chest. ‘You’ve celebrated Thanksgiving?’

Michi nodded and smiled sadly. ‘Yes. A long time ago, I did.’

‘Wow...That’s so cool! Can we do it? Pretty please with a cherry on top?’

‘You’re learning new phrases every day,’ the fox muttered under his breath, which of course Bo heard because he had super hearing. Every hare did. It was a wonder why adults muttered then since he could hear them even when they tried to be quiet.

Anyway, he was getting off-topic.

‘Please, can we celebrate Thanksgiving? I’ll be super-duper good until then!’

Michi squinted at him. ‘Until Thanksgiving?’

‘Um...and after, too?’

‘Alright, alright, fine.’

‘Yay!’

Bo was about to leap off of Michi’s lap and run to tell everybody, but the old fox caught him. ‘Say, Bo,’ Michi said, ‘how’d you learn about Thanksgiving?’

‘Well…’ Bo went into great lengths to describe what had happened, first describing the turkey in amazing detail:

‘I saw this weird, fat bird that looked kinda orange but kinda brown, too. I don’t know what that color’s called. That’s a color, right? Kinda orange and kinda brown? I think it is. I bet it has a super cool name!’

‘Bo…’

‘Oh, right. Where was I? Anyway, the weird, fat bird was walking around really weird-like and it had this weird wiggly thing under its beak―hey, why don’t Twigs and the other falcons have that thing? It looks really cool, even if it is weird. It’d be so funny to see Twigs walking around with a weird, wiggly thing on her beak―’

‘Bo.’

‘Sorry, sorry! Um, the weird, fat bird was walking weird and everything and then this coyote came out of nowhere and tried to attack it―hey, Michi, did I tell you about this one time that Twigs and I fought this coyote? We didn’t end up winning, but we didn’t lose, either! Isn’t that called a draw? I remember Uncle Brutus saying something like that one day when Greenie and Chase were play fighting―’

‘Continue the story, Bo!’

‘Okay! The coyote tried to bite the weird, fat bird, but then it breathed fire! Can you believe that, Michi? A bird breathing fire? It was so cool! The fire was kinda orange but also kinda red―is that another color? Probably. I bet it has a super cool name, too! Anyway, the fire wasn’t that cool because the coyote got burned and had to run away. After I watched the fight, I was like, “Hey, what’s that weird, fat bird called?” And then this voice spoke in my head and was all like “You have received a memory. Processing...memory [Birds: Turkey] added to memory file!] It was really weird. Hey, did I tell you that wasn’t the only time I heard the voice? I heard it before when I was talking to Twigs about ostriches―hey, did you know that ostriches live in Australia? I have no idea where that is, though. Do you know, Michi? Can you tell me? I so wanna take Twigs to Australia so she can learn to walk better. She’d be so happy then! And then we’d be super best friends! That’s right, right, Michi? She’d be happy, right?’

Michi sighed and said: ‘Yes, Bo, I’m sure she’d be ecstatic.’

‘Woah...That’s good, right? What’s ecstatic mean?’

‘It means very, very happy.’

‘That’s awesome! So I just have to find Australia to make Twigs ecstatic! Can I go find it, Michi? Can I? Can I?’

‘Now hold on just a minute,’ Michi said, pressing his palm against Bo’s back to calm him down. ‘We’re going to celebrate Thanksgiving, remember?’

‘Oh, yeah…Michi, can I go tell Lima Bean? I bet she’d be ecstatic. Lima Bean would be ecstatic, right? She’d totally be ecstatic. Right, Michi?’

The old fox sighed heavily before rubbing Bo’s ears affectionately. This was new! And it felt suuuuper good, too. He should get Michi to rub his ears more often.

‘I’m going to go find the Fire Turkey you were talking about,’ Michi said. ‘You can go tell everybody about the party. Tell them to come in in an hour.’

‘A party? Really? That’s super cool! I’m gonna go tell everybody!’

Michi gave him a tired smile as he ran off. He’s a handful, Michi thought. But he’s got a good heart...Sigh. I wish I could see it last…

******

Lima Bean was sunbathing on her rock, dreaming about lima beans. She couldn’t go five minutes without thinking about them. She could see a hazy cloud of lima beans just...drifting slowly out of reach. Her paws could almost touch it, but not quite. Almost...almost…

‘Lima Bean!’

Groaning, she turned her head to see Bo running at full speed towards her. With a sigh, she realized he meant to jump onto her stomach. Now came the question of whether she would let him do so or dodge out of the way and have him bonk his head on her rock.

But she knew how much he valued his ‘Intelligence’, so she tensed her stomach muscles and prepared for impact.

WHUMP!

Bo wasn’t getting any bigger as time went on for reasons Lima Bean was not privy to, but somehow, every time he landed on her, the pain felt just a little bit worse.

‘Bo,’ she grunted, ‘please get off of my stomach.’

‘I can’t, Lima Bean! I’m too excited!’ he said, grinning down at her. His larger-than-normal paws were shaking with anticipation.

She frowned. Nothing good ever happened when Bo got excited. And to see that he was this excited made her feel...terrified. Grabbing him with her paws, she pushed him onto her legs as she sat up and stared at him hard.

‘What did you do?’ she asked, squeezing ever so softly.

He squirmed, whining: ‘Nothing!’

‘Oh, really?’

‘Lima Bean! I didn’t do anything! I promise!’

She gave him a fierce shake―not too fierce, but enough to scare him a bit―and said, ‘Are you lying to me, Bo Foxhare?’

‘No!’

‘You sure?’

‘Yes!’

She let him go and he quickly hopped off of her lap and onto the ground, staring at her warily. She smirked back at him, causing him to shudder.

If I’d known keeping him in line was this easy, she thought, I’d have tried this a while ago!

She leaned back and faced the sun before asking: ‘Alright, then, what is it?’

He immediately shoved his nose into her face, much to her chagrin. ‘Michi said we could celebrate Thanksgiving!’

She tried to push him back, but he just wiggled around and kept his nose pressed against her cheek. He’s like a dog, she thought bitterly. So needy for love and affection...It’s not like I’m not gonna give it to him, though.

Lima Bean found herself absentmindedly rubbing his head, right behind his ears, just the way he liked it. We spoil him too much. Babies are too gosh darn cute!

‘Well,’ she said, ‘what’s Thanksgiving?’

His nose quivered with excitement. ‘It’s a holiday where you spend time with all the people you love and eat a bunch of food and you say what you’re thankful for!’ Then he slowly pulled away from her and flattened his ears against his head. ‘Do you, um, wanna come?’

‘Will there be lima beans?’ she asked immediately.

‘Um…maybe?’

‘I don’t know, Bo,’ she mused. ‘If there are no lima beans…’

‘But Lima Bean! You’re one of the people I love! You have to be there! Please?!’

Lima Bean sighed. She could always bring lima beans to the table to spruce things up a bit since everything else was bound to be bland and disgusting. ‘Chill your paws, Bo. I’ll come.’

‘Yay!’ He wrapped his arms around her as far as little arms could go and squeezed as hard as he could―which wasn’t very hard since he had, like, 30 Strength.

‘The party’s in an hour! I’m gonna go tell Aunt Aris and Uncle Brutus now!’

‘You go do that,’ she replied. An hour should give me plenty of time to find some lima beans.

*****

Bo stood at the base of the nest tree, put his paws up against the bark, and yelled as loud as he could: ‘Aunt Ariiiiiiis! Uncle Bruuuuuutus! Where aaaaaare you?’

He waited a second before Aris popped her out of the nest and glared down at him. ‘What are you doing here, hare?’

‘Do you wanna celebrate Thanksgiving with us?’

‘Why would we do such a thing?’

‘Because Thanksgiving is about spending time with the people you love!’

‘We’re busy.’

‘But-’

‘Falcons are very busy beasts, hare, especially ones with chicks. We’ve got to hunt, help them fly, all sorts of things. We won’t have time to...celebrate anything.’

Bo couldn’t fault that logic; Aunt Aris was really busy taking care of Twigs and her brothers. But she couldn’t spare a little time to celebrate?

Before he could ask, Uncle Brutus sat up in the nest and started talking. ‘Dear, I think doing this would be a wonderful idea.’

‘Brutus-’

‘Think about it, love. I’m sure Michi would have some meal prepared for us; we could afford to skip a day of hunting!’

‘The kids-’

‘Can play with Bo! The boys are doing well with their flight lessons and Twigs...could use a break from being grounded.’

‘We are trying to limit their exposure with him!’

‘Relax. They’re only children; what harm could playing with a friend do?’

Aris sighed. ‘Fine...We’ll come.’

‘Yay! The party’s in an hour!’

Bo was about to run back to Michi until he realized he knew way more adults who would probably love coming to celebrate!

*****

‘Hi, Mr. Grog!’ Bo yelled, shoving his head into the toad’s underground house.

Grog looked up, saw the beaming leveret, and frowned. ‘What’re you doin’ here, kid?’

‘I came to ask if you wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving with us!’

‘I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout this Thanksgiving you been talkin’ ‘bout, kid.’

‘Well, it’s a holiday that people celebrate with the people they love and they eat lots of food and they say things they’re thankful for...So you wanna come?’

‘Kid, uh, you, uh, hardly know anythin’ ‘bout me and I know darn well nothin’ bout you, yunno? Not too sure your folks would be plenty welcome to me comin’ up and bein’ there…’

‘Sure they will! Michi’s super nice to strangers! He even let Lima Bean live with us! Although, I’m not really sure she’s ‘living’ because I’m pretty sure I heard Lima Bean say she’s being held hostage sometimes...I don’t know what hostage means, but I think it means something ad. But Michi would never do anything bad to Lima Bean, even if they don’t seem to like each other a lot. I’m sure it’s nothing, though. Anyway, you wanna come?’

Grog blinked. He didn’t know where the kid got the air to fuel his word torrents; he had some mighty fine lungs.

‘W-well, I guess I could swing by for a lil’ while. Should I, uh, bring anything?’

‘Uh...maybe. Michi’s gonna bring a fire turkey…’

‘Huh? Can hares...eat meat?’

‘I don’t know. Michi never gives me any. I wanna try some, though…’

‘Guess I could bring some bug stew…’

‘OK! I gotta go find some other people. Be there in an hour!’

Before Grog could ask where he was supposed to go in an hour, a thought came to mind. Did he, uh, say Michi? As in...Guardian of the Falcon Plains Michi? Boy, what have I gotten mahself into...Too late now. I should go find some beetles.

******

Unfortunately, Bo couldn’t find Mr. Coyote. And he and Branut weren’t on speaking terms, so he couldn’t invite her either.

But he didn’t want to go back just yet and be bored. Maybe he could find something for the party? He did see a berry bush on his way to Mr. Grog’s house…

Retracing his steps, he found the berry bush. It was ripe for the taking, with big, juicy green berries just waiting to be eaten!

But wait.

He should taste one to see if they were worthy of being taken. He sniffed a berry; oh, that was such a nice smell...Lima Bean always said that things that smelled good would tase good. Grinning, he stuck his tongue out and gently brushed it against the berry.

A burst of flavor exploded against his tongue in that instant. The berry was the embodiment of sweetness. The smoothness of the berry called out to be caressed by his tongue; the round shape cradled just perfectly in his mouth; the sweet juice that leaked out into his mouth when he bit down was just heavenly. It was so good; what else could compare? He’d never had anything so sweet before―

[You have received a memory. Processing...memory [Food: Pie] has been added to memory file!]

Pie...Oh, yes, pie. He could recall the crunchy crust, the warm, gooey insides of whatever fruit or vegetable was used to make it. He really, really wanted some pie now.

But it was torture; he could remember recipes of different pie flavors: blueberry, strawberry, apple, blackberry, sweet potato, pumpkin. And yet...he had no tools to make them!

So he could only pine in agony at the memory of such sweet, delectable goodness…

Bo sighed; the berries would have to do.

******

One hour later, everything was ready. A steaming turkey (only slightly charred due to fire magic), a pile of assorted fruits and vegetables (lima beans and the sweet berries included), as well as multiple bowls of bug stew laid out before the beasts.

Bo couldn’t wait to dig in, but before that, he and the others would have to say what they were thankful for. Michi went first.

‘Well, I’m thankful for being able to celebrate this evening together with you all,’ the old fox stated, smiling kindly around at everyone. ‘I’m...very happy that I was reminded of this holiday.’

Brutus cleared his throat. ‘I am quite thankful for the brief respite I was able to receive today. I was greatly appreciated.’

Aris sighed. ‘I’m thankful my children have managed to survive to join us, despite some...wild encounters that would’ve said otherwise.’ She stared pointedly at Bo, who was, as always, oblivious to every spiteful thing she said.

Grog spoke up: ‘I’m, uh, very, um, thankful I met Bo and Twigs that day, else I wouldn’t be here. Some mighty fine kids you folks are raisin’, yunno?’

‘I try,’ Aris smiled.

‘A lack of parental supervision, a few warnings every now and then, and providing food and shelter does them just fine,’ Michi agreed.

‘I’m just surprised Bo’s not dead yet because of you,’ Lima Bean muttered.

Michi’s head whipped around and he glared at her. ‘What was that mouse?’

‘Nothing, nothing. Anyway, I’m thankful that I can finally have my lima beans again...And, um, that you’re, uh, all here with me to, uh, celebrate...Lima beans are all mine, though.’

Greenie and Chase went, and then Twigs said she was thankful she knew how to walk properly. Finally, Bo, the youngest, got a chance.

Lima Bean eyed him cautiously. ‘Keep it short, alright, Bo?’

He nodded. ‘Well, I’m thankful for that voice who told me what turkeys were because without it, we wouldn’t be here! I’m also thankful for that plant that sprouted those berries, because they’re really good, even though it made the voice tell me about pies and I can’t make them...Also, I’m thankful for Michi because he’s a good grandpa fox and he’s teaching me magic. Plus, Lima Bean, because she’s a cool big sister. And Uncle Brutus and Aunt Aris for making Twigs, because she’s my best friend. And I’m thankful for Twigs because she’s fun to play with and she’s my best friend. And finally…I’m thankful for whoever made flying possible because one day, I’m gonna fly all over the place!’

They were all silent, just in case Bo had more to say. Ut when he kept quiet, Michi clapped his paws. ‘Time to eat!’

Chaos ensued shortly after with every beast rushing to take a piece of food. Lima Bean, of course, stole every bean for which she was named. Grog snuck a few bowls of his stew. Brutus, Aris, the boys, and Michi attacked the turkey.

That only left Bo and Twigs, staring slightly horrified at the display.

Pushing down his fear, Bo grabbed his berries, a potato, and a relatively large piece of turkey for him and Twigs to share. He carried his prize a little ways away from the pandemonium with Twig in tow.

‘Uh, B-Bo? A-are you s-sure y-you can eat m-meat?’

‘Maybe,’ he muttered, tearing off a small piece. ‘I’ve never tried it before.’

‘W-what if y-you get sick?’

‘I’ll be fine, Twigs. I’m a big boy!’ Bo bragged.

Twigs didn’t look very convinced, but she was also curious to see what would happen. As Bo brought the piece of meat to her mouth, she leaned closer, wanting to see everything.

Bo put it in, chewed, and swallowed. Then they waited.

After several seconds of nothing happening, both sighed. Bo, in relief of not spontaneously combusting and Twigs, saddened that she hadn’t gotten to see Bo spontaneously combust.

Then they furiously dug in.

******

Bo was lying with Twigs on his bed furs in Michi’s burrow. They were both thoroughly exhausted from running around and eating until their heart’s content.

‘H-hey, Bo?’ Twigs said, turning to look up at him.

‘Yeah, Twigs?’

‘I-I had a l-lot of fun t-today…’

‘Yeah, me, too. We should celebrate Thanksgiving more often.’

‘D-do you th-think we could d-do it tomorrow?’

‘Well, technically, a holiday is a one-day thing...But I’m sure we could convince Michi to get another turkey for us!’

‘I-I’d l-like that...And B-Bo?’

‘Yeah?’

‘I-I’m thankful th-that your m-my best friend, t-too.’

‘Aw, shucks, Twigs…’

‘I-I hope w-we c-can be b-best friends f-forever!’

‘Me, too!’

They talked a little while longer before falling asleep in each other’s arms.