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Milo and Sara were exchanging faces (and trying not to giggle) in the backseat, as the family pulled into the drive. Or rather, puttered into the drive, as as soon as the car had made it into the drive it made a final whine, and had died.
With one final tongue stuck out at his sister, Milo hurried to unbuckle his seatbelt, only to find himself stuck. Without hesitation, Sara took the opportunity to jump out of the car and towards the house.
"We're here!" Sara greeted. Her grandmother, aunt and cousin Reggie were sitting at the counter talking when she walked in.
"Sara!" Grandma said, and pulled Sara in for a hug. Sara squeezed back, taking in the heavenly scent of the kitchen.
"Grandma!" Milo said swinging open the door to the house. The door flung open too far and the handle cracked the drywall behind it. There was a collective wince, but it went otherwise unaddressed.
"Hey mom!" Brigette said as she followed behind Milo. Grandma went to hug Milo first and gave him a tight squeeze, and hugged Brigette.
"Hi honey."
"Smells good,"
"That's the pie in the oven," Grandma said, "I've been working hard on it!"
"It's good to see you Brigette, have a good drive?" Julie asked,
"You know mom, I can host next year," Julie said, "No need for you to go through all this work."
"No need to worry about it."
"Really, mom it would be no bother."
"If you don't mind I could also bring a dish," Brigette said.
"Don't worry about it Brigette, you got enough on your plate," Julie said.
"I'm fine," Brigette said.
"We're going to need a new transmission" Martin told Brigette as soon as he walked in the door.
Brigette nodded in acknowledgement, "Good thing we don't need to go anywhere for a few days."
"It's sitting in the way of the drive, so we'll either have to push it out of the way or drive around it."
"Glad you made it safe!" Grandpa said appearing from the hallway, "And it should be fine just to drive around it."
"We were worried you wouldn't make it." Grandma added.
"Good to see you." Martin said, and the exchanged a handshake with Grandpa.
"Hi dad," Brigette said hugging her father.
"Hi Grandpa!" Sara and Milo chirped and he hugged the two of them.
"Oh hi you two!" Reggie greeted his cousins.
"Hey Reggie!" Milo said, "How's it going,"
"Good," he responded.
"Reggie has a piece in the local art show next month." Julie said proudly.
"Cool!" Sara said.
"Here', I've got a picture." Reggie said, grabbing his phone out of his pocket.
"Wow that's cool!" Milo said, looking at the detailed portrait.
"Milo's band has been doing pretty well," Sara said squeezing Milo.
"Well, we've been having fun at least." Milo said brightly.
"Still.... doing... what ever it is you do?" Reggie asked teasingly.
"Hey," Sara complained, "But yes."
"The laundry... oh... you're here,"
"Hi Uncle Rob," Sara said somewhat tersely.
"Hi Brigette, Sara, Milo.... Martin," he greeted sort of stiffly.
"Hey, Rob," Brigette greeted.
"I can head into town to grab some more green beans."
"I'll come with," Martin volunteered, "I need to get some parts for the car, anyway, you know if we can find any place that's open."
"We'll take my car," Grandpa said.
"Do you want me to drive?" Martin suggested, "You know, because Murphy's Law?"
"That's probably for the best." he agreed.
"We'll have dinner on the table by the time you get back!" Grandma said.
Brigette, Grandma, Julie and Rob chatted, while the kids hung out in the living room.
"Kids will you set the table," Grandma asked after a while.
"Sure!" Milo said, and headed towards the cabinets.
"Hey, Milo, I actually need you to grab the cranberries out of the basement fridge."
"Oh, okay," Milo agreed, and headed downstairs while Reggie and Sara got the dishes.
Milo grabbed the cranberries from the fridge and came upstairs. He set the cranberries on the table satisfied. However, the moment he did so the lights began to flicker. The light fixture fell onto the table, and suddenly set the whole thing ablaze. In pure instinct Milo pulled a fire extinguisher out of his bag, and Sara grabbed the one from the kitchen. The fire was quickly extinguished, but the table was nothing but ashes.
"The meal is ruined," Grandma cried, "I spent days on that,"
Murphy's Law had definitely caused some hiccups over the years, but nothing quite like this. One memorable year, the table had broken and the dishes had spilled all over the floor (Grandma had at least long sense learned not to use fine china for these meals). But the food was still edible, and it'd been fun to eat thanksgiving dinner sitting on the floor. There was nothing salvageable this year. Tears stung Milo's eyes. He was used to Murphy's Law, more or less, but he still didn't like it when other people were genuinely upset.
Brigette set her hands on Milo's shoulders comfortingly, "I'll call Martin and ask him and dad to pick something up."
"And what if that gets destroyed too," Rob said accusingly.
"Dad," Reggie grumbled.
"We'll get more... or make do here. We may have to adapt but it'll be okay," Brigette said firmly, she pulled the phone out of her pocket and called Martin.
She went to the other room to talk with Martin, and Sara took her place at Milo's side.
"It's okay sweetheart," Grandma said, though she was still clearly upset, "It's not your fault."
"What's even open on thanksgiving?" Rob asked.
Eventually, Martin and Grandpa came back with a back of hot dogs, and canned cranberries from the store. It may not have been Grandma's carefully prepared meal, but it was still good. It was practically like a picnic, sitting on blankets in the living room. Grandma laughed and even Uncle Rob seemed satisfied. Murphy's Law may have taken one type of thanksgiving away, but it allowed them the opportunity for this one.
"So Milo, what are you thankful for," Reggie asked.
"Well, I'm thankful!" Milo said, "For an amazing family who doesn't let a little thing like our entire meal getting destroyed keep us from having a great time."
"Oh Milo," Brigette said affectionately.
"Hey don't take mine!" Martin said teasingly.
"Welp, happy thanksgiving," Sara said, taking her eyes away from the Dr. Zone marathon playing in the the background.
"Happy thanksgiving!"