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There were a few things Steve Carlsberg loved.
Bees for example. Or warm baths. Or what Janice called "dad jokes". Basically everything underappreciated reaching from invisible pie to Leonardo DiCaprio's acting skills.
You know what? Scratch that. There were a lot of things he loved and only a few he disliked.
The one he loved the most was sitting next to him right now, trying to drink her hot chocolate without burning her fingers on the cup or her tongue on the milk.
"Don't gulp it down like that, little princess. Thanksgiving is about appreciating what you have."
Janice sighed. "You promised me to never call me that again." She used the sleeves of her sweater to hold up the cup. "Mom also didn't really take her time to stay."
She had a point there. Steve also wished his wife could stick around for once. Still these family occasions were one of the points on the (very long) list of things he loved.
"Well, we are here and we are going to have a nice evening."
His daughter didn't look convinced.
"You're not gonna argue with uncle Cecil again, are you dad?"
Steve inhaled slowly. Conflict was one of the few things he did not like. Maybe even the thing he disliked the most. Yet it seemed almost unavoidable whenever Cecil was around. Their opinions were just too different. Maybe some fresh wind could only help.
"We won't. Now, would you like to have a look around the house?"
Carlos enjoyed the holydays but sometimes Cecil could get a bit.. intense. It was the usual enthusiasm merged with the excitement of a child waiting for Christmas.
Right now he was running up and down in the kitchen in order to have everything ready for dinner when his friend arrived.
It was sweet to see how much he cared and Carlos agreed that Earl really deserved a day off.
The only problem was that his boyfriend had never been too handy in the kitchen.
"The oven isn't supposed to burn before the turkey is inside, is it?" His thoughts were interrupted only a few seconds before the fire alarm started howling.
Carlos turned around and flinched immediately. "Cecil, get that pack of flour away from the fire, NOW! "
He hurried over to snap the white pack off the sink, before he made an attempt to suffocate the flames with a towel.
"It's fine. If this one burns we have some more in the cupboard." - "If this one burns we won't have a cupboard anymore, honey."
He placed the charred towel in the sink. (Just in case they would need it again later.)
In the meantime, Cecil had switched the alarm off.
"Where is your sister, by the way? I meant to say hello." - "She was here but already headed on. You know what she is like. Always on the run."
Actually he had never met her. Janice was the only proof of her existence he had. And since knowing Roger he wasn't even sure anymore if a child was proof enough of a mother's existence.
"The real question is where is my brother in law?" Cecil took a heavy looking bowl from a shelf. "Please don't tell me, he's going through our stuff again. I've told him a million times he's not supposed to do that."
As if he had been called, Steve came down the stairs. "Was that the fire alarm..?" - "No need to worry. Just a little smoke."
"Okey dokey!" He leaned against the table. "You finally painted the guest room. I like it. " - "Stop creeping trough my house!"
The doorbell rang.
"Oh, that must be them." Cecil rushed over to open the door and Carlos followed him into the floor, where they found a slightly embarrassed Earl carrying a whine bottle.
"Welcome! Good to see you." - "Good to see you too. Is it.. um are you sure it's still okay with.?"
"Of course! Come in!" Carlos smiled at the boy who was walking a few steps behind him. "And you must be Roger." - "Hi." the boy mumbled.
"So Janice, this is Roger. Roger, Janice."
The two of them silently nodded. Hopefully, that was a good sign. Children normally needed some time to warm up with each other. (Then again, so did adults.)
Cecil glanced over at the living room. (Probably to check if Steve hadn't gone exploring again.) "Football is going to be on soon. Would you help me with the cranberry sauce first?" - "No problem."
Carlos started to take the turkey out while the others were occupied with the sauce.
"Wow, you really meant it when you said you had a cupboard full." - "Yup. When I knew you were coming as well, I considered buying more but we'll have to go with what's in the house right now. "
"It should be enough.." He had just made it to the stuffing part, when Cecil tried to put the bowl with the sauce into the fridge. Apparently there was not enough space for it.
"Well, then I' won't bother you any longer. Go watch the game while we prepare the turkey."
Earl didn't move from the spot. He was fixing Carlos.
"..Earl?"
"You can't do it like this.. " - "What do you mean?" Carlos wasn't used to having anyone criticizing his skills in the kitchen. (Cooking was just chemistry after all and he liked to think that he knew his chemistry.)
"The filling. This way it will dry out in the oven. Try doing it like this." He handed the turkey over to Earl who took all the paper out before carefully starting to stuff it once more. "So. That should do the trick. Now if you hand me some salt and pepper, I can make my special.." - "But we're supposed to cook for you. "
"It's ok. Right after they are in the oven, I will sit back and watch some football. "
Earl ended up doing most of the cooking, while Cecil stood next to him and tried to look helpful. At some point Carlos decided it would be best to just go to the living room and keep Steve occupied.
The kids were actually focusing on the football game and from time to time you could hear Janice cheering. There was an amazing smell coming into the living room and when the alarm (meaning the fire alarm) finally went off, his stomach was already growling.
"Does anyone else have anything they are thankful for?" Steve concluded. Earl felt thankful he finished talking but he was too polite to say that out loud.
On the other side of the table, Cecil opened his mouth and then closed it again after Carlos had given him a warning look.
"Then let's take this turkey apart!"
For some time everyone was occupied with chewing. Earl was quite happy with how the food had turned out. He took another piece of turkey. "Could you hand me over the cranberry sauce?" Carlos glanced at the bowl before shaking his head. "I'm afraid we've eaten it all up already."
"I knew, I should have bought more!" Cecil put his glass down. "Oh, the parade is going to start any minute! Why don't you two take the dog around the block? "
"What?" Janice looked seriously disappointed. "But I really wanted to see it this year, uncle Cecil." - "No way. Some fresh air will be good for you."
Steve glanced over at his brother in law, then at his daughter. "Of course you can see it, sweetie!"
Now Earl knew what else to be thankful about. Not sitting between Cecil and Steve. It seemed like his friend was trying to work out if looks could maybe kill by any chance, if you just tried hard enough.
"This is not a discussion! That program is way to violent for their age. Do you want to traumatize her, Steve?"
Steve's tone was appeasing enough to have the opposite effect on Cecil. "No, but I think they should know the world they grow up in. Janice, you can watch it with us if you want to."
"Wait, does that mean she gets to see it but I can't?" Roger turned towards Earl.
Cecil turned towards Earl. Janice and Steve turned towards Earl. Carlos seemed to be fully focused on slicing the flesh of a turkey bone.
Earl gulped. What should he answer? What would a responsible adult, a good father say in this situation? And how the hell was he supposed to know what a responsible adult should be like?
Everyone was still waiting for an answer.
(Compromises were good, right? Compromises were the adult thing to do, he decided.) "Umm.. I don't know. I guess it's okay if you stay and listen to the description, as long as you don't watch." He waited for everyone to freak out again but the room stayed calm. Carlos smiled. "Sounds like something we can all agree on, don't you think, Cecil?"
"I guess."
Cecil felt a bit sick only from listening to the noise of the parade but he also enjoyed the comfort of burying his face onto Carlo's chest and listening to the sound of his voice.
Here, in the living room between his favorite people (at least mostly) he felt safe.
When the screen eventually turned black with a flicker, they all just sat there for a moment. After a while, he lifted his head off his boyfriend's shirt. "Eek. That was creepy. Now, who wants to play a board game and eat some Ice cream?"
About an hour later Steve started yawning. "Time to go, but it was a really nice evening." - "Alright, then."
Earl looked over at his son. (Cecil had noticed some time ago that his feet never seemed to be standing quite still. Maybe he wanted to walk the streets again like he apparently did every day.)
"We should probably head back as well."
"Well, it was a pleasure to have you over today. You totally have to give me that receipt for your secret spice mix sometime."
Roger spoke up for the first time. "It's just a tad more salt and pepper."
Earl turned his head. "How do you now that?" - "You said it on the show. It's not really a secret mix if you announce it on the radio, you know.." - "So you listened to it?"
His shoes silently scratched over the ground. "Yup." - "And memorized it?" - "Yup."
His friend's eyes suddenly looked a bit glassy.
"Um, Earl, are you ok?" - "Yes!" His voice was a tick higher than usual. "Hey Roger, would you maybe like to try some of the recipes out some time? So you can see how they are done in practice."
"..okay.."
(Well, if this didn't make the evening a success.) Cecil could't help but grin. "Amazing! The two of you can really spend some quality time like this!"
"Do we have to discuss this here?" - "We can discuss it on the way back. What would you like to learn? Sushi? Or poisonous tiramisu?"
Who are you texting, sweetie?" Janice let her phone disappear back into her sweater.
"...Someone just asked about my evening."
"Oh. Someone. Do we need to have that talk about the bees and the flowers sometime?" - "No. We will never need to have that talk, dad."
The gravel crunched under the weight of her wheelchair.
"I wrote, it went a lot better than I expected. I mean, compared to last year.." - "Why, what was wrong with last year?"
She ignored the question.
"It was good to meet Earl. He seems a bit scatter brained but very nice."
She leaned her head back. "Are there any arrows out, tonight?"
Steve stopped so they both stood still for a moment. "The sky is full of them."
While her father had long started walking again, Janice was still looking up.
Trying to figure out whether her eyes were just tired or if there actually were thin lines (like the strands of a spider net) connecting the shattered dots out in the void.