After more than fifty years it's hard to pick out
Thanksgiving memory out of so many wonderful ones, but I got a chuckle thinking about this one and thought I'd share it with you.My brothers, all four of them, were hunters. Pheasant, duck, quail, goose. You name it. If it had a season they shot it. One day, just before Thanksgiving, my brother Mark came in with two big geese. Now geese in the wild aren't like the ones that live here in the city and beg for bread crumbs in the park. Bagging a goose takes skill and luck and Mark had TWO.
Thanksgiving was at our house that year and Mom decided to cook the geese instead of the usual turkey. I admit they smelled good as they roasted throughout the morning. When everyone was assembled at the table, my mother brought them in. My brother Mark watched with pride as his trophies came to the table. After cautioning everyone to watch out for buckshot, mom carved them up.
My grandpa, as the oldest, got the first piece. He took a bite and nearly pulled his dentures out. After mulling his mouthful for a while, he gulped and looked at Mark. "You didn't shoot these."
"But I did," Mark insisted.
By this time we were all trying to eat the tougher-than-boot-leather birds and not having much success.
"Nope," said Grandpa, pushing his meat to the side of the plate. "This one died of old age when your gunshot scared him to death."
We all laughed but I did feel bad for Mark and my mom. Thank goodness there was plenty of side dishes to go around and plenty of pumpkin pie to fill us up. No one when away hungry, but goose was never on the menu at our house again.
6 comments:
Too funny! I'll bet very few Thanksgivings go by without someone bringing this up again. Good times like those are what it's all about.
Reese, glad you enjoyed the story.
Your grandfather was a wit! Thanks for the chuckle. We had goose or duck as secondary meat on some thanksgivings but they were barnyard birds. I never liked goose but I was always happy when mom picked out the meanest one for the table.
I always wondered what goose tastes like. Thanks for sharing, Pat!
P.S. My verification word is gousla :D
Oh, Pat, Geese are tricky. One of our mighty hunters bagged one and mom proudly cooked it. It was awful. Tasted like black swamp water...really. We were very thankful that year--for dressing and yams to clear that taste.
Great memory! I've never had goose, and I'm pretty sure I never will now.
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