Max's Thanksgiving Caper

Ahhh! Thanksgiving! That most comforting of holidays. Surrounded by family, good food, and - comfort. Aromas waft from the kitchen - pumpkin pies baking, ham, turkey, celery and onions sautéeing in the pan for dressing. This year we were taking some food to my sister's and joining family there.


Mom and Dad were getting dressed. Dad got his new coat out;

Mom was smiling and had her makeup on.

That's the background.

Max knew something was afoot. He is no dummy.




Dad put something in the car...and left the doors open. Max jumped in. He was going too! (He decided.) He loved being around the family, and he wanted to be a part of the action. He would see the girls,
Aunt Chris,
Justin
and more.

Max would not get out of the car. Minutes ticked by. He was not budging. In the meantime, where were the car keys? They were not in the car ashtray where they'd been left. Frantic search ensued. No keys. Max in car. After 15 minutes or so, plan B was to use Mom's keys. Mom tricked Max out of the car with a solo game of fetch complete with lots of laughter - Max was too intrigued to not investigate.

Bang! Fence locked - Max inside. Lured inside house, safely tucked away.

Inside the car, yet another puzzle. The ashtray was missing. What on earth? Steve/Dad blamed Max. Jan/Mom had a hard time believing that.

Thanksgiving Dinner with family was good, we stayed to play Pictionary with Marcia and Natalie, Bobbie Jo and Landon. Marcia and Natalie beat Steve and Jan - it's a terrible thing when the mind can get 'gorilla, King Kong, monkey', etc. but can't get 'ape', and when the mind can come up with 'planets, galaxy, meteorite, universe', but can't think of 'asteroid'. Quite fun anyway, and the trouncing wasn't too bad. We were within 5 squares of the end, I think.

Friday morning, however, the search for the missing keys and ashtray began again.

Max searched high.

He searched low.
Max searched all around. Helpful guy.
He looked innocent. He looked guilty.
Aha! Dad remembered a favorite burial spot for biscuits, etc.
- there were the keys and the ashtray! It would have worked, Max, but you didn't know Mom had a second set of keys. Curses! Foiled again!