Holiday Lesson Plan

Mom's turkey is too dry.

(Five years from now, Sally will never tell her friends they were square enough to have a maid.)

It's like chewing paper.

(In ten years, Sally will let her fiancé think she stood up for Carla's rights to be more than a servant.)

Growing in her mouth until she wants to throw up.

(In twenty years, Sally will have tried every cookbook until the turkey tastes right. She'll tell her kids it's an old family recipe.)

Christmas isn't supposed to be like this. Whatever Mom says, Sally still can't understand how Carla could just leave.