Rated: G
Characters: Mick, Beth, their adopted daughter BJ and a brief cameo by Josef.
A/N: BJ is a young school girl here.
And thank you Moonlighter for the once over!
Bumping for 2023 - Happy Thanksgiving!
BJ’s Thanksgiving Play
“Daddy! Daddy! Guess what?” BJ shouted as she rushed towards Mick.
Mick scooped her up in his arms with ease. “What, Pumpkin?”
“I’m dressing up as the turkey in the Thanksgiving play!”
“That’s terrific! But I was hoping you would be a pumpkin.”
“Why?” BJ asked as her father set her down on her feet.
“Because I always call you Pumpkin. I thought maybe you could turn into one!” Mick smiled at his daughter.
“Oh, Daddy,” BJ laughed. Mick took her hand and they started to walk through the house to the kitchen where Beth was fixing BJ’s after school snack.
“Have you told your mother, yet?” he asked.
“Yep. She’s going to make my costume!”
“She is?” Mick said as he smiled at Beth with one raised eyebrow.
“Yes I am. If the other mothers can do it, so can I,” Beth said with confidence as she spread peanut butter on some apple slices and handed the plate to BJ.
“Can Uncle Josef come?” BJ asked as she chewed. “Teacher said we should invite our family.”
Mick tapped BJ on the nose with his finger. “I’m sure Uncle Josef will be delighted to come to your Thanksgiving play.”
A few days later BJ watched as Beth used her sewing machine to attach the colored tail feathers onto the body of the turkey costume. “Mommy? What are those?”
“Those are the feathers, sweetheart.”
“I don’t think it’s supposed to have those,” BJ said in a serious little voice.
“Of course it is,” Beth insisted. “You’re going to be a turkey aren’t you?” BJ nodded. “Well, turkeys have feathers.”
“But Mommy…” BJ protested.
“BJ, I need to get this finished,” Beth interrupted. “The dress rehearsal is tonight. Please go play quietly. There’s a good girl.” Beth shooed her out of the room and sat back down at her sewing machine.
After dinner they drove to the elementary school and walked BJ inside for the rehearsal. Beth couldn’t imagine why BJ seemed so mopey. Beth was very pleased at how the turkey costume had turned out.
“Excuse me, Mrs. St. John?” Beth turned and found herself facing BJ’s teacher.
“Ms. McKenzie, hello!”
“Um, there seems to have been a misunderstanding with BJ’s role in the play.”
Beth and Mick looked at each other in shock. “What? What do you mean? She told me she was playing the turkey.”
“BJ is playing the roasted turkey. Tommy over there is playing the live turkey,” she said while pointing across the room to a young boy in a turkey costume with a very colorful tail.
Beth looked bewildered. “I – I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“Didn’t you get the information sheet?” Ms. McKenzie asked.
“Information sheet?” Beth repeated. “What information sheet? I didn’t see one.”
The teacher sighed and knelt down by BJ, who was now clinging to Mick’s leg. “Bethany dear, do you remember my passing out a piece of paper to the whole class about the play?” BJ nodded solemnly. “And I told everyone to be sure and take it home to their parents?” BJ nodded again.
“Why didn’t you give it to me?” Beth questioned BJ. “I always ask you to bring me all the papers in your book bag as soon as you get home from school.”
“It wasn’t in my book bag,” BJ said simply.
The adults all exchanged glances. Mick looked down at his daughter. “Well, what did you do with it?” he asked gently.
“I put it in my coat pocket.” She reached into the pocket of her coat that was stretched over her turkey costume and pulled out a folded and crinkled piece of paper. “Here it is,” she said proudly and handed it to her mother.
Mick and Beth looked at each other and groaned. Beth tried to smooth out the paper so it was legible.
“Let me explain it to you,” the teacher said. “Instead of doing the usual Thanksgiving play with Indians and pilgrims and a feast, we decided to make it a lesson about where our food comes from. So we have the “before” food roles – like Tommy as the turkey, Sara as a corn stalk with all the ears of corn, Heather as a pea pod and Colin as a sweet potato.” Mick and Beth looked at each of the children as the teacher pointed to them. “And then these children here are some of the “after” foods. Creamed corn, candied sweet potatoes, a bowl of peas…and BJ is supposed to be the roasted turkey.”
Beth sighed. “So, no feathers.”
“I’m afraid not,” said Ms. McKenzie sympathetically.
“See Mommy? I told you it wasn’t supposed to have feathers.”
Beth smiled down at BJ. “Yes, honey you did. I should have paid more attention to you.”
“Do you think you can get it fixed by tomorrow’s performance?” the teacher asked.
“Yes, of course. I guess I’ll just have to, won’t I?” She looked at Mick and he smiled encouragingly.
“I’ll help take the feathers off,” he told her.
“BJ, next time Mommy asks you for your papers from school, please bring me ALL the papers your teacher gives you. Including the ones you put in your pocket.”
“Well, if you wanted the ones from my pocket, you should have asked if any were in my pocket, and not just my book bag,” BJ said logically.
The next night BJ’s family, including Uncle Josef, sat and watched as each of the foods said a line or two about how nutritious they were and walked offstage, followed by their cooked counterpart walking onstage to recite how they had been “prepared.” After all the side dishes had made their appearances, Tommy the live turkey gobbled out loud and walked offstage holding hands with a boy named Luis who was dressed as a roasting pan. The audience cheered when the roasting pan came back onstage holding hands with BJ, the roasted turkey and centerpiece of the Thanksgiving dinner. Mick, Beth and Josef smiled proudly and clapped the loudest.
“They really liked me, didn’t they?” BJ asked afterwards as they walked to the car.
“Yes, they sure did,” Mick answered.
“You were the best roasted turkey in the play!” Josef exclaimed as he scooped up BJ and swung her around in his arms.
“Uncle Josef!” BJ giggled. “I was the ONLY roasted turkey in the play!”
“Oh. So you were,” he said with a grin and set her on her feet.
BJ grabbed her mother’s hand and hugged her legs. “Mommy, thank you for fixing my costume. I know you worked hard on it. And I’m sorry I didn’t give you the important paper.”
Beth stopped walking and stooped down to hug BJ tightly. “Bethany honey, I’m sorry I snapped at you when I was making it. I’m happy I was able to make it turn out the way you wanted.” Beth’s voice cracked. “I’m just so thankful to have you here so I can make things for you.”
Mick picked up BJ as Beth stood and they had a group hug right there in the parking lot. “We don’t just count our blessings at Thanksgiving, Pumpkin. We are thankful for you every single day.”
The End
Cute and BJ just go together I think. 
What an adorable story, MLC! 
(And she totally sees through Uncle Josef's snarky comments, too.) 
Thanks for the surprise Memorial Day bump of a Thanksgiving story, Carol! Glad you liked it!
Bumping for Thanksgiving 2018! Love little BJ! 
