Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen
The story begins with some ironical facts about tradition of thanksgiving day and
its real origin. The story is about an anonymous old man and a person called Stuffy
Pete. Stuffy Pete used to sit in a fixed place every year and so being rewarded with a
feast of thanksgiving by an old man. But this time he was fed excessively with an old
family unexpectedly. He was passing by an old mansion whose owners had a
tradition of serving the first hungry person passing by. Stuffy Pete was sitting on the
same seat in his usual shabby and ragged clothes when the old man came to
celebrate his annual thanksgiving with Stuffy. The old gentleman was doing the same
every nine year by leading Pete to a restaurant and watching him eating a big dinner.
He was an old patriot man who was proud to continue the tradition with Pete and
tries to do so. The old man was very thin and skinny with old clothes and glasses. But
this time when the old man appeared Pete didn't get happy because he was stuffed
previously. The old gentleman greeted him in his usual very polite manner and made
some highly formal statements like official declarations but in a sad tone. The old
man was wishing to have a son to succeed him and the tradition. He was a lonely
poor old man without any relatives. He used to grow flowers in a greenhouse in the
winter, walk in the Easter Parade in the spring, live in a farmhouse in the summer and
feed Stuffy Pete in the fall. So as every time every year Pete accepted his generous
invitation to the nearby restaurant but not eagerly. He didn't want to disappoint the
old gentleman. They went to the very same diner, sat at the very same table and
ordered and tipped so. Pete started the feast bravely as a hero in spite of being
totally full. As he saw the happiness in old man's face he went on and finished the
dinner. Then he left the diner awkwardly and the old man paid and left too. After
getting parted as every year at the door, Stuffy Pete collapsed around the first corner.
An ambulance took him to the hospital because of eating too much. Meanwhile the
old man was taken to the hospital for a case near to starvation.