Elsewhere(40)

"No," Betty agrees and laughs. "So, who's next, Liz? Maybe you'd like to invite a retired ax murderer?"

"I'll see if I can find one." Liz laughs, too. "Say, do we even have those here?"

As on Earth, or at least in the United States, Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday.

Aldous and Rowena Ghent arrive first, followed by Thandi and Shelly, who bring pies, and Paco in a turkey suit to commemorate the occasion.

The last to arrive is Owen Welles. He spent the morning inventing good reasons to cancel (septictank explosion? emergency at work?). At the last possible moment, he decides to go anyway.

These days, he has a bit of free time on his hands, having been suspended for a month on account of the sweater dive. He brings a potted plant for Liz's grandmother.

Aside from the presence of dead people, Thanksgiving on Elsewhere is like Thanksgiving pretty much anywhere else they celebrate it. While she loves holidays, Betty doesn't love cooking. She has the meal catered, coincidentally from the same diner Owen usually went to for the special.

Betty serves cranberry sauce (canned and homemade), potatoes (mashed and sweet), cornbread stuffing, gravy, small yeasty rolls, green bean casserole, stuffed mushrooms, Thandi and Shelly's four pies (apple, pecan, pumpkin, and sweet potato), and tofurkey (which is a vegetarian turkey substitute and definitely an acquired taste).

Betty pours large tumblers of white wine for everyone. Although Liz has had wine before, it is the first time she has ever been served wine by Betty and it makes her feel grown-up somehow.

After the wine is poured, Betty says, "I'd like to make a short toast." She clears her throat, "Well, we've all had to travel a long way to get here." She pauses.

"Hear! Hear!" Aldous says.

"I'm not finished yet," Betty says.

"Oh, excuse me," Aldous apologizes. "I thought you said a short toast."

"Not that short," Betty protests.

"And you did pause," Aldous adds.

"It was for effect!" Betty exclaims.

Rowena Ghent says, "It would have been lovely at that length, though."

"I like short toasts actually," Thandi says. "Some people go on and on. Life's short, you know."

"And death's about the same length," Owen says.

"Was that a joke?" Liz asks him.

"It was," Owen says.

"Hmm," Liz says after a moment's reflection, "not bad."

Owen winks at Liz. "If you have to think about a joke that long, it usually means "

Betty clears her throat very loudly and begins again. "We've all had to travel a long way to get here." She pauses, and no one interrupts her this time. She looks down the table at Rowena, Aldous, and Owen on her right, and Liz, Shelly, and Thandi on her left. She looks under the table, where Paco and Sadie have their own plates. Sadie's stomach growls.

"Sorry," Sadie barks.

"I can't remember what I wanted to say anyway. Let's just eat," Betty says with a laugh.

Shelly raises her glass. "Let's toast to laughter," she says. "That's what we always used to toast to at our grandfather's house."

"Oh, that's lovely!" Rowena says. "To laughter!"

"To laughter and forgetting!" Liz adds with a mischievous grin in Betty's direction.

"To laughter and forgetting!" the table choruses. The other guests raise their glasses. Liz takes a small sip of her wine. She thinks it is bitter and sweet at the same time. She takes another small sip and decides it is actually more sweet than bitter.

After everyone has finished eating and passed into the traditional postmeal coma, Owen offers to help Liz with the dishes.

"You wash, I'll dry," Liz tells him.

"But washing's the hard part," Owen protests.

Liz smiles. "You said you wanted to help.You didn't specify dry."

Owen rolls up his left sleeve and then his right one. Liz notices a tattoo on his right forearm. It is a large red heart with the words "Emily Forever" inside it.

"I didn't know you'd be like that." His voice has a mischievous lilt.

"Like what?"

"The type of person who'd stick a guy with all the washing," he says.

Liz watches as he removes his wedding band, placing it carefully on the edge of the sink. She is still getting used to the notion that someone of Owen's age, seventeen, could be married. Of course, on Elsewhere, this is relatively commonplace.

Liz and Owen soon achieve a satisfying rhythm of washing and drying. Owen whistles a tune as he washes. Although Liz is not exactly a fan of whistling, she finds Owen's whistling, if not pleasant, tolerable. She likes the whistler, if not the whistling itself.

Several minutes of whistling later, Owen turns to Liz, "I'm taking requests."

"Owen, that's a really nice offer, but the thing is" Liz pauses "I don't really like whistling."

Owen laughs. "But I've been whistling for like ten minutes. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well, I was already a person who would stick a person with washing; I didn't want to be a person who would stick a person with washing and not let him whistle."

"Maybe you'd prefer if I hummed?"