Read along for a Thanksgiving day tale of friendship, exploring cultures, and a hint of romance.
by Bailey Matteson and Kaitley Petersen
“Come on Olive, we are going to be late!” My sister says as her black boots anxiously tap against our apartment floor. I can practically see the excitement beaming off her. After all, today is her favorite day of the year, Thanksgiving. In her words, the day of “the most magical, extraordinary parade in all of New York,” the Macy’s Day Parade. “Oh don’t worry so much sis, the parade starts at 8:30 every year. We will be just fine.” I tell her with a laugh. She sighs and agrees as she throws on a bright red scarf and beret, topping off her soft turquoise sweater.
“Here Oliver, put this on quickly. Mom said it’s chilly outside.” She tosses me my new grey sweater, the one that apparently perfectly complements my warm brown hair. I was never one to care about fashion, but I do care about feeling warm on a cold November day, especially in the city. After I’m dressed, I follow Hazel out to the kitchen where my mom wishes us goodbye. “Enjoy the parade kiddos. Love you lots! Oh, and be back by 12 for Thanksgiving lunch. I should have all this prepared by then.” She looks exhausted as she points to the countertop filled with pies, turkey, casseroles, and all sorts of yummy looking dishes.
“Thanks momma, we love ya too. Now, we gotta go so we make it on time.” Hazel yells, already at the door. My mom and I look at each other, smiling. My little sister Hazel is only seven, but she is the most bubbly, excited, and punctual person that I know. I rush after Hazel, who is already running down the stairs towards the lobby.
Once we race down the stairway, a chill fills the air. The city is bustling with families bundling together for the parade, crowds of shoppers hurrying through the square, and a jingle of Christmas music softly plays in the background.
“Oh I love this time of year! Eeeeeeee! Let’s go sit in our usual spot. It’s the perfect view of the Snoopy float!” Hazel squeals, her rosy cheeks lighting up with joy. I follow my sister carefully, she’s the most precious person in the world to me. Being in the crowd of parade watchers always makes me nervous to lose her.
Once we settle in, my sister starts telling me all about her favorite floats. “Don’t you just love the turkey, it’s the most iconic float in the entire parade. Oh and Snoopy is just adorable. I wonder what he’ll be dressed as this year. Someone told me he’ll be an astronaut, but I don’t know, it could honestly be anything. Well, Santa is also up there for me. I love how his jolly old soul finishes the parade off… Maybe there will also be a–”
“Watch out Hazel. You’re going to bump into some-!” I try to grab my sister and stop her from spinning and jumping from enthusiasm, but it’s too late. Her little elbow bumped right into the two girls next to us. “Sorry, my sister gets really excited about this parade. We’ve been going to it since she was 2 and I was 8.”
The two girls turn around and smile sweetly. They both are dressed in long pink and blue dresses with the same dark black hair, gold jewelry, and sapphire blue eyes. The younger one toys around with a dragon necklace around her neck, “Oh that’s alright, I love an excited little one. The world needs more joy.” She smiles cheerfully at Hazel. “What’s your name cutie?” Hazel being the bubbly personality that she is, begins to rattle off our whole life story. “So, what are your names?” I butt in, hoping to learn more about them.
This time the older one responds, “I am Kylie and this is my sister Mia. We just moved here from Japan. It’s our first day in the city.” She says, shyly. “What?! You mean this is your first Macy’s Day Parade?! Oh, you will love it! There’s the Rockettes, they’re doing a nutcracker dance this year. Then, Snoopy, Hello Kitty, and Pichaku are most of the kids’ favorites. Also, there is a ginormous turkey, which is like the staple of the parade.” Hazel says, bursting with joy as the first float comes by.
(Shift in perspectives to Kylie)
“I knew it would be an astronaut!” Oliver’s little sister bursts with excitement as a white dog with black tinted ears floats by. “I’m guessing that’s-” I try to ask the boy next to me, Oliver, his name still somehow a foreign challenge for me to try to say. He looks back at me, his blue eyes such a wonderful ocean I can’t help but want to swim in them. My cheeks feel warm as I press my hands against them. “That’s Snoopy,” Oliver says. I nod, pretending I knew what he was talking about.
Oliver seems to understand my oblivion and in all honesty I hadn’t done very well hiding it. “I know, back in Japan me and my sister didn’t do much TV, we much preferred to be outside,” I tell him. He smiles as another float comes by, but this time I actually knew who was floating by and Mia did too.“Pikachu!” My little sister bursts as she runs to follow it. “Mia!” I scream after her, but luckily she only made it to the edge of the sidewalk before turning back to me.
“Pikachu's her favorite, well Pokémon is her favorite.” I try to tell Oliver as his little sister Hazel stares in dumbfounded amazement. I didn’t know how I was going to explain the real reason Mia got so excited. Mia simply turned to me, her eyes a gentle storm with a dozen waves still crashing underneath the surface. “They’re flying,” she whispers. I sigh, “What’s flying?” Hazel asks. So much for a new start, I thought as I slouched down preparing for imminent embarrassment. Oliver seemed to understand my pain and luckily came to my rescue, “Hey we’re having Thanksgiving lunch at my mom’s later if you want to come join us. It’s after the parade.”
His kind offer made my heart flip upside down. I would have said yes in a heartbeat if I hadn’t had a promise to keep. I turn to Mia then back at him, his blue eyes still so inviting that what I was about to say would be the end of me. “Sure,” I say with a smile. I almost couldn’t believe my own mouth and Mia knew my dishonesty; she could sniff it. When she didn’t give me her vaporous glare of scolding me for lying, I froze in disbelief . Her twinkling eyes caught mine and she winked like she knew what I had done.
I turned back to Oliver, “What time?” I ask. “Oh I’m… well it’s after the parade. I don’t know, we should probably start heading there around 12 ish. Does that work for you?” He says. I nod, “That works for me,” I tell him. “Good,” He smiles.
“Great,” I responded. His eyes met my necklace and as an automatic response, my hand made a fly to cover it. He seemed to understand my hesitation and didn’t ask, which I thanked the stars for, as that was a whole other can of worms I was not ready to get into.
We went back to watching the parade. The nutcracker dance was happening now which meant that the parade was halfway over. Mia seemed to have acquainted and adjusted to the environment sitting with Hazel as they marveled at the floats and I stood standing with Oliver.
I sighed, today had not gone at all how I expected it to. We were only supposed to tour the city and meet Aunt Mai later for the holiday. I was supposed to watch my little sister like a hawk but that didn’t exactly turn out to be what happened; instead we got lost, which figures, and bumped into the kindest New Yorkers on the planet. Oliver and Hazel seemed safe to be around, which for me and Mia in this city meant a lot. And how bad could a Thanksgiving lunch be? Right?
“Here come the last two floats!” Hazel says with glee as Mia laughed in excitement. The next floats were normal like the other ones we’ve seen. “Oh here comes the turkey,” Oliver points out the most significant aspect of the entire parade as it makes its way down the road in its inflated glory. It was even better than how Hazel had first described it. Gigantic in size, it created a large shadow that covered the sun and everyone else in darkness.
As the closing procession played the last few notes of the farewell melody, in just 10 short minutes the parade had finally come to an end. Well, efficient as always, the parade ended at 11:30.
“We still have some time to show you around the city more if you want,” Oliver offered. I somersaulted inside my heart, but as I looked up to the sky, my hopes of extra time with him dashed. The wind picked up speed like currents ready to sink a ship in a storm and its threatening gusts reached for the red beret on Hazel's sweet head and stole it from above. It flew off in a catapulting instant.
(Shift back to Oliver’s perspective)
“Oh noooooo!” Hazel cries out as her beret is launched across the crowded sidewalk. I immediately made a run for it. I know it’s just a hat, but that hat is my sister’s everything. Kylie rushes to my side, “I’ll help you, let’s go,” she blushes.
Hazel bumps my side, “She likes youuuuu,” She says in a teasing voice. “Shh Hazel, don’t embarrass her, that's not nice. “I gently tug her scarf as my cheeks flush. We begin our trek after the beret, running frantically throughout the city. That stinking wind makes us chase the beret past subway stations, the shopping square, and finally to a dark stairwell, where Mia is already at the top. Triumphantly, she holds up the hat with a knowing smile.
“Wait a turkey-gobbling minute!” Hazel gasps. “How did you know my hat would wind up here?” I cut in, “And wait, how did you know this was our apartment?” Mia shrugs, “I followed your hat.” I look at Kylie and we both shake our heads in disbelief.
I step up to the door and knock loudly. My mom instantly greets us with a warm grin. We step in, ladies first of course and are surrounded with a swirling scent of pumpkin, cinnamon, and apple crisp. “Well hello there friends! You two sure brought home some gorgeous girls.” My mom says, winking at me.
I look over and the girls blush. Hazel giggles, “We had the best time at the parade mom and we met Kylie and Mia. They are like the best people ever. They’re from Japan and they do the coolest things ever mom. They don’t even watch TV there.”
I show the girls to the table and my mom begins to pass around the plentiful dishes of sweet and savory foods. As I fix up a plate for Hazel, I catch Kylie beaming with delight in the corner of my eye. “What?” I ask her gently. “Oh nothing,” she blushes. “It’s just you guys are both so sweet with each other.” I smile, “She’s my sister, she’s like my whole world,” I say, passing over a plate stacked with turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie - all of her favorites.
Mia and Hazel tell my mom all about the wondrous parade floats. My mom nods along as she usually does during Hazel’s rambling sessions. However, I notice she periodically steals a glance over at me and Kylie with a slight grin on her face. Hazel gives me a kooky grin, “Oh will you two just kiss already?” Kylie and my faces immediately turn as red as the cherry pie decorating the table. But I could never be mad at her for embarrassing me, she is just a ball of pure sweetness and innocence. And I think to myself, this is what Thanksgiving is all about. Making new friends, keeping traditions, gathering together in celebration, and making new memories. “So,” I say to Kylie. “Yeah,” she whispers shyly. “This was a perfect Thanksgiving. Can’t wait for Christmas?” I ask boldly. Kylie gives me the brightest smile I’ve ever seen, “We’ll see,” she winks.