Here in the small town of Pelham, NY, a conflict has risen that’s sending many of the townsfolk into alarm and panic, and may leave everyone without a joyful and fulfilling Thanksgiving!
On the morning of November 21, just two days before Thanksgiving, Farmer Blake (The town’s famous farmer for corn, wheat, and turkeys) casually strolls out of his home to tend to his animals and crops, when he frighteningly discovers that the turkey pen door was unlocked, leading there to be no trace of any turkeys throughout the whole farm. Farmer Blake swears on his mother’s grave that he would never leave the turkey pen unlocked, for he recognizes that’s the only thing people in this town know him for.
“You know me and my turkeys dontcha?” Farmer Blake reports. “I love ‘em with my life. They keep me alive, for god’s sake! Everybody knows that.”
Farmer Blake states that every year, he always makes sure to take extra care of his beloved turkeys in the early days leading up to Thanksgiving, to make sure they’re “nice ‘n plump”. He also states that he has suspicion for ‘who don it”.
“Y’know that old lady, Janice? She’s had a grudge for me nearly thirteen years. I once told her that I didn’t fancy her homemade squash cookies, and bam. Grudge. She’s had it out for me, I’m telling ya.” Farmer Blake was then questioned how he thinks an elderly woman of nearly 90 years of age would be able to come all the way to his farm, 10 minutes away from any house or store, and unlock the turkey pen. To which he replies, “That woman can do some impossible things. She once beat me with her shoe when I was tiny because I fell into her flower bushes.” Reporters stopped asking Farmer Blake any further questions regarding Janice Brown.
Other townspeople also have their suspicions about the crime. Gloria Ackley, 40, replies with confidence, “I think it was that troublemaker of a boy, Jess. Jess Fernsby. Oh, he’s always getting into mischief around this town. Nobody can handle him. Last year he tried to rain on our annual Thanksgiving parade by releasing one of the fire hydrants on the streets. Thank the lord he was unsuccessful. Oh, I just can’t image a Thanksgiving without Turkey! It’s like having your morning tea without English muffins!”
It was found that many others had their reasons to believe that Jess Fernsby was the criminal in this case, for there have been many incidents of mischievous behavior surrounding Fernsby. Then investigators made the wise decision to confront the delinquent with these allegations.
“Nah, man, I heard about that. Kinda sucks, but I never really liked the turkey the best at dinner. Oh, yeah, I didn’t do it. I was at the park in the morning ‘cause I slept there overnight. Do you know how long it takes to go from the park to Blake’s farm? I’ll tell ya, 26 minutes and 16 seconds. I timed it. I woke up around 8 something, and right from there, I went straight to the deli. I swear, you can ask the worker, Benny. He knows me. You can ask him.”
Surprisingly, it turns out Fernsby was seen by Benny Detuns, the local deli owner, at the time that he stated. This rules out 2 suspects that have been identified. To say the least, many were stumped. The investigators decided to interview Farmer Blake one last time, and figured out something that was not previously stated.
Investigators questioned Farmer Blake if he had any rough relations with anyone recently to pick out people that might have been suspicious. Farmer Blake responds, “Well, recently my ex-wife, Laura, came to my farm ‘bout a week ago. No idea why, ‘cause the last time I saw her she said she was moving to Dubai with her newly rich fiance. Anyway, she weirdly asked me if I could show her around again. When I asked her why she just said, ‘Oh, I just miss the ol’ farm. I wanted to visit it again.’. Weird but whatever. So I show her around for like, I don’t know, ten minutes? Then she quickly sprinted out of there like she had somewhere important to be. I don’t know, I don’t think much of it.”
Ears definitely went up when this was heard.
With this new information on hand, the crew of reporters and investigators drove to Farmer Blake’s ex-wife’s house with high spirits. As they interviewed her, they noticed she was completely relaxed and responded honestly. The information gathered was this:
“You thought I would let out my own ex-husband’s turkeys? [laughs harshly] I hated those turkeys! Gobbling all over the place – used to wake me up in the morning. I wouldn’t ever go near them again. The only reason I went to the farm is ‘cause I needed some of those carrots Blake grows. If there’s one thing that he can do well, its growing them carrots.”
After further investigation, many were still certain that Farmer Blakes ex-wife was the culprit, even after her alibi.
Until Farmer Blake reported that he had just remembered he had outdoor surveillance cameras.
Investigators rapidly jumped on the case, while he fetched the monitor that controls the cameras. These cameras were extremely low quality, as for being on a farm, but it was still clear what was shown. What they saw on the cameras horrified yet fascinated those who were watching it.
This very video went extremely viral in an tremendously short period of time, while sending the whole town into hysterics, yet dissatisfaction with the final unravel of the suspicious surveillance.
The video contained the turkeys, gobbling louder than anyone had ever heard before. As the gobbles drowned out of the sound of silence, the herd of them jumped onto the pen lock, and ran out as fast as their stubby feathered legs could take them. To say that absolute least, this was shocking. All the suspects that have been interviewed and questioned slowly ruled out one by one, until the final outcome was the conflict itself.
Townsfolk were glad to have figured out and settled down the high stakes they were at, but this tragedy still left them without the main course of Thanksgiving dinner. Many reported that they couldn’t even imagine how a Thanksgiving feast would be presented without a Turkey to tie it all together.
This depression over the town seeped through everyone in it, affecting the joyous time of year. When all hope was lost, there was suddenly a reported sighting of a turkey at 2AM, Thanksgiving morning, holding what looked like a hand written sign. The very sign illustrated, “No Thanksgiving Feast without Representation”
Although this was a frightening sight to see, it notably shed light on the town of Pelham. The townsfolk became acquainted with the realization that perhaps the turkeys weren’t given enough credit. They thought that they didn’t give turkeys enough delineation, even though they were the center of attention at the dinner table. Nobody acknowledged them otherwise around the year, and the turkeys were upset and sick of this. In order to actually bring attention to themselves and their insightful strike, they figured the only way to get peoples attention was the strip away the townspeople’s time on the most important day of the year.
Despite the fact that this rebellious act left everyone in the town with no turkey on thanksgiving dinner, most didn’t mind that much. It let them see turkeys in a new light, a new perspective. Some could even relate with what the turkeys were striking about, and thought they weren’t getting enough representation from the work places around them.
In the year of 2023, in the small town of Pelham, Thanksgiving was much different than any other one. This should have been such a major disappointment for the townspeople, however, it illuminated the new point of view that they saw from, especially from the turkeys. Those turkeys of 2023 never did come back to their pen, but Farmer Blake stated that he’ll just ‘stir up some more with more representation’ next year. Everybody will be sure to give more acknowledgment towards turkeys all year round, while also learning a valuable lesson.
Plus, there’s always stuffing.