Gobble, Gobble

 

How time flies!  We're nearing the end of the year and Christmas will be here soon.  Once again, there's a lot of de-cluttering to be done, yes, even in a temple.  The nuns have a knack of keeping empty bottles and tins which they feel will come in "useful" one day but that one day never seems to come.   Head Nun was ladamant in throwing out these items for recycling this year, so now the kitchen looks cleaner and less congested.

Then one of the nuns brought out the old Christmas tree which has seen many Christmases with them in the temple.  It looked a little forlorn but a couple of nuns cleaned it up and soon it was as good as new. 

Last year, unknown to the nuns, our two ghost pals, HD and PH went out of their way to arrange presents for the nuns but this year, Head Nun very firmly told the two spooks "No more presents!". She said that the nuns are on a spiritual journey and should learn not to be attached to all things mundane.   So no more discussion on the subject, period.

Just when we thought that there would be no more excitement for the rest of the year, there came a big commotion from the coop one morning.  We rushed there and saw to our surprise that a turkey had found his way there and Bruce Lee was shouting his head off at the poor creature and trying to drive him away, but he refused to budge.  

"Look, my dear," said Head Nun, addressing the turkey.   "How can we help you?  Have you lost your way?"

The turkey shook his head.  "My name's Turkey Lurkey," he said.  "I'm not lost.  I ran away from a farm because I don't want to be carved up for Thanksgiving..."  and he burst into tears.

Touched, Head Nun said, "Alright, alright, you can stay here for the time being.  Bruce Lee, you could at least show some sympathy to this poor creature.  Give him a corner of your coop and treat him nicely."

Bruce Lee made some unintelligible noises and reluctantly told T.L. to follow him inside. As it turned out, T.L. became a great favourite with the hens, much to Bruce Lee's jealousy.  They loved listening to his stories after being tired of hearing Bruce Lee's "adventures" every other night and even kept a lookout for him in case his owner should come looking for him, which he did one morning.  

He was a big burly man with a moustache and you could tell he only cared for the money he could make out of his turkeys.  Head Nun had gone to visit a sick friend and was not expected back until the next morning.  In her absence, APK told him very sweetly that we had not seen any runaway turkey.  He looked at her suspiciously and threatened he would raid the coop if the nuns were hiding his turkey but APK, backed by her fellow nuns, stood firm and told him to get lost.

After he had gone, APK said to me thoughtfully, "Vege Cat, I think we should hide T.L. somewhere.  What if that horrible man does come back tonight and raid the coop?"

"Yes, you've got a point there," I said.  All the other nuns agreed that something should be done to save T.L. and since there was no higher authority to refer to, APK took the initiative to hide T.L. in the storeroom in the temple.  She gave him some food and water and told him to be quiet.  Fortunately nothing happened during the night and the next morning, after meditation, we prepared breakfast for Head Hun's return.

We had somehow forgotten about poor T.L. in the storeroom, busy as we were with our duties and when Head Nun returned and went to the storeroom to get something, we were startled to hear a loud shriek.  

"OMG .... T.L.!" gasped APK, dropping the bowl of oats she was carrying.

There was a hush as Head Nun returned to the kitchen.  She looked at the nuns, drew in a deep breath, then said, "I don't think it's my imagination but just now as I entered the storeroom, I not only saw a pair of beady eyes staring at me from the darkness but I also heard some weird sounds.  Now, perhaps one of you can tell me what's going on?"

Everyone looked at APK.  There was no escape for her and bowing her head low, she stammered an explanation and how T.L. came to be in the storeroom.  

Head Nun was silent for a moment, then said, "I should have known that you would be behind this farce.  Alright, I'm not going to scold or punish you, you did what you thought was a humanitarian act.  Just get T.L. out of there and put him back in the coop - NOW!"

APK fled to the storeroom, scooped up a frightened T.L. and was about to take him back to the coop when there came loud banging on the front door.  One of the nuns went to look, it was the burly farmer and he had two other men with him and the three of them forced their way into the kitchen.

"I knew it," the farmer yelled.  "They've got our turkey with them, give him back to us you no good thieves or I shall call the police!"

APK stood rooted to the spot, while a shivering T.L. started making funny gobbling noises.  It was of course Head Nun who saved the situation.

Diving a hand into her pocket, she took out some money, thrust it at the farmer and said calmly, "We've just bought your turkey.  He belongs to us now, so please leave."

The farmer was quite taken aback but he couldn't refuse the thick wad of money offered to him.  He snorted, called his friends and they left.

The silence in the kitchen after they had gone was electrifying.  Then APK suddenly shouted, "Three cheers for Head Nun, hip hip hurray, hip hip hurray, hip hip hurray!"  The other nuns started cheering and it was difficult even for an austere person like Head Nun to keep a straight face.

"Alright, enough!" she said.  "Why are you cheering?  If you think that was a good move on my part, my dear nuns, then you should know that I just gave away the money I was going to use to buy our meals this week.  So I'm afraid you all will have to eat plain white rice for the next few days, unless .... (and here she looked at T.L.) .... unless you want to have an early Thanksgiving ...."

The word "Thanksgiving" was like a time bomb for T.L.  Shrieking with fear, he struggled free from APK's arms and ran helter skelter towards the coop, calling for Bruce Lee to save him!  

Well, I'm so glad it's another happy ending.... now we have a new permanent addition to the coop and thanks to a generous devotee who gave us some tinned veg food, we didn't have to survive on rice and water until our next meal allowance.  Something tells me there's lots more excitement to come in the not too distant future ...