"Beware of man eating turkey. That's all I've got to say." Lizzie whispered the words as we walked up the steps to grandma's house.

"What do you mean?" I whispered back. "Lizzie, you're my sister but, honestly, sometimes you make no sense at all."

"If you'd been here last Thanksgiving you'd know what I'm talking about. Uncle Frank wasn't eating his dinner. He was inhaling it!"

"Uncle Frank? I thought he'd died."

"Died he did when, after shoveling mouthful after mouthful he choked on a piece of turkey. He went from white to purple in front of our eyes and dropped to the floor before we knew what was happening."

"Are you serious? Is that how he died?"

"Nope. He died on the way to the hospital when the paramedic looked the other way and good old Frank tried to swallow one more piece of turkey he'd stashed in his shirt pocket as he was wheeled from the dining room in the stretcher."

"So now…"

"Yep. That's what we tell the kids and grandkids to remind them to eat slow and chew their food before swallowing, 'beware of man eating turkey!'"

© 2007 G. Olmari. Original for CCF  (Olmari grants CCF  first electronic rights for one month; CCF may archive the material indefinitely and include it in an eBook anthology).