The Girl in Blue

30- The Girl Gives Thanks

Sutton

Thanksgiving has always been a fun day in my family. It's not a typical type of Thanksgiving because my parents are weird. A good weird. Like most families, we have a large dinner together but we make a whole day out of it. We don't just give thanks and honor the pilgrims and Christopher Columbus or anything like that.

My parents hate Christopher Columbus, actually. We celebrate the indigenous people that lived here before Christopher Columbus took over and demanded the land as his own. We give thanks to those who gave their life and we honor their traditions without stealing them as our own. We apologize for our white ancestors because they really treated native people like shit.

We don't dress up in indigenous wardrobe because we are not indigenous people but we read stories of brave native people from centuries ago and from recent history. We play darts with Christopher Columbus's head taped to the front. His eyes are the bullseyes.

I happen to be very good at darts and Jonah just so happens to suck.

"You didn't even hit his face," I tease him after he misses his third shot in a row. It's a good thing that we don't play on teams.

"Give him a break," My mom scolds me. "It's his first go at it. It's really in the wrist, Jonah, you can do it."

And so he tries again and his fourth dart doesn't even stick to the board, it just flops to the ground with a whole zero points.

"Alright, maybe you aren't very good," My mom concedes and then takes the four darts and goes for her turn as well. "I'll show you kids how it's done."

My dad brings out a steaming pot of coffee to refill our mugs and I thank him as he fills mine to the brim. It's sunny out today but chilly. A nice fall day without any snow or rain.

"So, Jonah, Sutton told us that you're an engineering major," My dad starts a conversation with Jonah as my mom completes her turn at the dart board.

"Yes sir. Civil engineering," Jonah confirms and he's on his best behavior, as he has been since we got to my house yesterday. He seemed just a little nervous about meeting my parents but I think he quickly realized how laid back they are and he's pretty relaxed now. He still has the manners of a rich old butler though, which is adorable.

"Like building bridges and shit?" My thirteen-year-old brother, Harrison, asks after taking a sip of his coffee, which is mostly just crème and sugar because he hates coffee.

"Well, not actually building them but designing them," He corrects Harrison.

My mom got Columbus right in the eye, the jugular, the nose, and the forehead. She's really racking up the points but Harrison is up next and he's always been the best at our demented dart board game so I'm sure he's about to wipe her out. I'm sitting on the couch with Lana and Jonah so my mom joins us, sitting in the chair beside the couch.

"That's really cool," My mom tells Jonah. "Richard and I are in literature. Math really isn't our thing."

"I already told him that you guys are professors," I inform her.

"Did you mention that we are professors at Brown? It sounds much more impressive," She corrects me.

"Yep, I did," I confirm with a nod. I think that it's really cool that my parents both teach at an Ivy League school. They're both very smart and passionate about what they do. It's been amazing, ever since I was little, to watch them study and teach because their eyes light up in the same way when they're doing what they love. So passionate.

"It explains the symbolism," Lana says. She's been quiet all day but I've been busy with Jonah so much that I haven't had time to ask her about that.