WE GATHER TOGETHER by Edward L. Woodyard

We Gather Together Chapter Seventy-One

Scott McCulloch knew well that it had been a tradition in the McCulloch family for more years than anyone could remember that Thanksgiving wasn't just another meal; it was a special occasion to be honored and respected. There had been an unwritten rule that men would wear a coat and tie and that women would wear a skirt. It was a sign of respect to the meaning of the holiday itself and a way to honor its importance to family. Much of that tradition had been enforced by Aunt Emma in her self-imposed role as family matriarch, but it was also something with which both Julia and Sam agreed. Sam's father Peter McCulloch had been instructed by his father that there would be "no naked shirtsleeves at the table." At the very least, a jacket was required for the men, while Julia later assented to women wearing dress pants, but no jeans.

At Thanksgiving eight years ago, Scott showed up half-drunk; but by the time the family was ready to sing the hymn before the meal, Scott was slurring his way through the words – after refusing to put on a tie when it was time to sit for dinner. He said he had already "tied one on." Nobody at the table thought he was being funny; Drew saw how awkward it was for his parents and tried to get Scott to settle down. He reminded Scott that there was enough tension this Thanksgiving since the family was being sensitive to Jack. It was Jack's first holiday without his family, his father having died of cancer and his mother and sister having been killed in the auto accident five days later.

But Scott was only being sensitive to his own torment by overpouring his wine glass. As Sam began to anger, Julia and Annie cautioned him to let Drew handle it. Scott then blurted out to his father, "The reason I am such a failure is to show everyone else that you're not as great a man as you think you are."

Sam seethed. When he finally told Scott that he could leave the table, it was Aunt Emma who stopped Scott from tearing up his place card and chugging the last of his wine. She told Scott to hand over his car keys, which he did to Drew who had reminded him of what happened to Doug Lundgren. At Julia's instruction, Drew led Scott into the den to sleep it off on the couch.

The one most negatively affected by everything that happened was Ben. Scott turned to him as he was being led into the den and said, "Sorry you had to see this, little brother."

It was Drew and Jack who heard Scott sneak out through the front door. Sam was now livid – and hurt. In a family history that J.J. had written long ago, he said that the McCullochs were "quick to rile and quick to pardon." Julia reminded Sam of that credo when he got up from the table to go after Scott; however, Drew and Jack again interceded. "Dad, Jack and I have got this," Drew told Sam, "We'll get him home. He won't remember anything in the morning."

To which, Sam declared, "But we all will."

After Drew and Jack got Scott into Drew's new vintage Mustang, Drew handed Jack the keys to Scott's Corvette to follow him back to Scott's apartment over the auto repair shop in town.

But Scott jumped out of Drew's car and yelled at the house, "Fuck you, Dad!"

Everyone at the dining room table heard Scott's invective and wanted to see how Sam would react. Sam chose to ignore it, instead calmly asking, "Would someone please pass the rolls?"

At that point, Julia remembered that the rolls were still in the oven. "I always forget the rolls."

Julia rose from the table and rushed into the kitchen to get them. Everyone still at the table could hear Julia crying by the oven. When Emma pushed her chair back, it was Annie who went to console her mother. Emma was alone at the table with Sam and Ben; no one said a word. Emma got up, "All that time and effort and sacrifice and love, and this is what happens."

Emma may have been talking about the dissolution of the meal, but Sam heard it as the dissolution of his relationship with his eldest son.

Ben stared at his father, "May I be excused, please, Dad?"

Sam couldn't even answer Ben and just nodded. Sam stared at the clay figurines of Squanto and William Bradford that Scott had made in kindergarten. Emma didn't need to say what Sam was thinking.

Ben left the table and slowly went step-by-step upstairs to his room. Emma then pushed back from her seat and proceeded into the kitchen to tend to her sister and the rolls.

Sam sat at the head of the table and tried to stop his lower lip from quivering. When he heard the two cars drive out of the driveway, he rose from the table. He went to the front window and saw the rear left-turn signal lights of both cars flicker and then watched the two cars turn onto Pleasanton Road toward town, their headlights strobing through the thicket of tall spruces lining the road.

Julia exited the kitchen with a basket of fan tan rolls and saw a table with no one sitting at it. She put the rolls on the table and joined her husband at the front window. When Emma and Annie returned to the dining room from the kitchen, Julia motioned Sam into the den. They held onto each other and cried into each other's shoulder. They both knew that their eldest son was in very deep trouble and there was nothing they could do about it.

After Drew and Jack returned from Scott's apartment, the family finished its Thanksgiving dinner quietly. They didn't even tell the Sarah Harris McCulloch story that year. Instead, Aunt Emma told about her trip to Africa and how she had photographed two lions mating on the Serengeti. She thought it would bring some needed humor to the table, but her attempt at levity fell flat when Julia shot her a stern look and Emma evaded any criticism by replying, "Julia, let me help you clear the dishes," which allowed everyone to get up from the table and take their half-eaten desserts into the kitchen.

When Julia spotted Scott's place card still on the table, she told herself then that there would always be a place for him at the family Thanksgiving table. He may want to leave the family, but she would make sure that the family did not leave him.