Stranger Giving

The day is Thanksgiving and Evan Waters is a young ticket agent who works at RDU airport and has nowhere to be. His family doesn’t connect like they used to during the holidays and all of his friends have gone out of town to visit their families. Working next to him is an elderly woman by the name of Estelle. She has been a ticket agent for RDU for nearly 40 years.

“So how has your first week at RDU been treating you Evan?” Estelle asked in a polite tone. “It’s been goin’ pretty good, Ms. Estelle.” Evan replied. “Oh don’t you start that Ms. Estelle mess with me. You make me sound old and I ain’t old.” Estelle said jokingly. “I’m sorry.” Evan began with a laugh. “I’ll try to be nicer considering that you’re the only friend I’ve made here in a week.” Estelle smiled as they both continued checking in the incoming travelers. “Well Evan my boy it’s almost the evening and we’re close to being off for the next couple days so we can enjoy the holiday and eat good.” “Well, I don’t know about that.” said Evan with a joyless smile.

“What do you mean?” Estelle asked curiously. “Well my family has had a lot going on in the past few years, so we’re not particularly close nowadays, so I guess I’ll probably have a date with pizza or Chinese food for the holiday.” Estelle took a quiet pause and her heart felt sorrow for Evan. As Estelle continued checking in guest she couldn’t help but think about how bad she felt for Evan. She thought about how many unfair times in her life, but was always granted a happy holiday no matter how little she had. “Evan.” Estelle began. “I wanna invite you to have thanksgiving dinner with me and my family tonight.”

Evan was surprised and taken aback by Estelle’s offer. “You…you want me to come have dinner with you and your family for the holiday?” Evan asked. “Yes, my dear. Why not?” She asked with a laugh. “Well, not that I don’t appreciate the offer but, you just met me. How do you know I’m not a psychopath or a crazy person’’. “Well Evan my boy, I know you’re a crazy person, because me and my family are the best cooks in the world and if you turn down the best thanksgiving dinner you’ll ever have with us for pizza and Chinese takeout you have to be crazy. Evan and a few onlookers laughed in agreement before Evan gave Estelle a hard look. “You know what, Estelle? I think I will join you.” Evan agreed.

Estelle was overjoyed that Evan had agreed to join her. By 5:00 p.m. Evan and Estelle departed the airport and got in their cars as Evan followed Estelle to her family home. When they arrived at Estelle’s house Evan was greeted by the site of a large and beautiful home. He had never seen a home that looked so amazing and it made him even more grateful that had agreed to come. When they got out of their cars Evan accompanied Estelle up the stairwell of her home with his arm around hers. “You have a beautiful home here, Estelle.” Evan said in amazement. “Yep, and I have a crazy family to go with it.” Estelle replied.

When Estelle opened the door her and Evan walked in and were greeted by the site of Estelle’s big and busy family. She had two daughters and two sons, all of which had children of their own. Her husband was there and they were all joined by Estelle’s sister and brother who also had children and grand children, the house was packed. Everyone was helping get set up for dinner as Estelle introduced Evan to everyone.

“Y’all crazies gather around and come say hello to the guest I was tellin’ you about.” Estelle said aloud. “Everyone this is Evan and Evan this is the psych ward, also known as my crazy big family.” Everyone introduced themselves to Evan individually with no the warmest greetings and they were all very happy to have him. “Dinner is just about ready, Evan.” said Estelle’s husband James. “Follow me into the kitchen and we’ll get you a seat.” As Evan followed James and the rest of the family into the kitchen the sight that met his eyes was astonishing.

The kitchen was huge and the dinner table stretched what looked like a mile long. Estelle’s husband James and son Michael lead Evan to his seat as he was joined by the rest of the family. As they all sat down Estelle proceeded to say grace. “Heavenly Father, Lord God we thank you for blessing us all to be here together enjoying this holiday as one and pray that you blessed this amazing food to our bodies and in your son Jesus Christ name we pray, amen.” “Amen!” everyone else said in agreement.

The table was packed with enough food to feed an army. There was turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy, candied yams, green beans, stuffing, collard greens, green beans, sweet potato pie and banana pudding, among other goodies. Everyone got their plates and started digging in, with Evan following suit. “So Evan.” James began. “Estelle tells me you’re new to North Carolina?” “Yes sir, I am.” Evan responded respectfully while eating. “I moved here from Tennessee and just started at RDU a little over a week ago.” “How you likin’ it so far?” Estelle’s daughter Janis asked.

“It’s actually going good.” Evan started. “I like being a ticket agent because I like being around airport life.” “That sounds a lot like mom.” Estelle’s son Richard began. “She always loved being around airport life as well. Even though you guys just met she told us a lot about you in this past week.” “That’s funny.” Evan replied. “We just met, but she is very interactive, that’s why I like her a lot.” Estelle looked over at Evan with a smile. “Well if you want you can take her off my hands because drives me crazy.” James joked as everyone laughed. “I really appreciate you all having me.” Evan said with a smile. “I know we all just met, but when I first moved here Estelle really made me feel welcome and that means a lot because I don’t have a lot of family around, aside from a few other in town friends. Everyone acknowledged a Evan with a silent collective smile.

“You all have really made me feel like family and I appreciate you.” Evan concluded. “This can be your family too, Evan.” Estelle replied. “And anytime you wanna join us for any holiday or occasion you are more than welcome here.” Evan held Estelle’s hand with a smile knowing that this woman who was once a stranger to him had now become a new family friend for which he was thankful to have.