The Planet Thanksgiving

Nathaniel has finally turned three! He continues to explore the cosmos, fighting boredom and learning new things.

Nathaniel and his crew explore a remote area on the planet Redilum 3, cataloging the great biodiversity there. He fishes for daggertails, aquatic creatures that live on many planets. They can be fish-like, reptile-like, shrimp-like, flatworm-like, or chiton-like, yet with the same superficial anatomy. Before he can leave, he is bitten by a Komodo-like animal. The toxic infection spreads, slowing him down while the creature relentlessly plods along behind him, intent on eating him once he can no longer fight back. With help from Haticat, Fred, and Doctor Bill, he makes it back to his ship and the antidote.

Next, Nathaniel and his crew discover a low-gravity moon covered in yellow ferns and other yellow vegetation. It is home to ribbon-like snakes that glide in the low gravity. The snakes turn out to be very nice and want to be friends. Fred is scared at first but learns that not all snakes are scary and to give all beings a chance.

Next, Nathaniel and his crew land in a forest on planet Loy where they come across a Bear in a trap and rescue it. Continuing to the nearby village of Humans, they learn that the Humans and Bears have been hunting each other and neither race realized that the other was sentient. The explorers negotiate peace and teach both races to be more careful about whom they hunt.

They also learn that these Humans and Bears are not migrants from Earth, but are native to Loy. They are independent creations of Y, who often repeated itself. Many races have multiple homeworlds.

Heading to the southern polar regions of Loy, the boys explore the great taiga, home of the arboreal, tinsel octopi. There they also encounter the fuzzobbles, velvety, mammal-like creatures who try to steal from them. Even further south are the giant termite mounds of the tundra.

In one of the cities of Loy, a group of Human kids plays on a set of escalators in an abandoned building as they have for years. No one knows who built such a fun playground. Nathaniel and his crew investigate and find that adults built them for purposes other than fun (they were too lazy to walk up and down the stairs). The other boys are skeptical that adults could ever have the creativity to design such a thing, but Nathaniel proves it when he finds the blueprints.

Leaving planet Loy, they eventually land on planet Fanklet. It too is heavily forested. While exploring a cave, the explorers fall into a deep pit with slippery, smooth, vertical sides. They must build wheels and roll back and forth to gain enough momentum to escape, after which they must still do a lot of climbing and long-distance jumping, since they can’t escape the same way that they entered. While trapped, they meet the slow, barely-sentient creepy-crawlies, which cling to the sides of the cave. They are fluorescent white, transparent, and between four and sixteen centimeters long. Many have trunks, ears, tails, and numerous legs and/or toes. They are covered in odd bumps or scales. Each is unique. The boys also find a room with tiny rocks that make soft, high-pitch sounds when dropped. They make experimental music.

Visiting one of the few deserts on Fanklet, Nathaniel and his crew enter a giant Segway race. They like racing. Beings from all over the galaxy, including Stegosaurs, Meekons, Heltas, and Humans are there. A group of boys encourages Nathaniel to cheat in the next race, but he finds that without a challenge, racing is less fun. He is declared the winner, but he knows he technically didn’t win. It means nothing to him. He admits to cheating and declares second-place to be the real winner. He promises never to cheat again.

Finding an unnamed airless planet, Nathaniel and his crew put on suits and walk the surface. They soon find shiny, spider-like animals with hair-thin legs as long as six meters. With no air, there is no wind to blow them away.

Next, the boys enter a binary star system. A white dwarf star orbits a red giant star. Nine planets circle the two of them. As they pass through, they encounter what scans confirm is a giant burrito about one kilometer long. It is still warm in the middle. They follow it to the diminutive first planet, where there are living mountains. One mountain splits open and the burrito is swallowed into the deep chasm. After some inquiry and investigation, the crew discovers that these beings are fed by farming robots on the second planet, who assemble the burritos in orbit, microwave them, and shoot them toward the first planet. It is a strange system.

Next, the boys visit a space station orbiting a red dwarf star. It is a Candy Wizard outpost where they sell gum. Nathaniel gets into a fight with some girls who have found a way to weaponize it. The girls are very stupid, superstitious, talk in incomplete sentences, and talk all at once. They stick gum in his feathers and he sticks it in their hair. The adults scold Nathaniel, but the girls escape in their playpen-like spaceships.

After landing on the autumn side of an Earth-like planet unknown to them, Nathaniel, Haticat, Fred, and Doctor Bill exit their ship in search of food. Soon, they discover a large building with duck-billed Hadrosaurs walking into it. They enter into the great hall through the thirteen-meter-tall doorway. Inside are two long dining tables laden with food. Above burn oil-filled chandeliers, flames roaring. The wooden walls smell of cedar, cinnamon, and bay berry. At one table sits only adults and at the other sits only children.

An adult blocks their path. “Welcome to planet Thanksgiving. I am Wizard Bob. What are you thankful for?”

Nathaniel gives Wizard Bob a blank stare. “What’s thankful?”

“It’s when you like something that you have, so you give thanks for it,” Wizard Bob explains.

“I don’t think I have any thanks; I’m new to the planet. What is it?” Nathaniel replies.

“You give thanks by saying thank you,” Wizard Bob clarifies.

“Oh, that’s easy; I can do that,” Nathaniel says. This is an unusually patient adult to answer two questions in a row. This must be a nice planet, Nathaniel concludes.

“So, what are you thankful for?” Wizard Bob asks again.

Nathaniel thinks. “I haven’t thanked anyone in a long time. I usually get everything myself. Sometimes I buy stuff, but the stores only give me things because I use money to make them do it. My friends helped me fight a monster a while ago, but they had to anyways because it attacked all of us together at the same time,” Nathaniel recounts.

“That all counts. Praise Y, creator of the universe!” Wizard Bob exclaims.

“Y? What does Y have to do with it?” Nathaniel asks.

“Y helped you fight a monster,” Wizard Bob says.

“No, I never saw Y. My friends helped me,” Nathaniel corrects.

“Y gave you friends,” Wizard Bob says.

“No, I picked them up on planet Gruezhe,” Nathaniel corrects.

“Y created the whole universe, including Gruezhe and your friends. Thank Y!” Wizard Bob loudly proclaims.

“That means Y created everything bad in the universe too,” Nathaniel protests.

“It still made everything good that you like, want, and need,” Wizard Bob counters.

“But it also made me with wants and needs. I wouldn’t need anything if I didn’t exist, so fulfilling my needs is only fair. There’s nothing to thank Y for. I don’t understand,” Nathaniel explains.

“Thank Y for giving you life!” Wizard Bob exclaims.

“Why?” Nathaniel asks.

“Do you want to die?” Wizard Bob asks, scowling and stepping closer to the four boys.
Nathaniel steps back. “No,” he answers.

“Then thank Y!” Wizard Bob says.

“I don’t want to die only because I’m already alive, but if I was dead or never existed, I wouldn’t care either way,” Nathaniel says, starting to become frustrated with the pointlessness of the conversation. He considers walking away.

“By being alive, you are able to experience good things,” Wizard Bob says.

“By being alive, I am also able to experience bad things,” Nathaniel says.

“Y could have created the universe much worse than it is, with even more bad things. Thank Y,” Wizard Bob says, starting to seem a little tired.

“No!” Nathaniel yells defiantly.

“If you don’t thank Y, you aren’t allowed to eat,” Wizard Bob says.

Nathaniel thinks it over. The ship is almost out of food and the next-nearest planet with carbon-based life is more than two hundred sixty light-years away. “Thank you, Y.”

“Thank him for what?” Wizard Bob asks.

Nathaniel thinks for a long time. “For oxygen?” he finally says.

“Hmm…okay,” Wizard Bob says, “Come in and eat.”

The boys find four seats near each other at the kids’ table away from any girls. Robots continually replace foods that are eaten. “Hi,” Haticat greets the boys nearby.

“Hi,” a boy replies.

“We’re new on the planet Thanksgiving,” Haticat says.

“What kind of a food is this?” Fred asks, pointing at large, twisted gourds placed in groups along the long table. Some are striped. Some are plaid. Some are over two meters tall.

“We don’t eat those,” the boy answers, “Those are for decoration.”

Nathaniel reaches for a slice of hot apple pie topped with what he later learns is spiced pumpkin ice cream. He picks up a spoon. “Don’t eat that yet,” the boy warns, “Dessert is for after dinner.”

“What do we eat first?” Nathaniel asks.

“First course is mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy, except I don’t eat the peas or the gravy because I don’t like them. Second course is bread, cheese, and pickles. Third course is meat and stuff. Fourth course is sweets,” the boy explains.

“There’s an eating order?” Fred asks.

“It’s the rules on planet Thanksgiving,” the boy affirms.

“Do you have pizza on this planet?” Nathaniel asks.

“No, only certain foods are allowed, not pizza,” the boy says.

Nathaniel enjoys three types of mashed potatoes and three types of gravy. He drinks white grape juice and cranberry juice. Then he tries some strong wheat bread and places a piece of sharp cheddar in it. “Don’t put different foods together!” an adult warns, walking up behind him.

“I’m just making a sandwich, so it’s a new food,” Nathaniel explains.

“Sandwiches are not for Thanksgiving! Sandwiches are illegal. Only gravy can be combined with other foods,” the adult says before walking away, not watching Nathaniel to ensure compliance.

Nathaniel returns to eating, enjoying pickled cucumbers, pickled onions, pickled green beans, pickled baby corn, and three types of olives. Then he cuts slices of meat from a steaming, partial carcass. It is of an animal he does not recognize. Looking at it intently, he is unable to deduce its whole anatomy. It is a strange animal, indeed. The meat tastes somewhat like a cross between pork and sweet crab, but this is an inadequate description. He cuts some more meat off, but gets caught.

“Don’t reach for things yourself! Ask!” the adult demands.

“But I’m closest…” Nathaniel starts to protest before remembering not to argue with adults.

“That doesn’t matter!” the adult yells.

“Okay, give me that meat…uh…please,” Nathaniel says, pointing at the meat.

“It’s impolite to point,” the adult says. It works, though; another boy cuts the meat for him and the adult leaves.

“Do you like stuff?” another nearby boy asks.

“What stuff?” Nathaniel asks.

“Stuff. It’s the greatest stuff in the universe,” the boy answers, handing Nathaniel a plate of fluffy, brown mush. Nathaniel tastes it. It is amazing and possibly the best-tasting substance Nathaniel has ever tried, even rivaling candy. The taste is completely indescribable and can only be called “stuff.” He takes more and more.

“I’m thankful for stuff. What are you thankful for?” another boy asks.

“Oxygen,” Nathaniel answers.

“I’m glad that Y invented Thanksgiving. It helps me remember all the good things that happen. It’s good that we don’t also have a Pleasegiving where we remember all the things we tell to please go away,” the boy says.

“I remember everything good and bad without trying,” Nathaniel says.

“My memory isn’t that good,” the boy says.

Nathaniel thinks for a moment. “I guess Thanksgiving is a good thing. I keep a log of everything that happens on my adventures. Maybe I should read it every year on my birthday – but only the good parts.”

“That sounds good,” the boy says.

“This year I met many strange creatures. One of them bit me and others stole from me, but most were friendly. I discovered chewing gum. I played on an escalator. I competed in a race. I guess more good things happened than bad. I guess this is a good year,” Nathaniel says.

“Thank Y,” the boy says.

“Thank you, Y,” Nathaniel says.

Nathaniel eats “stuff” until full. Even then, he cannot stop. Finally, he forces himself away from the table. His belly aches and he starts to feel sleepy. He sees the adults and children lying down on the floor to sleep. “Why are you all sleeping?” Nathaniel yawns.

“That’s what you’re supposed to do after eating,” a boy says.

“That’s boring. I want to play,” Nathaniel says.

“No, it’s the rules,” the boy says.

“I haven’t even had dessert yet,” Nathaniel complains. He looks around. He sees almond patties, peach fritters, five types of cinnamon rolls, pecan pie, and apple pie with pumpkin spice ice cream. There are large, soft cookies packed with chocolate chips, peanuts, raisins, and dates. There are tiny molasses-cakes topped with chocolate drizzle and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting topped with peach slices. The carrot cake seems to be more frosting than cake. Nathaniel almost takes a slice, but he is so tired and so full that he loses his balance and collapses to the floor. “This food must be poisoned,” he slurs before falling into a deep sleep.

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