My Thanksgiving story

By: Agustin Alvaro

My Thanksgiving story is about two animals and their commitment to friendship. Every spring we get about five turkeys, we prepare them for the summer to eat and one for the fourth week in November. The normal behavior of a turkey is to stay within a 40-foot radius of other turkeys. The normal guinea fowl behavior is to keep at most five feet from the group. Guineas look out for each other and make harsh crackling noises when there is a threat. Sometime in summer my guinea fowl and turkey became friends, when the turkey sat down the genie would lay down slightly against the turkey fully relaxed. Wherever the turkey went the guinea followed, the guinea was a bodyguard and protected the turkey from the other turkey.  I would watch this young turkey and juvenile guinea grow up and fully develop.

A month before Thanksgiving my turkey decided to fly onto the fence where on the other side were three of my German shepherds. Once my turkey jumped down the dogs attacked it and were tearing it apart. When the guinea saw this it didn’t hesitate and threw itself into the mix making that unforgiving screech; when we got there the dogs left and we didn’t know why until we could see better. The guinea had fought away the dogs and ran out of adrenaline. My turkey was bloody and half of its face was barely there, my guinea couldn’t do the same. After a few minutes, he passed and we didn’t know if the turkey was going to live. The turkey lived and his face healed and was fine. He was doing everything as if nothing had ever happened and stayed to himself. That was only until a month later; he tasted great.