Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 26, 1993 TAG: 9311260038
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But Janice Allen was in hot pursuit. There were 13 people, maybe more - brothers and cousins and nephews, she lost track - back at the house counting on her to find the one ingredient that would complete the family's Thanksgiving meal.
Instant vanilla pudding.
"My mother uses it to make some kind of dessert," Allen said Thursday. "She usually gets everything. That's the only thing she forgot to get."
So, about 1 p.m., Allen and her two daughters set out on their quest. She found a small market that carried instant vanilla pudding. But it was (gasp) sugar-free. Mother probably would reject it.
Allen bought it anyhow, just in case, and went over to the Food Lion on Peters Creek Road, thinking the large grocery chain would be open.
But there in plain sight, taped to the door, was an electric-lime green sign with big black letters - CLOSED.
Just to be extra sure, the two girls walked up to the door, cupped their hand over their eyes and peered into the darkened aisles. Nope. Nobody there.
Had it been open, the store would have done brisk business. More than a dozen cars cruised past the store in the space of 15 minutes.
Such as the brothers Small, in search of snacks.
"Something to hold us over to dinner," said Kirk Small, whose mother sent him and brother Chris out of the house.
Succumbing to fumes of roasting turkey, the brothers were "trying to eat everything in the house, and she wouldn't let us eat anything."
They were last seen heading out of the Food Lion parking lot to find the nearest bag of chips.
Meanwhile, not a single ingredient was missing from the Thanksgiving feast put on by the Country Cookin' restaurant on Melrose Avenue for some of the area's neediest citizens.
More than 100 children and adults, clients of the Salvation Army and the Turning Point women's shelter, enjoyed a traditional dinner, complete from salad to ham to pumpkin pie.
"We really appreciate everything," said one woman. "It means a lot to us, because we're in a tough spot." She asked that her name not be used.
The woman and her teen-age daughter arrived at the women's shelter Wednesday, seeking refuge from her abusive husband. Although her family lives in the Roanoke Valley, she decided not to spend Thanksgiving with them, because her husband knows where they live, she said.
Clara Jones and Irvin Bowman were likewise grateful for the turkey and trimmings.
"I ate too much," Bowman said, smiling.
The elderly pair carried plastic foam containers crammed with food as they left the restaurant.
"The woman that lives across the street from us, she's real old and doesn't get out much," Jones said, explaining that they were taking the leftovers to their neighbor.
What comes around, goes around.
The meal was cooked and served by many Country Cookin' employees and their families who had volunteered to spend part of their holiday helping out. Some employees had donated cakes, pies and other food, said manager David Preston.
"To give back what I received," was why Michelle Karim, wife of a restaurant worker, had come Thursday.
One of the guests - most of whom cannot afford rent and utilities, much less dining out - left behind a tip for the volunteers.
What goes around, comes around.
And there were others for whom Turkey Day was another work day.
Take Jamus Skelton, for instance, a skycap at Roanoke Regional Airport. From early afternoon until midnight Thursday, Skelton helped other people tote their luggage to their cars so they could be with their families, so they could have second and third helpings, so they could fall asleep in front of the TV.
But not Jamus.
"It doesn't bother me," the chipper young man said. "I'll be working Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, too. It comes with air travel. You might as well hang it up for the holidays. It's 365 days a year."
Besides, he'll be having Thanksgiving leftovers today. He's probably savoring the gravy right now.
But pity the poor USAir pilot, Jay Styles, and flight attendant Barb O'Kelley.
"This is going to be a sad story," Styles warned a reporter. "It'll probably be Hardee's or McDonald's."
"Fig Newtons and an apple in my hotel room," Kelley added. They had two more flights Thursday and would wind up back in Roanoke - miles away from their families in Atlanta.
"I think you start out bluesy," Kelley said. But people who fly on holidays are generally in the holiday spirit, which makes her job easier.
And, almost without thinking, she smiles and says as she walks away:
"Happy Thanksgiving."
by CNB