The Best Worst Thanksgiving Ever

"Would you mind helping Allison clean up?" Cynthia asked.

"What?!" Toni could not hide her annoyance.

"I know it's a lot to ask, but since she did all this cooking."

"She said she didn't need help."

"I know, but she put so much work into everything. I would stay but the kids are starting to get fussy and we need to get little Marcus down for bed. I can ride with Ron and you have your car."

"But she said she didn't need help," Toni whined again. Now ordinarily Toni would have gladly volunteered on her own to help the hostess with any cleanup necessary, but this was no ordinary situation.

"Come on, Toni, you know it's the right thing to do. What is going on with you? I know you're tired, but please. For me. I would feel bad with all of us leaving without helping."

"But she said she didn-"

"Antoinette Davies!"

"Ok, ok," Toni reluctantly agreed. Allison walked in with two bags filled with plastic containers and handed them to Ron. Everyone said their goodbyes as the family went to the door. "Toni agreed to help you stay and clean up," Cynthia told Allison.

"But only if you need it," Toni rushed to say." "I know you were saying you didn't need help so you probably don't and I can just go."

Allison looked her up and down. "You know I think I will take you up on the offer."

Fuck.

"It would make the clean-up go faster," Allison said with that smug smile. Of course Toni thought to herself. Just wants to torture me. Cynthia gave Toni a warm hug and kissed her cheek. "Thanks, Toni. For everything. Now don't leave too late. It's going to rain and the ice on the roads will be really bad."

Toni hugged the rest of the family, kissed the baby, and watched them leave and get buckled up into the car. As the car backed down the driveway, she suddenly felt trapped like a prisoner. Completely on display for Allison's scrutiny. She closed the door and turned to see Allison staring right at her. Smug look in check. Allison walked to the door, set the alarm, and walked right past Toni. "Come to the kitchen," she commanded as she left the room. Toni cringed. Just help her and leave Toni told herself as she walked towards the kitchen.

The next hour was spent with Allison giving orders about dishes and covering up food and Toni complying. It was taking much longer than it should and Toni would swear Allison was just trying to keep her there for whatever reason. Just trying to make me miserable, Toni thought. Toni was just grinning and baring it, while telling herself she could go home soon. That is until they got on the subject of work again and then Allison made a comment about Toni's car. "You know the roads will be getting pretty bad and you do have those awful tires on that small car of yours. Plus, your coat is not really for this kind of weather. I know you may not be able to afford such things with what you let them get away with paying you."

That did it. As much as she was trying to leave the evening cordial, it was not going to happen. Toni blew a gasket. "That's it!" Toni threw down the Tupperware bowl she was holding and stormed out of the kitchen into the living room. "You know what, I don't need your constant damn comments about my coat and car and the way I dress and my job. We can't all be as perfect as you, Allison!" Toni was fuming. She ran to the coat rack and angrily grabbed her coat off the rack. Allison stood in the doorway of the foyer. Not saying anything. She just had the same smug look on her face with her arms crossed. This made Toni even madder. She was so angry she could not get her coat on properly. First, she tried putting it on, but the sleeves were in opposite directions. Then it was backwards. Next, she just got completely tangled up in it and couldn't find her way out. It was a scene straight out of a comedy and Toni would have even found it funny had she not been the shining star. But Allison found it funny. She let a few giggles slip out. Toni became incensed.

"Oh, this is funny to you?" Toni finally relented wearing the coat inside out. She took the keys out of the pocket and stomped angrily to the front door.

"The roads are getting really bad out there, Toni. Your car is not-"

"You know what, fuck you Allison!" Toni yelled angrily. No, my car is not as fancy as yours. Not everyone can be perfect like you with your big house, and pretty brown dress, and your hot body-" Shit, Toni thought. Did she really just say that out loud? Allison said nothing, just raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.

"I like my job, and yes its hard work, but it's important. And I don't have to have new things or make a lot of money to be happy. And you just can't get that can you?! And you know why, Allison? Because you have to have a heart to understand it! You know what a heart is, Allison? It's supposed to go in the same place that lump of coal sitting in your chest resides!" The words were coming out so fast and angry Toni was not even aware of half of what she was saying. "You're a heartless bitch, Allison. A cold, money-obsessed, critical, heartless bitch!"

With that, Toni jerked open the front door. BEEP BEEP BEEP. The front door alarm started blaring loudly. Allison calmly went over to close the door and disarm the code. It silenced immediately. She shook her head and was beginning to arm it again when Toni rushed past her, jerked open the front door again, and stomped outside. She was greeted by a dramatic change in the weather since the last time they looked outside. Light sleet was falling and the street looked slick and nasty.

"Toni-"

"I don't want to hear anything from you ever again, Toni yelled." With that Toni turned, stomped forward, and SLIPPED right down the front steps. It was a hard fall with her landing in a pile of slush. "Damn." Toni tried to get up but kept slipping and sliding back down. Every time she got her footing, she slipped right back down. Up. Slip. Up. Slip. Again, something out of a slapstick comedy. Although, not funny to Toni. She braced herself as she finally gained her footing and half walked, half slid her way to her car. She knew she would be painfully bruised in the morning. Before getting in she looked back at Allison. It could have been a look of concern on her face or smugness. Toni took it as smugness. Toni flipped her off, got in the car, and turned the ignition ready to gun it out of there. The car wouldn't start. It sputtered a few times, but would not turn over. If her behavior wasn't a complete embarrassment for her, this was. Toni stole a peak at Allison through the window. She was just standing in the same spot. Enjoying the show. She just wants to see me act a fool Toni said to herself. "And you're making it easy for her," came the response from Toni's conscience, which she ignored, and started pumping the gas pedal to get the car started.

"Come on, come on," she said to the car as she turned the ignition once more. It finally started. "Hah." Toni flipped Allison off again and pressed on the gas. It lurched forward, slid on some ice and ran smack into Allison's fancy Keystone mailbox. "Shit!" For a brief moment, Toni felt guilty. She was mad, but never wanted to damage anyone's property. She had knocked the mailbox completely down. As she backed up, she could hear the metal grinding under her car. "I can't believe this!" She thought about getting out. She looked out the window at Allison. Still in the same spot with her arms folded. This got Toni's anger riled up again. I will just mail her a check Toni thought to herself. It may set her back a few months' pay, but anything to never have to see or speak to that woman ever again.

With that, Toni threw manners and good sense to the side and peeled off onto the icy, slick streets. She flipped off the Auburn Heights' sign she passed coming in earlier. "Fuck you, Auburn Heights. You will never see me here again around your rich snobby asses." Toni had no idea where this was coming from. She never judged or put people in any type of categories, poor, rich, or whatever. In fact, many of the holiday donations, adopt-a family participants, and other community contributions for the Hope's Heart agency came from people with an Auburn Heights zip code.

But Toni was angry. Angrier than she remembered ever being. So with that anger, she drove onto the freeway on-ramp going much faster than she should have been with the slick, icy roads. There were no other cars on the road, which caused her to go faster. The more Toni thought about Allison and the evening, the angrier she got and the faster she drove. Suddenly, WHAM! Toni's car hit an ice patch which caused her to skid wildly. Unprepared, Toni panicked and over-corrected, which caused the car to spin out of control all over the road. Toni was terrified and felt helpless and unable to get control of the car. The car spun wildly a few more times then landed deep in a thick snow bank causing Toni to hit her head hard against the steering wheel.

For a brief moment she was dazed and then came to. She touched her forehead and saw a spot of blood when she pulled her hand away. Toni looked out the window. She was deeply entrenched in the snow bank. At least the car is still running she thought to herself. After taking a moment to gather herself, she pressed on the gas and heard the wheels just spinning. She pressed again, but the wheels just spun and the car did not move. "Shit." Toni opened the door and hopped out. The cold air hit her like a right hook. She pulled on her pitiful coat. It was too thin like Allison said. Allison. Just thinking of the name ignited Toni's anger all over again. It was that anger that motivated her into thinking she could push the car out of the snow bank. She pushed from the back, grunting and straining with her efforts. The car didn't budge. She tried pushing it in drive, neutral, and reverse from the front and the back, that car was not moving. Toni looked up and down the desolate highway. No one would be coming by on Thanksgiving night, especially in the freezing cold and when others had the good sense to stay put when there was bad ice on the road.

Exhausted and drained, Toni was walking to the back of the car to try and push again when she suddenly stepped in a big hole covered by snow. "Ahh!" Toni twisted her ankle and tripped. She fell and rolled down the snowy hill and landed hard in a giant, deep puddle of dirty, grimy water and ice. The cold water was like a shock to Toni's system. After a few tries, she managed to climb out of the puddle and struggled to make her way back up the snowy hill. Her efforts were further hindered by her now heavy, sodden, freezing wet clothes and a right leg that was searing with pain around the knee area.

Toni got into her car, slammed the door, and put the heat on full blast. It didn't do much with her sitting in the heavy freezing clothes. Her right leg was throbbing. She wanted to look at it but it was too difficult and cold to move with the freezing clothes. The last thing she needed out on the highway alone and stuck was to get injured. She would have to call somebody. She did have AAA. She really hated to bring somebody else out in this bad weather because of her foolishness, but she had no choice. She felt like a block of ice in the wet clothes. She reached in the back to get her phone out of her purse. Her purse. As she looked at the empty backseat, an image of her purse sitting on the floor of Allison's media room flashed in her mind.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Toni screamed. Then the gas light came on. The heat would not last for long. Toni sat there with her freezing wet clothes, cut forehead, and whatever was going on with her leg and breathed heavily. Then, for the second time that night, Toni Davies lost it. She started banging on the steering wheel hard with her hands and fists. It was hurting and would probably cause some bruising, but Toni didn't care. She was in a rage. First, it was about Allison and how hard she was on Toni which landed her in this situation. Then it became less about Allison and more about her life in general. Here she was 31, alone and unhappy. She poured so much time and energy into a job she loved, but drained everything from her. The failure of her relationships, the inability to connect. Being used by her family, all that time wasted with Greg. Always unhappy. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She did everything right. Everything. Gave her aunt no trouble, got good grades, went to college, avoided the early pregnancy and criminal pitfalls that seemed beholden to the girls in her poverty stricken neighborhood. And it was all for nothing because here she was alone on the side of the road while everyone else were in their homes and enjoying the holiday with people who loved them. She felt completely alone. To truly feel loved by anyone was an aching desire for her and felt her only chance was gone when her Aunt died.

Toni continuously hit the steering wheel, her body racked with uncontrollable sobs. She finally stopped when she lost all energy to keep hitting. She knew the car would run out of gas soon and didn't know if she could last until someone came by. She thought about walking back to a gas station but didn't remember seeing one open and couldn't chance it with her wet clothes and hurt leg. Completely exhausted and out of ideas, Toni put her arms on the steering wheel and rested her throbbing head.

Several moments later, Toni awoke to a bright beam of light shining from outside directly into her face. She tried covering her eyes. She heard knocking at the window and could see the outline of a large man. Scared, Toni looked around for a weapon, but couldn't locate one. The man knocked again. Toni saw flashing blue and red lights behind her and looked in the rearview mirror to see a huge truck and police car parked behind her. Toni let the window down. "Good evening Ma'am. I'm Officer Ben Miller. You alright in there?" Toni just nodded, still in a daze. "This is Tim," Officer Miller said pointing to a large man in a ball cap. "He's going to get you out." Tim backed up and looked at the car. "Wow, you're really stuck in there, huh? Your friend said you would be out here. Let's see what we can do."

Close to an hour later Toni found herself in the passenger seat of Tim's massive tow truck with her car on the back as they traveled at a snail's back down the icy freeway. As Toni sat in her wet clothes, in pain, and enduring the smelly remnants of Tim's Thanksgiving meal coming out in gassy emissions from both ends, she wondered just how this day could possibly get any worse. She needed to learn to stop asking that question. Toni had been in such a daze that it had not dawned on her before that they were going in the wrong direction.

"Hey, I'm in Oakville," Toni said. Tim looked down at his metal clip board. "Well it would be an added cost to go different from what is on the paper." Different from what was on the paper? That mean she was heading back to-

"No!" Toni yelled and giving Tim a scare. "Just please take me home. I will pay whatever-" Toni began before remembering where her purse was. "Shit!"

"What now, ma'am?!"

"Nothing, sorry," Toni replied as she sat back and endured the misery. She glanced at Tim's dashboard clock. 6:12pm. Still Thanksgiving Day. This day would not end.

When they finally took the Auburn Heights exit, a knot formed in Toni's stomach. When they came upon the familiar Auburn Heights sign that Toni flipped off earlier and vowed never to see again, the knot grew tighter. Tim whistled. "Nice neighborhood." Toni was beyond embarrassed as the big loud truck with her beat-up car on the back made its way up the street of the posh neighborhood. Some of the residents, who endured the weather to hang their Christmas lights outside, looked at the offending monstrosity as it made its way past them. A call came in on Tim's radio as they neared Allison's street.

Toni barely registered the conversation as her panic grew when they got closer to Allison's house. Once on her street, Toni knew there were no words to describe how humiliated she felt coming back to Allison's house with her car on a tow truck after she had behaved so badly before tearing out of there earlier.

"2019," Tim said as he looked for Allison's house. "The house is that one on the hill," Toni pointed out begrudgingly. "Ohh, that is a nice one. Nicest one I've seen." Toni cut her eyes at him.

As they neared the house, Toni got desperate. "Look Tim. My purse is in that house. I can run in, grab it, and pay you to take me back home. Or even the nearest hotel. I will pay whatever." "Can't do it ma'am," Tim replied. "Got another call. Besides, it's not good to run back and forth on the roads in this kind of weather. If you have got a safe place to stay, its best to stay put." Toni let out a long, nervous sigh. Fuck.

As they got closer, Toni was surprised to see Allison standing on the front steps. She would have thought she had never went inside from the time Toni tore out of there earlier, but her clothes were different. Tim maneuvered the truck near Allison's driveway and hopped out to unload the car. Toni didn't move. She wasn't intending to get out if she could help it. She didn't want to, but she stole a peak at Allison. Gone was the smirk smile and smugness. Allison looked pissed. Real pissed. Toni's knot tightened. How did she always seem to get herself into these experiences?

Tim finished unloading her car faster than any tow truck driver Toni had ever known and came around to her door. He opened it and held his hand out. Reluctantly, Toni climbed down. Tim gave her a smile as he headed up to Allison and gave her a jolly greeting, completely unaware of the strong tension between the two women. He showed Allison a screen on his card reader. "The car was stuck a lot deeper than we thought. Took additional time and so it will be an extra $155.00. Allison handed him are card. Toni's guilt and humiliation increased and kept her frozen in her spot instead of volunteering to get her purse and pay Tim. I will include it in the check for the mailbox Toni said to herself. She glanced over at it. It still lay in a mangled heap on the ground. Toni's heart sank.

"Thanks and have a good night," she heard Tim say to Allison. Heading back down the sidewalk, he looked at Toni and then turned back to Allison. "Keep an eye on this one. She was really trying to get away from here for some reason." Tim laughed at his joke as he nodded at Toni. She could have beaten him over the head with the card reader right there on the driveway. "Have a good night ma'am and stay put." Tim got back into his truck and started the engine. With no other means of stalling, Toni limped the long walk up the driveway to the front door. She felt like she was on her way to the electric chair. Allison stared at her for a moment and then disappeared inside, leaving the front door open. Toni carefully climbed up the same steps she fell down earlier, entered the house, and closed the door. As she stepped further into the foyer, the heat of the house enveloped her like a warm blanket. Damn that feels so good Toni thought to herself. She could smell the wonderful aroma from the Thanksgiving meal earlier. She was starving.

She didn't know where Allison went or what she should do. She wanted get to a bathroom to get those wet clothes off quick. She began walking further into the house. "Stay where you are," she heard Allison yell from somewhere in the house. "I don't want you to get my floors wetter than necessary." Toni stopped in her tracks. She stood there with her head hung low, beyond embarrassed as she dripped dirty snow water, grime, and blood from her leg on Allison's beautiful polished floors. She felt like squeezing her hands as a response to the familiar anxiety, but they hurt too much. Toni looked at them. The knuckles were bruised and swollen from her attack on the steering wheel. Toni could not feel any lower. Allison reappeared with fluffy towels and a robe. Toni stood up straight. "Um, maybe you can put something down so I can get to the bathroom without messing up your floors?" Allison just stared at her. Toni wanted sink right into that well-polished floor. Allison ignored her. She put the robe and towels on the table and came over to Toni. She stood over her just looking her over. She gently touched Toni's forehead where the cut was and shook her head. Then she went to work.