ACXDevourThatSpaghetti

Kate's grandmother always made spaghetti by hand for Thanksgiving, and her brother Vinnie would devour it. Kate went to a friend's house for Thanksgiving and was shocked that they didn't have spaghetti. Only her family seemed to understand the importance of spaghetti on Thanksgiving. Vinnie, a former NFL player, could eat large amounts of food and always ate a lot of spaghetti. Vinnie had injured Kate in the past due to his uncontrollable temper. This year, Vinnie was injured in a car accident and arrived home in a wheelchair. Audition for Devour That Spaghetti by Thomas Leverett, narrated by Rene Robbins. Kate's grandmother made all the spaghetti by hand. Though a pasta maker was part of the process, it was a huge production, especially washing everything afterwards. That was also true of the rest of the Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey, the mashed potatoes, the pies, everything. Over the years, Mama came to do more of the dinner, but Grandma kept up with the spaghetti, especially in light of the fact that Kate's brother Vinnie would eat half of it. Grandma always looked forward to the moment when Vinnie would devour that spaghetti. Last year, Kate had accepted an invitation to go to her friend Brenda's house for Thanksgiving. Brenda's family had provided everything most Thanksgivings had. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, but no spaghetti. To Kate, it just wasn't right. No spaghetti on Thanksgiving? But even stranger was what happened when she told people about her feelings. Only her family seemed to understand that a Thanksgiving had to have spaghetti. You could have all this other great food, turkey, stuffing, the whole works, but you had to have spaghetti. And if you were Vinnie, you had to eat a lot of the spaghetti. Vinnie had been an NFL football player, so he ate copious amounts of everything anyway. When they had steak, he had several, and it all went into muscle because he had worked out diligently and had run on the country roads outside the small Kansas town several miles a day. He'd come home every Thanksgiving except the year when his team had played the Cowboys, and Grandma, of course, was crushed that year. Because who could devour that spaghetti like he did? Kate appreciated it, too, but just couldn't eat the quantities that Vinnie could eat. The other people there, Uncle Alberto, Uncle Tony, the entire extended family would come to the dinner, would enjoy the spaghetti, too. But only Vinnie, it seemed, would year after year truly devour it. Vinnie had pushed Kate through an upstairs window when she was about ten. It had happened when something she said threw him into an uncontrollable rage. She had broken her hip, and it affected her balance permanently. She always had a slight limp after that. He was sorry he'd done it. He did love her as a sister, but had a temper that he couldn't control. And this didn't get better when he became a pro football player, and had lots of money and the high rolling life that went with it. But this year, Vinnie, too, was injured, and it didn't happen playing football. Although he'd taken his knocks on the football field, and probably had some damage from concussions, he had always avoided the season-ending injuries that plagued other players. Instead, he had smashed his leg in a car accident, which had happened because he left home in a rage when his second wife announced that she was leaving him. He'd driven too fast, lost control, and smashed his Porsche into a telephone pole. Now he arrived home in a wheelchair, having been brought from the Kansas City Airport in a special shuttle. The End