Thanksgiving took a wild turn when our dog, Max, started barking nonstop at the turkey my husband, Kyle, had just brought home. At first, I thought he was just begging for a bite, but when I unwrapped the turkey, I found something so strange, I had to call 911.
Let me introduce myself—I’m Ace, short for Athena. I’m 32, a wife, a dog mom, and last Thanksgiving, I became an accidental part of a bizarre, crime-like mystery. It all started that morning when Kyle offered to pick up the turkey from the butcher so I could stay home and focus on getting everything ready for the big meal.
“I’ll be back soon!” he said with a smile before heading out.
But “soon” turned into more than an hour. As time passed, I started to wonder what was taking him so long. By the time he finally came back, he looked a little off. His hair was messy, and his smile didn’t seem as cheerful as it usually was.
“I had to run a few extra errands,” he said, clearly distracted. “And help Mom with something.” He glanced down at his phone. “Ugh, now Mom’s car broke down. I have to go help her.” And just like that, he was out the door again, leaving me with a house full of Thanksgiving to-dos.
His rushed behavior had me curious, but I didn’t have time to think much of it. The turkey wasn’t going to cook itself.
Then came Max. Now, Max is no stranger to begging for scraps on holidays, but this time, he was acting different. He stood in front of the counter where the turkey was, barking his head off like his life depended on it. He wasn’t stopping. He was relentless.
“Max, enough!” I said, thinking he was just after a taste. “You’re not getting raw turkey!”
But Max didn’t give up. He barked and barked, like he was on a mission. After 20 minutes of this, I had enough.
“Fine,” I said, grabbing a pair of scissors to unwrap the turkey. I couldn’t take it anymore. When I cut through the plastic, something caught my eye—there was more plastic inside the turkey. It wasn’t just wrapping. Curious, I reached inside, and what I pulled out made my heart race.
It was a plastic bag. And inside the bag? Thousands of dollars in cash.
“What the…?” I gasped, staring at the bag in disbelief. Max, who had been barking like crazy just moments before, now stood quietly beside me, as if proud of his discovery.
Why was there money inside a turkey? Was it a mistake from the butcher? Had Kyle known about this? Was I unknowingly tangled in some illegal scheme?
Feeling completely freaked out, I grabbed my phone and dialed 911.
“Hi, um, I found something… unusual in my turkey,” I stammered, trying to make sense of the situation.
It wasn’t long before two officers arrived. Officer Johnson, an older, no-nonsense cop, took one look at the scene and raised an eyebrow. His younger partner, Officer Miller, looked like he had just walked into the middle of a live crime scene.
I explained what had happened, showing them the turkey with the bag of cash.
“Where did you get this turkey?” Officer Johnson asked, eyeing it carefully.
“My husband picked it up this morning,” I answered, feeling a little embarrassed.
Just then, the door opened, and Kyle walked in with his mom. When he saw the police, his face turned pale.
“What’s going on?” he asked, looking confused and nervous.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Officer Johnson said, turning to look at him. He pointed to the bag of cash. “Kyle, why is there money inside your turkey? Do you know anything about this?”
Kyle hesitated. He glanced at me, then at the officers, and finally, at the turkey. His mom gave him a little nudge, and he sighed. “Okay, fine! The money’s mine.”
“What?” I stared at him in shock.
“I… I was trying to surprise you,” he said, looking sheepish. “I cashed out my savings for a trip to Hawaii. I didn’t want you to find it early, so I stuffed it in the turkey.”
“You did what?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Kyle explained that, in a moment of panic, he thought the turkey was the safest place to hide the money. His mom, who had clearly been holding back a lecture, confirmed his story, though she didn’t let him off easy.
Officer Johnson chuckled. “Son, in all my years, I’ve never seen anyone hide money in poultry. But hey, whatever works.”
Kyle handed over a bank withdrawal receipt, and the officers, still amused, gave us a few words of advice and left.
Later, I gave Kyle a proper talking-to about his lack of planning. “What if I had cooked the turkey with the money inside?” I asked, exasperated.
Kyle scratched his head and sighed. “I didn’t think of that.”
Max, the true hero of the day, got extra turkey scraps as a reward for his detective work. The rest of the day, we couldn’t stop laughing at Kyle’s ridiculous plan. Thanksgiving dinner turned into the story of how my husband almost hid our savings in a turkey.
Eventually, we did take that trip to Hawaii. And believe it or not, it turned out to be the beginning of a whole new chapter for us. That’s where we ended up conceiving our baby. Someday, I’ll tell our child the wild story of how they owe their existence to their dad’s infamous “turkey cash stash.”
So, folks, the lesson here is simple: Listen to your dogs. Sometimes, they’re trying to tell you something big. Happy Thanksgiving!
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