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asked.
      But Timmy didn't have a chance to answer, because Buster and Scotty the Farm Dogs came running back from the trash barrel, snarling and biting at each other all the way.
      "Quick, Timmy!" Daddy Mike said. "Pick up Tommy and take him to Mama Jane while I have a talk with Buster and Scotty!"
      So Timmy went to Tommy and tried to pick him up while Daddy Mike had a talk with Buster and Scotty. But Tommy was big and heavy, so Timmy had to grab him by the feet the way Daddy Mike had done, and then drag him to the house.
      This was hard work, but Timmy finally got Tommy into the kitchen, where Mama Jane was waiting. Her big pot of water was boiling now.
      "My goodness, child!" Mama Jane exclaimed. "You've left a bloody smear all across my kitchen floor!" Then she scooped up Tommy and dropped him into the boiling water. Tommy's feet stuck up out of the water and wiggled.
      "Why are you doing that, Mama Jane?" Timmy asked. "And why did Daddy Mike chop off Tommy's head?"
      "My goodness, child!" Mama Jane exclaimed again. "How you do go on!" With that, she put on a pair of heavy rubber gloves, pulled Tommy from the water, and plunked him onto the sideboard. Then she started yanking out all of Tommy's feathers.
      "Doesn't that hurt?" Timmy asked.
      "It would if I wasn't wearing gloves," Mama Jane said.
      After all of Tommy's feathers were gone, Mama Jane used a cleaver to cut off Tommy's feet. Then she took a shiny knife, sliced Tommy open, and yanked out his guts. She put most of the guts into a pan and gave the pan to Timmy.
      "You can take these to Buster and Scotty if you like," Mama Jane said.
      So Timmy did just that. He watched Buster and Scotty play tug-of-war for a while, and then he went down to the barn. He found Daddy Mike milking Maybelle the Moo Cow, and while he sat in the corner to watch, Daddy Mike sprayed him in the face with milk.
      "Ha ha!" Daddy Mike laughed. "Look alive, there!"
      Later, Grandma Eula, Uncle Augie, Aunt Pearl, and Cousins Fred, Earl, Cookie, and Poot all came over for Thanksgiving dinner. Tommy had been cooked all golden and crispy on the outside, and when Mama Jane placed him in the center of the table, Daddy Mike cut him up into juicy, steaming chunks.
      "Give me a drumstick," said Cousin Fred. "That's the best part."
      "No, no," said Cousin Cookie. "The neck is the best."
      "You're both wrong, children," said Grandma Eula. "There's nothing better than a nice plump thigh."
      "It's a slice of breast for me," said Aunt Pearl.
      "I'd prefer a wing, myself," said Cousin Poot.
      "You're all loopy," said Uncle Augie. "I dibs the gizzard. That's really the best part. Did you remember to fry up the gizzard, Sister Jane?"
      "I surely did," said Mama Jane, and she brought Tommy's gizzard to Uncle Augie on a special silver plate.
      "Yum!" Uncle Augie exclaimed, and he gobbled up Tommy's gizzard in three quick bites. Then he leaned back and gave Timmy a big grin. "And now," he said, "it's wishbone time!"
      "What's that?" Timmy asked.
      So Uncle Augie showed him. He held one side of the wishbone while Timmy held the other, and then they both pulled. The wishbone broke in two.
      "You got the big half!" Uncle Augie cried. "You get your wish!"
      "What did you wish for, Timmy?" Grandma Eula asked.
      "I wished for rattlesnakes to bite all of you until you swell up and stink like Maybelle's calf Pansy did," Timmy said.
      So Mama Jane said it was all right if Timmy went outside to play, and he did just that. After a while he wandered down to the trash barrel by the barn and pulled out Tommy's head.
      Timmy walked across the barnyard with Tommy's head cupped in his hands, thinking that perhaps he would take Tommy to the top of Towering Grain Silo at last.
      But then Daddy Mike came down from the house, calling, "Timmy! You can come back now! We have punkin pie!"
      Timmy didn't want Daddy Mike to know that he had pulled