Dave Cooks the Turkey

"Do you know there are only sixty-seven shopping days until Christmas." Every aspect of Christmas is extremely important to women, as in this case Morley. In the short story "Dave Cooks the Turkey" by Stuart McLean, Dave's wife Morley is very excited about Christmas and shopping and likes to get it started very early. There is humor to the fact she knows how many shopping days there are till Christmas. Also that Dave has not even started thinking of it because of how far away it still is and that "he had not completely unpacked from their summer's vacation. Morley compare's her life to a train in a speech which causes Dave to feel scared and decides to help out more around Christmas. She talks about how busy she is throughout the year and what happens to the train at the end of the year. "They back it up during the night when I am asleep so they can run it through all the stations again." And what does she say about Dave; "You are the guy in the bar, Dave, pushing the button to ask for another drink." That was a clever way of putting it. So Dave decided "he was going to have to join the crew". After agreeing look after the turkey, Dave finds himself in a bad situation where he had forgot the turkey, didn't know to how to work the oven and ended up going to a hotel so they could cook it. During all this Dave had been drinking Scotch and had an embarrassing situation involving his neighbour Jim and his mother. But in the end, Dave pulled it off and got the turkey cooked and back home. Or maybe he didn't. As he waited by the window he saw "Morley was coming up the walk with Jim Scoffield and his mother", he knew now he would have to tell the truth. There are many layers of humor throughout this short story and they can relate to everyday life.