I was hoping to have turkey for Thanksgiving dinner one year. So the day before Thanksgiving I went to the local meat market, a place I always took great pains to avoid. Inside the large "airplane hanger" like building were rows and rows of bloody counters and a huge tree stump at one end for chopping the animals into "select cuts" of meat.

As I held my breath and quickly walked up and down the aisles I stopped at a display of semi-plucked birds. These carcasses were larger than most so I pointed to one and asked the man who was standing behind the counter dropping his cigarette ash on them what it was. He replied, "Chicken."

As I started to walk away he called me back and asked me what I wanted. I turned to him and said, "I'm looking for a turkey." He looked at the bird, then up at me, shrugged his shoulders and said those four words that I will never forget and have kept me from that place ever since that day.

"OK, it's a turkey!"

We had spaghetti for dinner!