The one thing that I have learned in my nine doggy years on earth is that you cannot always predict what will happen next. A text Doc received on Sunday evening reinforced this and led us down a path that felt like a TV episode of Unsolved Mysteries.
As fall is coming to an end, Doc and I decided to take advantage of the warmer temperature’s this last weekend to get the rest of the outside chores done. After a weekend of supervising Doc raking leaves, washing outside windows and cleaning up the flower beds, we were both pooped. We had only been relaxing on the couch for a short while when the text came through on Doc’s phone. I didn’t pay much attention until I saw the look on Doc’s face and then I glanced over to see the picture of a turkey leg with the meat pulled off and lying on the side was a small shiny metal object. Under the picture the text message said, “Look what we just found in the turkey leg you brought over.”
Now I am no expert on weaponry, but I was thinking the same thing as Doc and watched as she typed ” Is that a bullet? Poor Doc, she had been trying to take care of her relatives by bringing them left over Thanksgiving dinner after they could not come over on Thanksgiving day and now this happens. After a few more texts and posting and getting feedback on Facebook, it was decided by the majority that it was a bullet casing. Doc felt terrible and she was also concerned. How on earth did a bullet casing get into a store bought turkey? Should we call the turkey hot line and report it? ” I didn’t see a bullet hole in the turkey when I was preparing to roast it, how did that get in there? ” Doc said out loud.
After watching many episodes of Dateline and other mystery shows, my mind started wandering and I started to wonder if something nefarious was going on. Did I really know Doc at all? Was she trying to do her relatives in? Or was this a plot by vegans to save turkeys by sabotaging the turkey industry? Since I have watched lots of crime shows I decided that this sounded like a job for my very well honed detective skills.
After observing Doc’s behavior for awhile and considering all the evidence, I ruled her out as a suspect. So I moved on, and just as I had started putting together the evidence and matching it with other likely suspects Doc yelled out ” I know what it is!” She jumped off the couch, ran into the kitchen, opened a drawer and pulled out her meat thermometer and there was the answer in plain sight. Doc remembered that she had stuck the meat thermometer in the turkey to make sure it was done and when she pulled it out the mental tip must have gotten stuck in the turkey. “What a relief!” she said.
After a call to her family members and a good and hearty laugh about the whole thing, we settled back down and watched TV and just like clockwork a rerun of Unsolved Mysteries was coming on. As I was watching the show I couldn’t help but wonder, the smartest criminals know how to cover their tracks and Doc is no dummy. Was it really the tip of a meat thermometer? I decided just to be safe, I would never eat any of Doc’s Thanksgiving turkey again.