In Novem­ber, win­ter teased Two Mills, only to strike hard on Thanks­giv­ing. Despite the chill, an old man and a boy joined the crowd at the local sta­di­um to wit­ness the high school foot­ball game. The arc­tic air froze Stony Creek’s edge­pools, but brought on a run­ny nosed predica­ment for Mani­ac and Grayson, who had no tis­sues and resort­ed to using sleeves and nap­kins.

The game end­ed favor­ably, with Two Mills secur­ing vic­to­ry through a thrilling 73-yard touch­down pass from quar­ter­back Dene­hy to his friend James “Hands” Down. Mani­ac cheered wild­ly for Hands, mak­ing sure not to alert Mrs. Beale of his enthu­si­as­tic out­bursts. After the game, they returned to a cold base­ball room, eager­ly antic­i­pat­ing the warmth of their apart­ment. A space heater quick­ly trans­formed the chill into a cozy atmos­phere as they pre­pared a Thanks­giv­ing feast. They indulged in roast chick­en, gravy, cran­ber­ry sauce, Spaghet­tiOs, pump­kin pie, and more.

Reflect­ing on pre­vi­ous Thanks­giv­ings spent in silence with his aunt and uncle, Mani­ac offered a heart­felt grace. He expressed grat­i­tude for the finest Thanks­giv­ing din­ner he had ever expe­ri­enced, and he humor­ous­ly includ­ed Grayson in his sen­ti­ments. Grayson replied affir­ma­tive­ly, though he joked about not hav­ing tast­ed it yet. Their meal was a joy­ful occa­sion, cou­pled with Maniac’s thoughts about the Beale fam­i­ly and their well-being.

After feast­ing, they relaxed and lis­tened to pol­ka music on a record play­er Grayson had brought over. The live­ly tunes inspired them to dance, fill­ing the room with laugh­ter. They took turns col­laps­ing and re-ener­giz­ing as their amuse­ment con­tin­ued.

As dark­ness fell, Mani­ac brought up the idea of paint­ing, ask­ing Grayson for some paint and a brush. Though Grayson ini­tial­ly offered brown paint, Mani­ac opt­ed for black. After col­lect­ing the sup­plies, he paint­ed the door out­side with care. Step­ping back, he admired his hand­i­work, declar­ing it “One oh one,” mark­ing their res­i­dence on Band Shell Boule­vard.