Turkeys Waddle Their Way to Watauga (a humorous account)

Bryce Kemp holding a turkey.

A few classrooms around Watauga High School have class pets. In Agriculture teacher Ms. Haylee Bare’s class, they have five young turkeys!

The turkeys have not received their names yet, and it seems like everyone calls them different names. Bare would like to name the turkeys Stringbean, Grandpa Jones, Minnie Pearl, Archie Campbell, and Lulu. These names are all inspired by the TV show “Hee Haw”, a show Bare grew up watching with her family.

The turkey named Stringbean is fond of eating green beans, of course. While watching his favorite movie, “Smokey and The Bandit”, Stringbean wishes upon every shooting star to get to go to Nashville and showcase his singing.

Not all turkeys are the same, however. Grandpa Jones’s idea of a good vacation is a trip to West Virginia. His favorite movie is a tearjerker: “Old Yeller”.

Some turkeys prefer an ice-cold drink. Minnie Pearl’s favorite drink is refreshing sweet tea. Minnie’s dream vacation, after much thought, would have to be any department store. After hours of shopping, she watches “Coal Miner’s Daughter”. Not every turkey loves going shopping, some prefer the outdoors.

We have a sophisticated country turkey up next: Archie Campbell. Archie waits for the day he can go golfing on a warm sunny spring day. What better way is there to end that perfect day than with biscuits and gravy and watching his favorite Disney movie, “Cinderella”?

Last but most certainly not least is little Lulu. She is a bit of a lazy individual, but her dream place to be is anywhere with a couch. She can’t imagine what would go better with a comfortable couch than her favorite tv show, “Gossip Girl”.

Not everyone agrees on what their names should be. Most people call the turkeys whatever name they want. Phoenix Brown, a sophomore, chooses to name them “Cedar, Lucky, Zips, Coany, and Christmas Dinner.” They would love to share a pizza and fries, but if that isn’t available, they can settle for some mealworms. As for vacations, Phoenix says, “Absolute dream vacation would be Colorado skiing so they can catch the wind in their wings.”

Bryce Kemp, a junior, had other opinions on what the turkeys should be named.

“One could be named Willie, he would vacation in Texas, and his favorite movie would have to be 'Titanic,'" said Kemp. "The second one would be called Waylon, and he would go to New York City, his favorite movie is 'Footloose,'” said Kemp.

For Kemp, the personality of the third turkey took some pondering.

“I would name [the third turkey] Johnny, he would go to the Bahamas, and his favorite movie is Joe Dirt,” said Kemp. “For the fourth turkey, I would name him Kris, he would go to Alaska, and watch 'Forrest Gump.' For the final turkey I would name him George, he would go to Hawaii, and his favorite movie is 'Smokey and The Bandit'.”

As you can see, these are little turkeys with some not-so-little dreams. Bare looks forward to expanding her classroom’s animal family in the future.