My mother-in-law told me to get up at 4 a.m. to cook Thanksgiving dinner for her 30 guests. My husband added, “This time, remember to make everything really perfect!” I smiled and replied, “Of course.” At 3 a.m., I took my suitcase to the airport. – usnews 0/2

By 10:00 a.m., Hudson had exhausted every professional option. His Singapore conference call had come and gone, ignored. He’d probably damaged his relationship with his biggest client, but that seemed secondary to the immediate crisis.

He called his mother back.

“Any luck with the restaurants?”

“Nothing. Everyone’s booked. What do we do?”

“We cook it ourselves, obviously.”

Hudson looked at the raw turkeys again.

“Mom, I don’t know how to cook a turkey. I don’t know how to cook any of this.”

“Then you learn. YouTube exists. How hard can it be?”

Vivien arrived with her sleeves rolled up and a grim expression that suggested she was preparing for battle. She surveyed the kitchen like a general assessing a battlefield where all the soldiers had deserted.

“This is worse than I thought,” she announced. “These turkeys should have been in the oven four hours ago. They’ll never be ready in time.”