A punchline, a poem and a Thanksgiving play

Courtney Limbaugh has spent the past two weeks secretly practicing her joke delivery in the basement of her home.

When her moment to shine came Wednesday during Cape Christian School's Thanksgiving program, the 8-year-old was ready.

"Why do turkeys go gobble, gobble?"

Pause.

"Because they never learned good table manners!"

Claps and laughter from the audience of 30 parents and grandparents assured her of her success, and Courtney finally managed to calm the butterflies in her stomach.

Courtney and 11 other students in Lisa Propst's second-grade class at Cape Christian School spent weeks memorizing lines and transforming paper bags and construction paper into colorful Thanksgiving costumes.

The end result was a group of paper-bedecked turkeys, pilgrims and American Indians with songs to sing, poems to recite and Thanksgiving trivia to share.

Of course, a school performance wouldn't be complete without a hitch or two.

David Johnson made it through the turkey, potatoes, pickles and carrots in his "Twas the Night of Thanksgiving" poem before getting stuck.

From under his turkey mask, David frantically glanced toward his teacher for help.

"Potatoes? Tomatoes?" he ventured before plowing through the rest of the poem.

The 30-minute performance was all fun for parents, but the students took their roles and the hard work that went into them seriously.

"We heard every song in the play at home this week," said Angela Shaw, whose daughter, Hannah, was among the performers. "She practiced over and over."

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128