AMHERST, N.Y. — Friends come in all shapes and sizes.
However, it's not often you meet them at a traffic stop.
"I was going shopping to get some Thanksgiving supplies a couple of years ago in Williamsville, and there was a hold up," Lori Jagow said. "It was a wild turkey."
At the corner of Paradise and Klein, a town's newest resident just wanted some attention.
"He did like the spotlight. He had a personality for sure," Phil Gaeta said. "Someone may have fed him that lived there and they moved away, so he just started to try and find other people to latch onto."
He never left, sneaking into the hearts of his new neighbors, including Geata.
"My phone started to fill up with just as many pictures of the turkey as there were my kids, so I decided, 'Well, it will be funny to create a Facebook page,' " Gaeta said. "People from around the neighborhood started posting their own pictures. Everyone just had a good time with it."
By 2017, it became clear good times couldn't last forever, residents fearing for the turkey's safety, so he was taken to a wildlife refuge, with no one realizing how much the Paradise-Klein turkey would miss his friends.
"He did come back once, yep," Gaeta said.
The Paradise-Klein turkey was taken to another wildlife refuge, his old neighbors still checking in over the years. Now the entire country will know his name.
"Some call him Tom, some call him Gus, but I named him Calvin in my story," Jagow said.
The turkey's journey is featured in the newest addition of Chicken Soup for the Soul, as told by Jagow.
"Just the way the community bonded together over this bird gave me the idea," Jagow said.
Between a political divide and a pandemic, an old tale about a community's feathered friend provided the missing piece.
"It was just at a time when everybody needed to feel good," Gaeta said. "That's what's kept it going (over the years)."
If it should ever go missing again, there's no doubt the answer will be right around the corner.
"We all kind of kept thinking that he might still come back," Gaeta said.
Added Jagow: "If we're looking for unity, it can be found in a wild turkey."
To check out Jagow's story in the Chicken Soup for the Soul: Blessings of Christmas, click here.
Jagow will have book signings at the Audubon Public Library on November 22 at 7 p.m. Proceeds will go to the library.