Missing scene from "Charlie X" - "Turkey Bones" "Meatloaf…it's downright criminal, I tell you. Give me something with a skeleton any day." Leonard McCoy stuffed his hands in his pants pockets, pouting. Tom Bryant laughed out loud. "Well, I don't care if I get a drumstick or not," the burly orderly replied, scratching the side of his head, "as long as there's plenty of whipped cream for the pecan pie." "Amen. I hear you, brother." The doctor crossed one leg over the other and leaned back against the wall. "I'll probably have to beg off early, mind you. Paperwork doesn't stop just 'cause it's a holiday. Plus, we'll have the usual suspects coming in for bicarbonate of soda…" He sighed. "Half of them certain it's something more serious than seasonal overindulgence to blame, a few of whom who may be right. Out here, you can't be sure." McCoy clapped the orderly on the shoulder. "See you at the table, Bryant." "I'll be there." Bryant reached for the handle of a cart filled with freshened bed sheets and steered it past the doctor into sickbay. McCoy waited until the door slid shut behind him, then hurried eagerly down the hall towards the turbolift. A quick trip to his quarters for a shower and a change of clothes, and then a (hopefully brief) pre-holiday meeting of Enterprise's departmental heads, to be followed by a sumptuous Thanksgiving feast. McCoy patted his stomach and chuckled. Turkey meatloaf or not, by meal's end, he'd definitely be feeling a pinch around his waistline. He made a mental note to have someone take a plate of food to their young passenger if he didn't show up for the festivities. "After being alone for so long, the boy's probably feeling overwhelmed by all the human contact," McCoy reasoned. "Don't imagine Thanksgiving'll mean too much to him, anyways, unless that ship he was on had a tape about the Mayflower on it." He pressed the lift button and waited for the car to arrive. Two passing crewmen nodded in acknowledgement, and McCoy returned the gesture as the doors swished open behind him. Gobble gobble! McCoy started, whirling around. His eyes bugged out and his mouth dropped open as he spotted the source of the sound. A large turkey strutted out of the turbolift, head bobbing back and forth slowly. Its eyes scanned the corridor as it ambled forward, eventually settling on the doctor. The bird stopped and tilted its head to one side, eyeing Leonard with curiosity, as though he was intruding on its territory. Man and bird stared at each other for several seconds, moving slowly in a circle, until the turkey let out another loud gobble, causing McCoy to jump and stumble backwards towards the wall. He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and opened them again slowly. The turkey was now headed back down the hall past the turbolift, head bobbing from side to side. McCoy pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead, feeling for a fever. Finding none, he swallowed hard and shook his head. "Just been working too hard, that's all." McCoy exhaled, nodding his head. A half smile crossed his lips. "No worries, Leonard. You're not losing your-" Gobble gobble! "- mind..." He froze at the sight of a second bird scrutinizing him. After a few seconds, in which it apparently found nothing particularly interesting about the doctor, it resumed pecking at a spot on the floor of the lift. McCoy just stood there for a moment, eyes darting back and forth between the direction the first turkey had wandered away in and the newcomer, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. "But I-didn't it just-where did-" Breaking into a run, he thundered down the hall towards sickbay. "Christine!"
Just to clarify, he's not afraid of turkeys. It's the sudden appearance where they shouldn't be that threw him.
How about the fear, not of turkeys, but of unanticipated encounters with birds in general? Like when you scare up a bush full of swallows at twilight... Or you're generally okay with barn owls, but you sincerely wish one hadn't found its way into your bedroom while you were sleeping...
Obviously, his fear is more about what seeing a turkey in the turbo lift might say about him, then about the bird. I mean, what if no one else saw it?
That sounds like the normal human dislike of being startled. You'd probably react similarly to a bush full of chipmunks or house cats or small children in Halloween costumes. And I don't think anyone would want an owl in their dwelling at night, unless it was overrun by mice.