Tale Feathers 6r6b6n

Copyright 2020 by Brian Meade All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by electronic means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote ages in a review.

Published by Who Chains You Publishing P.O. Box 581 Amissville, VA 20106 www.WhoChainsYou.com

Written by Brian Meade

Cover and interior design by Tamira Thayne www.tamirathayne.com

E-Book ISBN: 978-1-946044-95-2 Paperback ISBN: 978-1-946044-94-5

Printed in the United States of America

First Edition

Dedication

This book is dedicated ot the millions of birds, still looking for their homes.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Best Friends Animal Society and The Oasis Sanctuary

Testimonial

“Brian Meade’s Tale Feathers is a wonderful story that revolves around a family and their pet parrots.

“Brian does an excellent job of revealing the personalities of parrots Coco, Kiku, Pablo, Squeaker and Red and the issues of birds around the house—the wonderful chaos of the flock when birds and people share the same space.

“He also explores todays’ joys and difficulties of being in a multi-generational family...I enjoyed the book as a person who has experienced companion birds in a home and the trouble and joy that they bring your family; I think kids will as well!”—Kevin Hils, Ornithology Collections Manager, Bronx Zoo, Wildlife

Conservation Society

Contents Chapter One: Wake Up! Chapter Two: Shower Time Chapter Three: The Kids Are Coming Chapter Four: Family Gathering Chapter Five: Dinner Chapter Six: Hot Pepper Chapter Seven: Free Ride Chapter Eight: He Bit Me! Chapter Nine: A New Day Chapter Ten: Playing Games Chapter Eleven: Birdnapped Chapter Twelve: Mayhem Chapter Thirteen: Flying Lessons Chapter Fourteen: Dungeon Chapter Fifteen: Out for a Drive Chapter Sixteen: Dog Talk Chapter Seventeen: Bird Food Chapter Eighteen: Shelter Life Chapter Nineteen: New Routine

Chapter Twenty: Adopters? Chapter Twenty-One: One Ugly Dog Chapter Twenty-Two: Sunflower Seeds Chapter Twenty-Three: Not This Guy! Chapter Twenty-Four: Rotten Luck Chapter Twenty-Five: Where to Now Chapter Twenty-Six: The Shack Chapter Twenty-Seven: Mean Man Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Old Days Chapter Twenty-Nine: Hero Bird Chapter Thirty: Escape! Chapter Thirty-One: Camping Chapter Thirty-Two: Finding Home Chapter Thirty-Three: Traffic Chapter Thirty-Four: Animal Control Chapter Thirty-Five: Grandpa Chapter Thirty-Six: A Real Family

Chapter One

Wake Up!

Coco was fixated by the clock on the wall. It felt as if the hands barely moved, counting the seconds in minutes and the hours in days. “Biggest point, two more clicks,” he murmured under his breath, clicking his beak in unison with the clock. The early morning rays of sunlight started to break through the blossoms on the trees outside and creep up the wall adjacent to Coco. “One more click left,” he murmured to himself again, bracing himself for the moment. The trickle of sunlight drifted ever so slightly up the wall, reflecting off the faded yellow and grapevine wallpaper pattern. Within a few more seconds, the tip of light reached the bottom of the clock Coco had been staring at, as the hand moved once more. The moment had finally arrived! “Good morning guys!” his voice reverberated through the cavernous rooms of the old wooden house. Dust particles filled the air around him after his morning greeting. They floated up around him like smoke billowing into the sky, before settling on the table and chairs immediately in front of him. Coco looked around in dismay. He braced himself again and let out an even louder, “Good morning guys!!” This time, there was movement next to him. “Ugggh. Really? Do you have to do that every single day?” a rather perturbed voice asked, seemingly irritated by Coco’s persistence. “C’mon Red. You should know me better than any bird here. When the sun reaches the clock, it’s time for breakfast!” Coco replied enthusiastically while shaking some of the dust off his own body.

“Just like yesterday, right? And the day before that? And what about the day before that? Oh, and I almost forgot...the entire year before that!?” Red huffed back to Coco, who was now basking in the bit of sunlight that was reaching him, showing off his silky gray feathers. Coco shot a quick glance and a slight grin to Red, “Exactly, old man!” Red glared back at him through the corner of his eye. “Better watch it, ‘new guy,’ you ain’t exactly a spring parrot yourself!” Red took a moment to groom himself, placing all his feathers back into their natural positions, forming a vivid green and red pattern across his body and wingtips. A little voice squeaked out from farther down the room, “Already? Wow! The night just flew right by! Right, Pabs, what do you think?” “What do I think? Do you really want me to tell you what I think of sleeping with your tail hitting me in the face all night and then being stepped on and thrown off the perch because you dreamed about your old ‘furry friend’ again?” Pablo picked himself up off the floor and started making his way to the ladder near his partner. His stubby little body made it easy to squeeze past his partner’s long, flowing tail feathers. “Oh, you’re such a storyteller! I still say you’re just jealous that your feathers aren’t as long and bright as mine!” Squeaker stretched, smugly showing off the length of his feathers and their bright yellow colors across his entire body. “‘You’ll love Squeaker,’ they said. ‘He’s such a fun guy to live with,’ they claimed. What did I ever do to deserve this?” Pablo complained the entire distance up the ladder, gripping each rung in his beak while pulling his legs up the sides. “Oh, stop it Pabs. We’re perfect cagemates! Besides that, you could use some color in your life. I’ve never seen a bird match green and gray like you do,” Squeaker quipped, in a much-too-enthusiastic tone for that hour of the morning. Just then, another shrill voice shouted out from the far end of the room. “Kiku! Kiku Kiku Kiku!” “Good morning Kiku!” Coco replied, trying to talk over the nonstop bickering between Squeaker and Pablo.

“Kiku. Kiku. KIku? Kiku!!” the voice called back. “Yes Kiku, it’s almost time for breakfast.” “Kiku Kiku Kiku. Kikikuku Kiku?” the words trailed off into an unintelligible string of chirps and whistles. “Calm down, little guy. You know I have trouble understanding you when you get too excited!” “KIKU!” the voice replied, with a very sharp tone, while little coughs followed it. “Well! No need to get nasty about it! I’m sure he’ll be downstairs in a moment,” Coco assured. Red laughed. “Even though I don’t understand him, I completely understood that!” Red looked down the row of cages that lined the wall next to him, “You tell him what’s what, Kiku!” The little voice calmed down a bit and started to talk in more coherent words, “Will Grandpa be down soon? Huh? Do you think?” Coco looked down the row of cages toward Kiku’s voice. The only thing in sight was the little black head of this small fluffy bird. “C’mon everyone. You all know the routine. In a little while, Grandpa will be down here to have some breakfast, just like usual. He just needs a little extra time to get ready these days.” Red let out an annoyed grunt. “Only because he doesn’t have Helen to kick him out of that bed anymore…” The floorboards overhead started to creak and groan under the footsteps of someone slowly walking above. Clicks, pops and various noises from the wood marked the path from the room just above the birds to the stairs toward the front door. “Grandpa’s awake guys! We all know what that means, right?” Coco was pacing around the one large perch that spanned his cage while excitedly making the announcement to the rest of the flock.

“Breakfast!!” Kiku shrieked. The footsteps started to get closer as they made their way down the stairs. Being near the doorway, Coco was the first to see the familiar face of his old friend. “Coco! Red, Squeaker, Pablo, and Kiku!” a shaky old voice rang out with enthusiasm. “Good morning, fellas.” The room came to life with a flurry of activity. Feathers were ruffling, food bowls were banging and birds were singing! Nearly all the birds shouted out in unison, “Good morning Grandpa!” All of them except Red, who was just standing there, giving the crooked old man a sideways look. The old man walked past Red’s cage and gave him a quick nod. “I miss her too, old pal. Why don’t you come out for a bit and hang out on your play stand.” The old man reached down and swung open the door to Red’s cage before continuing through the room. Between the bird cages on one wall; the kitchen appliances on the far wall; and a maze of wooden bird stands, chairs, and a kitchen table, what was once a spacious kitchen resembled the inside of an RV. The only object of interest to Red in this claustrophobic mess was what once may have been considered a “play stand.” It was no more than a small tree trunk anchored to a block of wood that sat on the floor. The toys that had once adorned it were chewed up and torn away in bits and pieces. Most of the branches had long ago broken and were now poorly fastened with loose screws and rope. Still, this was Red’s “safe spot,” perhaps because he was the only bird brave enough to trust it. Before making his way fully into the kitchen, the old man took a second to open each of the birds’ cages so they could stretch out a bit from their nightly confinement. “Exercise time!” Squeaker chirped, as he eagerly flapped his wings to gently hover over his cage door. “Show off,” Pablo grumbled, while using his beak to swing around the cage bars.

“Don’t worry Pabs, one day you’ll learn!” Squeaker shouted out, masking his own pride with the pep talk. “Food! Food food food food foooooood foooooooooood!” Kiku’s words grew increasingly louder and more distorted. The whistles, shrieks, chirps, and shouts were deafening, yet the old man kept moving without a pause. “I know, I know. I wish I still had your energy, Kiku! If you settle down, I’ll feed you first,” the old man replied. Bags of grapes, chopped celery, carrots, apples, and small seeds now covered the kitchen counters as the man took handfuls of each and sprinkled them into small food bowls he had lined up near the sink. The old man held up an apple and looked at Red. “ when we used to go to the produce stand with Helen? I used to say you were the same color as these apples.” His voice trailed off, getting lost in the accompanying thought. Red looked over at Coco and they both looked down, sheepishly shuffling their feet along their perches. “Like it was yesterday…” Red whispered in a barely audible squawk. Coco looked at Red. “I the way she’d make Grandpa bring us both on those walks into town with them. She was an amazing mom.” “Coco, tell him I want some extra almonds today. Pleeeeeaaase?” Squeaker whistled over. Coco looked up from his silence and sighed, “You need to learn to say something now and then too, you know. Look, it’s not that hard, you just click your beak like this and vibrate your neck like so.” “Wanta cork nut!” Coco’s words left his beak with crystal clarity. “Almonds, old buddy. you mean almonds.” The man reached into a brown bag on the kitchen counter. Seeing the almonds in the old man’s hands, Squeaker took Coco’s advice and placed his beak together, let out a bit of a rumble, and shouted out, “Squeaker!” “What’s that, Squeaker?” the old man asked, with a hint of a grin.

Coco looked over at Squeaker. “Ummm, what was that?” “What do you mean?” Squeaker asked. “‘Squeaker’? That doesn’t even sound like ‘almond.’ Look, here’s how you’re supposed to do it.” Coco clicked his beak and shouted again, “Wanta cork nut!” Squeaker soon followed with the same exclamation, “Squeaker.” The old man looked over at Squeaker, who was bobbing and shivering at the sight of the large, porous, brown shells in his hands. “I guess you want some of these ‘cork nuts’ too, Squeaker?” he laughed. “You got to practice, little guy. Not everyone speaks ‘bird’ as well as I do!”

Chapter Two

Shower Time

The room looked like a tornado of fruit skins, newspaper shreds and seeds had crashed through one door and wreaked havoc in its path before leaving through the other. Bits of half-eaten fruit were plastered to the cage bars and a sawdustlike dusting of seed shells drifted across the floor as Grandpa let out a sigh. He knew what was in store for him; it was the same routine he did every day just after breakfast. “Gee, what a mess!” the words left his mouth without so much as a thought as he looked down at Red’s cage floor and proceeded to turn himself on autopilot. It was as if he had said that line so many times over the years that his mouth automatically made the words just at the sight of the mess the “kids” would leave for him. He had a routine down and everyone was well aware of what was to come. From the top of his play stand, Red looked down and started to flap his wings in excitement. Pablo and Squeaker were racing around the outside of their cage, climbing up and down the bars, inside and out, anxiously trying to the time before the big moment. They also knew what was in store. Coco was a little more direct in his approach. Realizing what time it was and hearing those words from Grandpa’s lips, Coco came out and simply asked, “Do you want a shower?” Grandpa laughed again at Coco, “No thanks old pal, but I assume you do?” From inside Red’s cage, Grandpa heard a splashing, followed by the sound of ruffled feathers. “Kiku, I don’t know how you can do that!” He looked over to see Kiku trying to submerge himself in Red’s shallow water bowl. The bits of grape skin, apple chunks, and soggy seed shells floating on top of the water didn’t seem to faze him.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, shall we?” Grandpa asked while reaching in for Kiku. “Shower time!” Kiku whistled. “OK, Kiku, time for a real bath. What do you say?” “Shower time! Shower time! Give me a shower!” Kiku was delighted by the idea and had no qualms about showing it. At least once a week this was a routine for the two of them: Kiku would make a mess of the cage and himself, and Grandpa would clean him up. The two of them went to the kitchen sink and Grandpa reached down into a lower cabinet to pull out one of Kiku’s favorite objects: a spray bottle! Grandpa placed Kiku on the edge of the sink and stepped back a couple feet. “OK now, Kiku, you know the drill, right?” Kiku turned to the left and lifted a wing slightly. “Perfect, now stay right there!” The spray bottle had seen better days, as the once-clear plastic sides were clouded over with yellow stains and white rings along the inside. There were once words and images printed on the outside of the bottle, but they had faded a long time ago. The only words left, written in black magic marker, read “BIRD SHOWER.” Less than two minutes later, Kiku was thoroughly soaked. His once brightly colored, smooth feathers were now matted into tiny spikes sticking up from his body with water droplets dripping off the end of each of them. “OK Kiku, it looks like we took care of that mess on you, now let’s take care of some of the others.” Grandpa raised a finger and Kiku happily stepped up on it. Grandpa looked down and said, “Almost forgot!” He held Kiku over the sink once more and waited… A few seconds later, Kiku ruffled all of his feathers and vibrated his entire body so fast all Grandpa could see was a blur of green! Water sprayed everywhere! Finishing with a slight twitch of his tail, Kiku now more closely resembled a

fuzzy, green dandelion than a small bird. Grandpa placed Kiku inside his cage. Squeaker and Pablo were staring at him, waiting their turn. “, Squeaker, hold your breath and close your eyes! It’s not that bad,” Grandpa reassured. Squeaker was the only one of the birds who disliked taking a shower. While Pablo was pacing in anticipation, Squeaker was pacing out of fear. He froze as Grandpa approached with the spray bottle in hand. Squeaker’s feathers were flat against his body and he tucked his head as far in as he could. “On the count of three, close your eyes and hold your breath. Ready? One… two…three!” Pablo counted down for Squeaker, who was too nervous to move, never mind think! A gentle mist fell on the two of them as they stood on the top of their cage. The beads of water grew larger and larger as they landed on Squeaker’s slick surface until they rolled off his back. Pablo, on the other hand, was enjoying the shower almost as much as he was Squeaker’s discomfort. Not that he liked seeing his friend upset; it was just one of the few things that kept Squeaker quiet! For Pablo, shower time was also quiet time! Within a few minutes, the shower ended and Squeaker breathed a huge sigh of relief. Despite the steady mist of water, Squeaker barely had a drop left on him as opposed to Pablo whose wings were spread and feathers relaxed enough to allow the water to penetrate down to his skin. “You need to relax a bit Squeaker, like I do!” he said while shaking off the last bit of water he could. “I have to go dry off,” Squeaker replied, while he found a spot on the back of the cage and proceeded to sit there, preening his feathers in silence. Pablo couldn’t be happier. “Red, despite your age, you still amaze me!” Grandpa commented as he was spraying Red down. There were chirps, whistles, coos, and a few “Hi Reds” flowing out of Red’s mouth as the water was flowing out of the spray bottle.

Red was practically flipping over upside down on his stand trying to get each part of his body soaked with mist. With his wings held straight out, his head turning behind him, hanging upside down from his perch, Red looked more like he was posing for a photo shoot than taking a shower. As Grandpa walked away toward Coco, Red straightened himself out. His feathers had lost all of their “fluff” and now looked more like a solid sheet of green paint running down his skinny pink torso. “OK, Coco, your turn,” Grandpa gestured toward his friend, with the spray bottle in hand. Coco ducked his head and fluffed his feathers out. Again, he blurted out the words, “You want a shower?” For him, this was a game, the object of which was to catch the water droplets! As the mist fell, Coco lunged at each of the water droplets that ed his sight, snapping his beak at each of them. To the onlooker it would have appeared he was being violent about the whole thing, but to Coco, it was simply a game. “Got one! Oh, get back here! Oh, no, you don’t!” Coco was arguing with each of the drops of water as they went by him, seemingly unaware that for each one he chased one hundred more were landing on him. With the shower now done, Coco shook himself off. “Next time I’ll beat my record!” he commented under his breath and then started to get his feathers back in order. Grandpa looked around at the swamp-covered floor he had created after the showers. “Guess now it’s time to clean this up,” he commented as he placed the spray bottle back in the cabinet. Next, he pulled out fresh newspaper, a sponge, a bucket, a broom, and a mop. At this point, none of the birds cared much. They were all too busy getting their feathers back in order and basking in the warm sunlight coming through the windows. Pablo had the added benefit of enjoying his quiet time.

Chapter Three

The Kids Are Coming

The house was a flurry of activity in the mid-morning light. Grandpa kept racing back and forth, from one room to the next, up the stairs, back down the stairs, inside one second and then outside the next. The cages were clean, the floor mopped up. The birds were unsure what the excitement was all about, since this was usually their quiet time. “They’re coming for dinner! The kids are all coming for dinner!” Grandpa exclaimed to each of the flock, as he ran by in a rush to get all the chores done. “That right!” Coco commented, “It’s a ‘kids’ night.” Kiku stopped in his tracks when he heard this. “The kids? The family’s coming! Kyra’s going to be here too, you think? Huh? Huh? You think Kyra’s going to be here?” Kiku asked incessantly. “Yes, Kiku, I’m sure Kyra’s going to be here,” Coco reassured him. The excitement in Kiku’s little voice wasn’t lost on the rest of the flock, especially Red. “Don’t see what’s so special about that little thing running around causing trouble all the time,” Red grumbled, holding himself rigid and callous, in contrast to Kiku’s enthusiastic pacing. “Kyra’s fun!” Kiku responded, in a surprisingly lucid tone. “She lets me go out and play with her. I ride on her shoulder, watch TV, and explore her jungle gym!” “Wait...her what?” Red broke his rigid stance to look at Kiku. “He means her Grandpa clothes,” Coco interpreted Kiku’s words for Red. “The clothes her parents make her wear when she comes over to visit on these special days. The same clothes she lets Kiku run around in and leave beak marks in every time she’s here. The same clothes Robert and Anna yell at her for letting Kiku tear to shreds. The clothes...”

Red continued to look at Kiku while he tuned Coco’s words out. His spastic little flockmate was pacing in circles as though he was trying to speed time up by moving faster than the others. “You have to it, she is a nice person to have around. She gives all of us those crunch-nuts and even pays attention to you, old-timer,” Coco responded, defending the little girl who wasn’t even in the house yet. “Besides, you know who her grandmother was, don’t you?” Coco tilted his head, knowing the impact that the last statement would have on his companion. “Well, the apple fell far from that tree,” Red huffed, straightening his body once more. “You’re welcome to her. Besides, I know how much you like to show off for her. What was that last time? ‘Mmm, good. Can I have more?’ Honestly, do you have no humility?!” Red argued back. “Look at me. I’ll sit here like a rock all night long, nothing she can do will even faze me. Nope, no showing off for this old bird!” Red raised a leg and closed his eyes a bit, to emphasize his point. Grandpa rushed into the room as if he was on a mission. “Now, where did I put that scrub brush?” he thought out loud while pausing for a moment. “Ah, under the sink, of course!” Lost in his thoughts, Red didn’t expect what was coming, or he would have prepared a bit for it. With a thunderous crash of pots and pans cascading out of the cabinet under the sink, Red reacted the only way he knew how and not more than a second later, he was flying across the room toward the front door. Halfway down the hall he realized what the sound was, but forgot that he was still flying… Thud! Red crashed into the front door in an explosion of feathers and swearing. Grandpa popped his head out of the cabinet for a moment to see what happened, but Red was nowhere in sight. “Red, old buddy, get on back here! I need to clean the house, not have you make more of a mess of it,” Grandpa said while holding in the laughter. “See, Pabs, even Red can fly. He didn’t do that bad, either, for an old man!” Squeaker nudged Pablo as he pointed in Red’s direction. “Just like that! You need to just dive right into it, don’t think about it, just dive right in and fly! I know you can do it. I can do it. Red can do it. I’ve even seen Coco and Kiku do

it. Well, maybe not Kiku, but I’ve seen Coco do it! You can do it too, Pabs!” “Pablo,” Pablo responded. “What?” Squeaker asked, in a confused tone. “Pablo – my name. My name is Pablo. Not Pabs. Not Pabby. Not Pab. No,” he complained, only pausing for a moment to catch his breath, “Pablo. P - A - B - L - O!” “Oh…” Squeaker hesitated. “Don’t worry, I won’t call you Pabs anymore if you don’t want me to. What about Olbap?” “Ol…what??” “Olbap. Pablo, backward!” Squeaker let out a little chuckle at his own cleverness – or at least that’s what he called it. “A regular comedian, Squeaks, you’re just a regular comedian,” Pablo halfjokingly commented while rolling his eyes. “Yep, that’s me! They used to call me Squeaky Beak on the streets. I used to make the entire flock fall off their perches with laughter! You bet, Pabs...err, Pablo, I was one funny bird!” Squeaker laughed as he recalled his past adventures out loud. “My stage name used to be Lemon-Head. You know, because I’m all yellow like a lemon. Those were the days! Of course, I’m over it all now, since I have you guys and all...” “You mean that flock of little chatty birds who tried to leave without you almost every day?” Pablo asked, recalling one of Squeaker’s tales from the street. “No, no, no. You have it all wrong! I didn’t say they tried to leave without me. I...err...I meant that they were...they were making sure it was safe for me to go out! You know, every bird loved me. They’d line up on the power lines just to watch one of my shows! Had to be careful, too...lots of dangerous birds out there start following you once they hear you’re famous!” Pablo had tuned Squeaker out several moments ago, turning his back and settling in for a long afternoon of napping in preparation for Kyra’s visit.

“Hey, Pabs” Squeaker let it slip once more, just for the effect, “We should go check out the old fella. Make sure he didn’t break a wing, ya know.” Squeaker hopped off his perch and gracefully glided through the air, gently touching down to the side of Red’s feet. “You OK, old man?” Red looked at Squeaker, then tilted his eyes slightly above and braced himself. “Better than you’re going to be in 3...2...1...” Squeaker turned around just in time to see the bottoms of Pablo’s feet hit him square on the chest. In one large ball of dust, feathers and vibrant yellow and green flashes, Squeaker and Pablo tumbled across the floor, back down the hall Red had just walked up. Red kept walking toward his cage. “Ah, youth; they can keep it!” he muttered while he kept walking. “Foot, plus face, plus wing…doesn’t…equal…comfort” Squeaker gasped, while choking on a feather and undoing the knot in which he and Pablo were now tied. “Geph yourf wingth outh of my mouf,” Pablo said with a mouthful of Squeaker’s wing feathers. Grandpa looked up again to see Red enter the room but now wondered where Squeaker and Pablo were. “Hey boys, are you two playing with the TV remote again?” he called while still searching for his supplies. “At least leave some buttons on it for me this time.” It may have taken a few minutes, but Pablo finally managed to compose himself. “That would have been perfect!” he stated. “Why did you have to walk in my way?” “Perfect?!” Squeaker replied, “Perfect would have been planting both feet on the ground!” Squeaker turned around and pulled a limp, half-broken feather off his tail. “Look at this! Now I’ll have to grow another one back in! Do you know how much that stings? Pabs, I hate pain! You know how much I hate pain! the time my toenail got stuck in that rope and I smacked my head against the cage door? I it like it was yesterday! Pain, I tell you! I can’t stand…blah, blah, blah. Blah blah blah? Blah blah blah blah!”

Right about that moment is when Pablo’s selective deafness kicked in. “Pain, yeah…got it,” he mumbled to himself while turning his back on Squeaker. “At least Kyra doesn’t rant on and on like this.” “Wait,” Squeaker chirped. “So that’s why you’re acting like this.” “Like what?” Pablo asked. “You wanted to impress her, didn’t you?” Squeaker chuckled. “You wanted to show Kyra how well you could fly, didn’t you? Well, I’m sure she’ll be impressed, Pabs. I mean, not every bird can do a somersault landing like you can!” “Don’t make me break another feather on you, Squeaks,” Pablo cautioned. “Hey, no need for that Pabs! I just know how you are around your little sister, that’s all!” Squeaker raced to catch up to his partner. “I made a promise, that’s all,” Pablo commented while starting the long walk back to their cage. “I know, I know. She’s your little sister! You and Robert...that promise you made him. You told me all about it before.” “I’m her big brother! I need to make sure I can look out for her like I promised Robert!” Squeaker lifted a wing and placed it around Pablo. “Don’t worry, Pabs, we’ll work on it. I promise! Next time I won’t walk in your landing path,” Squeaker reassured, giving Pablo a little nudge. Pablo returned the gesture with a little nudge of his own.

Chapter Four

Family Gathering

The rest of the day ed without much excitement. Coco and Red tried having an intellectual conversation about the benefits of silverware versus their beaks, while Squeaker was having a deep, meaningful conversation with Pablo about his newspaper preferences in cage lining and Kiku was…well, Kiku was meticulously taking shreds of paper and dunking them each in his water bowl. Grandpa had finally gotten the house to a level he considered perfect for company. The furniture was polished, the floors were spotless, even the last of Kiku’s mess was cleaned up. The rugs had been thoroughly dusted out and the carpets were vacuumed until the fibers were nearly pulled from their weave. The grandfather clock in the living room, beyond the kitchen, sounded with five long strokes–a sound the birds were not only accustomed to, but could replicate precisely. The sun was just past its peak, starting to set in the late afternoon. The orange glow illuminating the dining room area near the birds alerted them to what time of day it was if the clock didn’t–dinner time! “I’m hungry! What’s for dinner?” Kiku asked anxiously. “Dinner, dinner, dinner!” Grandpa wandered by each of their cages on his way into the kitchen. “Now boys, we’re going to have to wait for our guests to arrive before we eat. Dinner may be a bit late today,” Grandpa said as if reading Kiku’s thoughts. “Not fair! I’m hungry! Kiku’s hungry!” Kiku protested. “I want to eat now!” Kiku climbed up to his food bowl and started rummaging through the leftover debris that he once called breakfast. To his disappointment, nothing had changed since he last checked. Nothing but a few seed crumbs, an apple core, and a fruit skin could be found. “Calm down, Kiku, take an example from Red over there. Relax,” Grandpa replied in a comforting tone, nodding in Red’s direction while talking to Kiku,

possibly taking note of the fact that Red was beyond “calm”; he was sound asleep. Chimes started ringing throughout the house, sounding out a short melody before fading. “They’re here!” Grandpa whispered eagerly across the room. Despite his older age and his normally slow movements, the elderly man sprang to the front door. “Cathy! It’s so good to see you again after all this time!” Grandpa exclaimed as he opened the door. The birds all let out a synchronized shiver. Cathy, Grandpa’s daughter, was one person none of them had any desire to see again once she moved out of the house. “Why did he invite that cold-hearted beast over for dinner?” Coco muttered. Cathy was fairly tall for a woman, being almost the same height as her father, who had appeared to shrink over the years. She had long, rusty brown hair with some artificial red highlights showing through. Cathy had always been in denial of her natural hair color, so this was nothing new. Her skin was perfectly tanned thanks to the wonders of a tanning salon, and her outfit made sure it showed. She was wearing a tight-fitting white skirt and high heels that contrasted against her darker skin. “Cathy, my dear, you didn’t have to dress up just for dinner!” her father said as he closed the door. “Don’t worry, Dad, I’m supposed to meet some friends after this and didn’t want to have to go home to change,” she replied as she casually walked through the house as though she still had a claim on it. “Am I the first?” she asked. “As a matter of fact, you are. It’s just been me, Coco, Red, Squeaker, Pablo, and Kiku up to now,” Grandpa smiled in their direction as he continued. “Why don’t you pull up a seat? Can I get you something to drink?” “No thanks, I have to save some room for later,” Cathy responded in an unusually sweet tone. “So, have you taken our last conversation into

consideration at all?” “Please, Cathy, not now. I want this night to be a pleasant family gathering.” Her father dodged the subject and continued, “Ever since you moved out of state we hardly get to see you anymore. Robert always asks about you, Anna always wishes you well and you barely know Kyra, even after nine years. I just want us all to have a pleasant evening and enjoy each other’s company.” “I suppose it can wait if you insist on being like that,” Cathy snapped while making her way toward the birds. “But it really is a nice place and you know that I will always take care of the birds for you.” “I know sweetie, but you don’t have to pretend you like them, just for my sake. You were always your own person and it’s fine that you don’t share my love for these feathered guys. Besides, it’s as much about them liking you as it is you liking them.” The sound of the chimes once again resonated throughout the house. “Kyra, Kyra, Kyra!” Kiku shouted eagerly. Cathy just looked down at him for a second. “Still can’t see what the fuss is about. I was talking since I was two but the most you can do is mimic us. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering those tiny pea-brains you have,” Cathy muttered toward the flock, while her father walked to the front door. “Pea-brain! Get over here and I’ll show you a pea-brain, you miserable wretch! My pea-brain might not tell me not to bite you as hard as I can!” Pablo shouted as he charged the side of the cage. Red just looked at him, “Give it up, junior. She’s always been like this and she’ll always be like this. There’s no use flying off the handle. Besides, I’ve seen how you fly,” Red chuckled, slightly amused by his own wit. His words fell on deaf ears, however, as Pablo still tried to latch onto Cathy when she walked by his cage. The brilliant, light-hearted voices that filled the air next were music to everyone’s ears. It was Robert, Anna and…Kyra! “Ah, come in, come in!” Grandpa said eagerly as he opened the door. “So, how’s the rest of my family doing these days?”

Robert entered the house. As a child, he easily fit through the door, but in his adult years, after growing to a height that towered over his father, Robert was careful to watch his head as he walked through the doorway. Other than his height, Robert was a near-perfect image of his father, back in the old man’s youth. His thick brown hair, although windblown, was neatly cut and parted and his blue eyes were identical to his father’s. The sharp crevices in the old man’s face, down his cheeks, were much smoother and less pronounced on his son, but still there, nonetheless. “Pop, we live right down the street,” Robert commented, smiling. “We’re doing fine. We stopped by to see Ma today,” the smile slowly faded from his mouth. The frail old man sighed, “I miss her too, you know. I really should get up there sometime to…to pay my respects. One day when I work up the strength again, I’ll visit and bring some flowers. Her birthday’s coming up soon, you know. Maybe I’ll go then,” he had tears welling up in his eyes and a lump formed in his throat at the thought. Red zoned out for a moment. Coco looked over at his old flockmate staring off, and knew he was lost in thought at just hearing her name. “Hey there, old guy. All of us who knew her loved her, too. She was an amazing woman. You know that last night you spent with her meant the world to her,” Coco gently reminded Red. Robert’s voice interrupted Red’s thoughts. “I know, Pop, next time we can all go as a family,” Robert replied while extending his arm to his dad’s shoulder. “Enough about this. Anna, where are my manners?” Grandpa bounced back, once again full of energy. “Let me take those bags for you.” Anna’s blond hair hung loosely to her shoulders as she ed a bag to Grandpa. She was a graceful, soft-spoken person who let out a gentle smile to her fatherin-law as she replied, “Dad, you really don’t...” Anna didn’t stand a chance at getting the words out before Grandpa scooped the bags from her hands. “Nonsense! When you married my son, you married the rest of the family too!” he laughed as he walked down the hall with the bag under his arm. “How could I forget? You’ve reminded me almost every day for the past ten

years, you know,” Anna smiled as she spoke to the old man. Robert put his hand on Anna’s shoulder and just smiled. “Let him have his fun, dear.” The flock perked up as they saw the bags enter the house. “Dinner?” Kiku asked with a renewed spark of interest. “Looks like she’s making a salad again. Hmm, I think there might also be a stew this time!” Coco exclaimed to the others while cocking his head slightly to one side to get a better view. “Stew! Oh, thank you, Anna! I love you! I wish you would come over and cook for us every day!” Squeaker said with the same delight Kiku now shared. Anna’s cooking had always been a joyous occasion for the flock. Every time she made dinner, there was plenty to go around to the whole family, birds and all. No sooner had Grandpa picked up the bags than a little flash of pink and green rushed through the door and clutched onto his leg. “Grandpa, Grandpa!” the little pink and green blur shouted out. It didn’t take Kiku more than a second to realize who this was, “Kyra! Kyra!” he shouted. “Whoa now, Kyra! And how’s my favorite granddaughter?” Grandpa asked. “Grandpa, I’m your only granddaughter” Kyra smiled in response. Kyra and her grandfather shared a laugh at the thought, and as fast as she grabbed onto her grandfather’s leg, she let go to race inside. “Hello, Kyra!” Coco said in a clear, enthusiastic voice. “Coco! How are you Cokes?” She squealed. No one was sure where she picked up that nickname, but it stuck. Coco knew both versions of his name and whenever Kyra was around he was pleased to hear either. “Kyra, Kyra, Kyra! Over here, Kyra! It’s me, down here!” Kiku was on the verge of wearing a hole through his cage from his pacing.

“Kiku!!” Kyra raced over to him and offered a finger. Kiku was more than happy to step up for her as he bounced up and down in complete and utter joy. “Kiku, you’re so funny!” Kyra laughed as Kiku raced up to her neck and started to play in her wavy brown shoulder-length hair. The word “no” had never crossed paths with Kiku. Most people would have been terrified of letting a bird with Kiku’s curious and energetic nature up to their shoulder. Necklaces, earrings, even earlobes and nostrils could prove to be a toy for a bird with his energy. Kiku had known exactly how far was too far, though, and never tried crossing that limit with Kyra. Kyra’s high energy level helped keep him occupied! Kiku rolled across the back of her neck with a lump of hair in his beak and then settled down on her opposite shoulder, pressing his head against her neck, just below her ear. He let out a content “purr” and started to close his eyes. Pablo and Squeaker sat silently waiting for Kyra to make her way over to them. Red, on the other hand, sat quietly hoping Kyra wouldn’t make her way over to him! Looking just over her shoulder, Kyra saw Red sitting there in silence and started to approach him. “Red! I’m so sorry! You wanna play with Kiku, too?” Coco let out a huge laugh while Red just glared at him. “Kyra, sweetie, no I really don’t…not at the moment…no…wait!” Despite Red’s outward reaction to her, he reluctantly stepped up on the finger Kyra had positioned in front of him, leaning as far away from Kiku as possible in the process. “Red, Red, Red!” Kiku said right in Kyra’s ear. “Kiku, you’re right! It’s Red! Say hello!” she said, while moving Red closer to Kiku despite Red shifting all of his body weight away from him. “Think, old man, think! OK, I can make it. If I jump now I can still make it back to my cage! Ready…” Red prepared himself for a death-defying leap toward the safety of his cage. “One, two…jump!” Red sailed through the air the entire two feet back to his cage. His aim was only slightly off as he missed grabbing onto his upper perch

and landed with the all too familiar thud in the pile of newspapers on the bottom of his cage. Pablo huffed up a bit, “See, it’s not just me who has problems with the landing!” “Oh, Red! Why?” Kyra sniffled softly. “Why don’t you like me?” Once he gathered himself, Red heard Kyra’s words echo through his ears. If only he had a way to tell her how he felt, if only she’d just listen to him when he tried. Red was at a loss for what to do. “I step up for her. I don’t bite her. I let her know I don’t want to go. She still makes me anyway! Any ideas Brainiac?” Red asked Coco. “Honestly, she’s still young. Just give her time. She’ll eventually learn. I know Robert will teach her right. I don’t doubt that,” Coco replied, still fixated on trying to get Kyra’s attention. “Kyra, sweetie, what did I tell you about holding the birds?” Robert called out from the doorway where he was now engaged in conversation with his father and sister. “But, Daddy! Red likes me, I just know he does,” she responded in a sad little voice. “He might, but you have to learn to listen to him. Don’t force him to do things like that if he doesn’t want to. He may want to eat or take a nap instead. You understand?” “OK, Daddy. I like Red. I’ll let him take a nap,” Kyra responded as she started to walk away, turning toward Squeaker and Pablo instead. Red glanced at Coco. “Don’t say it, just don’t say it.” Coco looked back and just grinned. “Kyra! Over here! I have to tell you all about the past few weeks since we’ve seen you. You wouldn’t believe what we’ve gone through. Pablo over here has been crashing as always and…Oh! The other day…” Squeaker started on one of his usual ramblings as Kyra approached their cage.

“Squeaker! My little yellow friend! How are you, cutie?” Kyra smiled while ignoring Kiku’s antics of hanging off her shirt and trying to burrow his way down her sleeve. As Kyra approached their cage, Pablo raced up to the top, pushing Squeaker out of the way. “Hey sis! How’s it been going?” Pablo said in his brotherly tone. “Oh, Pabs, always the pushy one!” Kyra chuckled politely. “Hey, she can call you Pabs but I can’t?” Squeaker protested, as he pulled himself up from the side of the cage Pablo had pushed him off. “Quiet, Pipsqueak! She and I go back longer; we have a mutual understanding,” Pablo responded with his “tough guy” attitude while turning his head a bit for some chin rubs, which Kyra provided. “Squeaker, don’t worry, I love you too!” Pablo was still monopolizing Kyra’s finger, but she managed to beam a smile in Squeaker’s direction that made up for it. “Saying hello to your big brother, I see,” Robert said from behind her. “What do you say, Pablo, can I get a kiss for old time’s sake?” Robert bent down and Pablo leaned up a bit, meeting him a few inches away. Pablo raised his beak and gave Robert a gentle kiss on the nose. “That’s my little green boy!” Robert said in a joking tone. “Kyra, come on and say hi to your aunt Cathy.” “If I have to,” Kyra’s response was less than enthusiastic. “What’s this? My, how you’ve grown, Kyra!” Cathy commented, trying to sound sincere. “Kids do that,” Kyra stated blankly. “Oh, and you have a bird on you. How…quaint,” Cathy commented with all the comion of wet rag. Polite conversation wasn’t one of Cathy’s strong points. She was the kind of person for which every word had a purpose and every purpose had some benefit to her. Asking about the weather, people’s health, or some other “meaningless small talk”, as she put it, was only a way to get

people’s guard down. Too busy playing in Kyra’s hair to notice her cross the room, Kiku paused for a second as his eyes came to rest on Cathy. He let out a little “growl” and started to fixate entirely on her. His eyes never blinked, his wings started to vibrate and his head started to shake from one side to the other. “I think we’re about to see a show!” Coco commented from the top of the cage on which he was now standing. In one seamless motion, Kiku jumped off Kyra’s shoulder, flapped his wings and landed beak-first on Cathy’s index finger. The shriek that filled the room caused all the birds to laugh at once and all the humans’ jaws to drop. Kiku had clamped down on Cathy’s finger and started to twist and pull as hard as his little body would allow. “Get this…this…thing off of me!” Cathy screamed. “Kiku! Kiku, stop it!” Grandpa shouted as he slid his finger in between Kiku’s pointed beak and Cathy’s finger. Kiku immediately let go, hopped on Grandpa’s finger, then back to Kyra’s shoulder. He let out a little Kiku-sized laugh once he settled back in. Cathy, now holding her finger, glared at Kiku. “You worthless little runt! One day…” She stormed out of the room. Pablo started yelling from the opposite side of the room, “Get back here, I’ll show you what a bird can really do! I’ll show you how worthless we can be!” Kyra looked up at her mother and father with her best puppy dog eyes, “Can I go play with Kiku now?” “OK, Kyra, but take him into the living room, alright?” Anna said in a calm tone, trying not to react to her sister-in-law’s outburst. Squeaker looked a bit distressed as he watched Kyra walk into the living room. “What about me?” he chirped in a sad little voice.

Kyra ran back into the kitchen to grab a glass of water, “For Kiku,” she explained and then ran back off to the living room. Stopping mid-step, Kyra turned around and gestured to Squeaker. “You coming, Squeak?” she smiled while holding a hand out. “Yippee!” Squeaker shouted and then dove off his cage directly onto Kyra’s ready-made perch.

Chapter Five

Dinner

The family was now making their way into the kitchen and dining room area having a conversation about everything from the color of the neighbor’s trees to the little dog down the street that wakes up at 5:00 every morning barking and the newspaper boy who always misses the front door. Anna slipped some of the groceries out of the bags they brought and laid them out in perfect order on the counter. The birds drooled over the sight. Asparagus, tomatoes, cucumber, spinach, parsley, peppers – all of their favorites lined up only a few feet away. Such torture! “Now, did you think you could get away with that?” Robert asked in a serious voice. “Get away with what?” Anna replied, thoroughly confused. “Get away with having all of this laid out within sight of those guys there,” Robert pointed over to the birds, focusing mainly on Coco. “Hellooo?” Coco sang out in an annoyed tone, followed by another “Hellooo?” much like someone calling to a person if they were blatantly being ignored. Anna and Robert let out a synchronized laugh. “Guess I should have known better,” she smiled. “Allow me,” Robert scooped up a small handful of each of the vegetables as Anna chopped them into fine cubes. He made his rounds to each of their bowls, handing out a few more to Coco and Red than he did the others. “Really, what’s all the fuss about? They’re birds, they eat birdseed,” Cathy commented from the pantry where she pulled out a small bag of coffee beans. “I never understood why you always insist on feeding them all of that produce and wasting your money.” “Well,” Robert stated, “had you paid any attention to them over the past several

years you would have learned the same things we have. I’m tired of explaining their health to you, since you won’t listen and don’t want to know in the first place. Why even ask?” Robert knew the answer, but also knew it wasn’t one Cathy would it. He and his sister had rarely been able to exist in the same space together for any length of time without arguing about some of the most trivial things. The simple fact was, Cathy lived to argue. Their last argument was about whether toothpaste should be squeezed from the middle or rolled up from the bottom. “Because I like having conversations with you, big brother,” she answered with a mischievous little grin across her face. Anna was now going into full-fledged “chef mode.” Her vegetables were chopped, the salad dressing was prepared, the stew was heating and the coffee was brewing. Grandpa pulled a seat up to the table, inviting Coco to eat alongside him. “Come on, old buddy, it’s time for dinner.” “Oh Dad, must we?” Cathy complained as she took a seat across from him. While reaching for the salad, he replied, “Coco’s just as much a part of this family as you are, sweetie. If you don’t like it, then the door’s right behind you.” Coco recognized that tone. That was Grandpa’s serious, take no prisoners, “it’s my way or the highway” tone. It had been a while since Coco heard him speak like that, but it had been a while since Cathy came to visit. “Well Dad,” Cathy backed down a bit, “I was only looking out for your own health. Don’t want you catching anything from one of those birds, you know.” “I’ve been in combat, I’ve driven a taxi in the city for years and I’ve worked around toxic chemicals for over a decade. I can handle a few bird germs, can’t I, old buddy?” he argued, while offering Coco a piece of cucumber. Coco happily accepted his offer and held the cucumber in one foot while he started to peel it, eating the fleshy interior and leaving the stiff outer skin. “Kyra! It’s dinner time. Let Kiku and Squeaker have their dinner and come to

the table,” Anna called out. “OK,” she called back. “Heh heh, Kiku, stop it! We have to go eat, OK?” Kyra came prancing down the hall with no birds in sight. Shortly after stopping in front of his cage, Kyra looked down her shirt sleeve. “Kiku, it’s dinner time!” she whispered down her sleeve. The adults at the table didn’t even bother looking – well, all except one, that is. Cathy turned to see what was happening behind her. She saw Kiku pop his little black head out from Kyra’s shirt sleeve and then do a somersault out from her sleeve into his cage. Squeaker came flying back soon after, panting for air. “Whew!” he exclaimed. “I forgot how energetic she can be at times! One minute I was upside down, the next we were playing newspaper-ball catch and the next we were rolling over getting belly rubs. I’m worn out!” “Oh, poor baby,” Pablo muttered sarcastically with his head buried deep in his food bowl. “Are you going to be alright or do you need me to call 911?” Squeaker just flashed a look at him, “Jealous, are we?” and then proceeded to him at their food bowl. Now that the salad was done, it was time for the main course: stew! “Mmmm, looks delightful, Anna!” Grandpa commented while dishing out a healthy serving for he and Coco to share. As soon as it had hit the bowl, Coco was over exploring. “Let’s see…soft-nuts, celery, chili pepper, red pepper, looks like some bits of leaves and…eww, funguses! Well, five out of six isn’t bad, I guess,” he said while reaching down and pulling out a “soft-nut,” his term for a bean. Coco wasn’t the only one who took notice of the contents of the stew. “It’s missing something,” Cathy commented while taking her first bite. Robert and Anna looked at each other. “I can’t place it, but there’s something missing.”

“That would probably be the meat, sis,” Robert commented between bites. “You mean you two are still vegetarians?” Cathy sounded a bit dismayed by the idea. Robert let out a sigh. “Still and always will be,” he commented, not wanting to waste time arguing the point while trying to eat. Kyra chimed in, in her usual innocent voice, “Why, Aunt Cathy? What do you eat?” Had it not been for her age and innocence, most people would have probably thought this was a set-up. Luckily for Cathy, she was the kind of person who was always “on” and wouldn’t allow herself to be caught off guard by a nine-yearold girl. “I eat whatever’s available and healthy,” she said with a smug look on her face, taking pride in outwitting a nine-year-old girl. “Kyra, it’s not polite to bother your aunt while she’s trying to enjoy the meal,” Robert stated. “OK, sorry, Aunt Cathy. I hope this is healthy enough for you to eat without any dead animals in it!” she smiled and continued to eat. Cathy almost responded in a knee-jerk reaction, but held back with a curt, “It’s fine.” The meal continued without much more conversation. Although she could be stubborn and liked to debate, even Cathy could understand the benefits of eating a good home-cooked meal when she had one. “So, Cathy,” her father started, after he had finished his first bowl and was reaching for seconds. “I hear you earned yourself a promotion? Junior Assistant, or something like that?” “Junior Associate” she corrected, “I oversee new s for the company.” “Ah, yes, of course! Sometimes my old brain isn’t what it used to be, you know!” he joked.

Cathy flashed a sideways glare at him as she finished her cup of coffee. “I’m sorry to hear, Dad. Have you seen a doctor?” Coco had inadvertently stepped in the way of this glare and the feathers on his spine started to stand on end. He had never trusted Cathy to act human, and this comment was too out of character for her. “Oh, just relax. My old body is still in perfect shape!” her father commented as his laugh faded. “Robert, when are you going to tell me?” Robert started twiddling his spoon between his fingers like he was still a child. “Well, um, Dad…I don’t know what…” he stammered and paused, trying to find the right words to cover his less-than-elegant start. “Did you really think you could get away with it? Without telling me the good news?” his father continued, ignoring Robert’s clumsy response. “Good news?” Robert glanced over at Anna and then at Kyra. Anna looked just as shocked as he did. Kyra, on the other hand, started to play with her spoon the same as her father was. “I would say it’s good news when my son decides to work at the college full time and give up traveling all over the place with that band, wouldn’t you?” Robert had a sudden look of relief cross his face. “Oh, of course it is!” Pablo looked on from the sidelines, wiping the bits of vegetable off his beak and muttering under his breath, “Nice save! Too bad you fumbled it at the start, though. Poor guy can’t lie to save his life!” “Kyra told me all about your new plans. I have to say I’m proud of you, son! Finally settling down to take care of your family like that.” “Well, I have to be honest, Dad, those aren’t exactly my plans.” The table went silent for a moment. Only Squeaker’s crunching of cucumber could be heard from behind everyone. Eventually, he also stopped to turn around and see what everyone was waiting for. “Oh?” his father had a perplexed look on his face.

“I still have one more show to play and then, I promise, I’ll take that job at the college.” “What show? More importantly, where?” his father asked, while not touching his fresh bowl of stew. “Stuttgart,” Robert hesitantly announced. “An hour away from here? That’s no big deal!” his father had a hopeful look on his face. “No, Dad, not Stugart, right up the road. Stuttgart, .” The hope faded from his father’s face. “That’s…more than an hour away.” He frowned. “I know, I know, but it’s my last gig and I get to take the family with me this time. We’ll only be gone for a couple weeks. It’s not like the others.” His father sighed and continued with his bowl of stew. “I suppose if I were your age, I’d also want to travel still.” “It’s not just that, Dad; I have to play at this concert. It’s the band’s last performance and then I get to relax with some money in the bank.” “You know dad, I’ve been playing for half my life,” Robert commented, as the realization of his life’s ambition being shattered crossed his face. “I took Mom’s advice and really dedicated myself to playing, learning, and even teaching. I always thought I’d be a famous musician one day. I guess it’s just like that phrase says, ‘If you can’t do, teach.’” He continued to fiddle with his spoon while Kyra copied him. “Listen to me, son. You did make a career out of it. You stuck with it, ed yourself and your family with it. You made me and your mom proud, but not just for your music. You have a lovely wife, an adorable daughter and look behind you.” Robert turned to see Pablo and Squeaker edging their way off their cage staring in Robert’s direction. Squeaker let out a little “squeak” and jumped off, gliding down to Robert’s arm. Pablo didn’t miss as horribly as usual and landed at the

foot of Robert’s chair. Robert let out a laugh. “Alright, guys, I know.” He bent down to offer Pablo a ride up to his lap. “I have all of you as well,” he said, while giving Pablo a head rub. “Birds. Lovely. Not that money would help or anything, I’m sure,” Cathy grumbled under her breath while getting up from the table with her dishes in hand. “My brother wearing a tie, I’d love to see that!” she laughed as she walked toward the sink. No one heard. No one cared. Everyone else was too busy enjoying their time together to notice the daggers shooting from Cathy’s eyes as she looked back at them.

Chapter Six

Hot Pepper

“Hello?” Coco’s voice echoed throughout the room. The large table in front of him was now filled with scraps of food, empty cups, and a stray fork or two. The family had gotten up to walk off their meal a bit and then converge in the living room. The birds now had free run of the dining room. “Shhhh, quiet! Don’t let them know we’re here!” Pablo hushed Coco as he foraged around the table for scraps. In the middle of their conversation, Robert hadn’t noticed the two of them hop off of him, onto the table. If there was one thing Pablo loved about Kyra more than anything, it was her eating habits. There was almost guaranteed to be just as much food on the floor, table, and chair as there was in her mouth at any given point during a meal. “Mmmm, jalapeno!” Squeaker squeaked, delighted by his find. “Hey! Give it here!” Pablo charged toward Squeaker at the thought of biting down on a juicy, hot bit of the pepper. Squeaker dropped the bit of pepper and ducked out of the way as Pablo charged toward him. “It’s mine!” Pablo grunted as he dug his beak into the pepper. What he didn’t for, though, was the end of the table he was charging off as he grabbed the pepper. In a frenzy of flapping and ruffling of feathers, Pablo took off from the edge of the table, sailed through the air, turned around halfway across the room and landed on the kitchen blinds overhanging the sink. “Whew! Caught myself,” he said with a mouth full of hot pepper and dirty vinyl. From behind him was a frenzy of laughter coming from Red, Coco, and Squeaker. “Well, he got it alright!” Red shouted out, watching Pablo hang precariously from the blinds.

“Hey Pabs! You alright, pal?” Squeaker shouted, “Or should I ask...do you even know where you are?” Pablo hadn’t thought about that until Squeaker mentioned it. Not being able to get a firm grip on anything with his feet, he rolled his eyes backward a bit to try to get a look around. The sink was beneath him, piled with dishes from dinner, and there were cabinets on either side. There was nowhere for him to go other than down. He flapped his wings as hard as he could. He did manage to get some lift from the effort, so he thought it was safe to let go and try to get himself back to the table. If Pablo were perhaps a bit lighter, smaller, and faster this may have worked. Just like the hummingbirds he had seen outside, he thought he was going to simply hover a bit, turn around and fly right back to the table. Gravity was still an elusive concept to the stubborn little parrot, however! Pablo plummeted into the sink full of dirty dishes the second his beak let go of the blinds. The room filled with the sound of crashing dishes and squawking birds. Those who were watching the show could barely contain the laughter. Kyra came running into the room. “Pabsy!” she shouted. Pulling herself up to the counter level, she peeked into the sink. There she saw Pablo, rather confused, with a face full of mashed beans and bits of pepper plastered to his back while sitting in a coffee-flavored, stew-water brine. A look of disgust crossed his face once he realized what he was covered in. Looking up, he saw the divide in the sink. “Just a few inches to the right” he muttered, “and I would have been safe. Figures!” The sink was divided in two, with dirty dishes and their residue on the side in which he landed and a clean, empty, dry, stainless steel surface on the one he missed. Kyra reached in as far as she could and placed a finger out for him. Pablo gladly stepped right up on her finger; anything to get out of that mess he was in! Before he knew what was happening, Kyra placed him in the other side and walked away.

“Hey! Wait! No, don’t leave me here!” He yelled, but it was in vain, Kyra had already made her way back into the other room. “Great, abandoned by my own sister, left to wither away in a sink,” he muttered, feeling sorry for himself. Then he heard footsteps, many footsteps in fact. He knew Kyra must be one set, since she always sounded like five people walking through a room, but wasn’t sure who the other would be. “There he is! See?” he heard Kyra’s voice echo on the steel walls. “Well Pablo, looks like you made a mess of yourself,” Robert laughed as he poked his head over the sink to see what the fuss was about. “Hang on, buddy, you’re not going to like this…” “Like what?” Pablo asked in a series of squeaks and whistles. Then he saw Robert’s hand reach up above him and shift the water faucet over toward the side he was standing in. “Oh, no. Not that! Please, anything but…” Pablo’s pleas didn’t help as Robert slowly turned the tap on. There was a small trickle of water running out that Robert directed over Pablo’s head. Pablo was trying frantically to get away from it, running up the sides, flapping his wings, and doing anything he could. Robert just turned the pressure up a bit and now Pablo was getting pelted with large droplets of water rushing out of the faucet. He gave up. At this point, he was thoroughly soaked, sticky, and miserable. On most days, a gentle mist of water was quite enjoyable, on the other hand, this constant bombardment of water droplets from the faucet took its toll on him. He just sat there on the bottom with his head tucked in, waiting for the stream of misery to end. His feathers were soaked and stuck to his body like strings of wet spaghetti, exposing his chest, waist, and back, while those on his head were sticking up likes spikes on a hedgehog. “Told you, you weren’t going to like that,” Robert said with a coy look on his

face. “Alright, let’s go!” Robert placed a finger down in the sink and Pablo stepped up on it, losing all sense of modesty in his very wet and very naked state. Taking note of Pablo’s very slender, fully exposed body size underneath the fluff of feathers, Kiku blurted out the first thing that ran across his mind. “Skinny bones!” Red started laughing. From the top perch in his cage, he witnessed everything: the flight, the landing, the splashdown, and the bath. “The runt’s right, you know. You’re puny underneath all those feathers!” Coco saw the soaked string bean-looking bird coming back his way and couldn’t help but comment on the subject. “Gravity goes down, not up,” he chuckled. Squeaker was silent, with a look of shame across his face. He turned around toward the living room where he saw Kyra run off to and then turned back to Pablo. “Psst, Pabs. Don’t look now, but I think you might have another ‘Hall of Shame’ moment!” he whispered as he saw Kyra run back into the room. Sure enough, in true form, Kyra ran up to Pablo and squeezed off a picture on her trusted old camera. “You look so funny!” she laughed while taking another picture. “I’m going to put this up on the wall with all of the others!” “Perfect. Next time that camera’s coming for a bath with me,” he threatened, as Robert placed him back on his cage top. Looking down the hallway, he saw several of his old pictures hanging where Kyra thought the birds would enjoy seeing their “memories” displayed.

Chapter Seven

Free Ride

The squeaky wheel gets the grease, or was it the squeaky bird gets the attention? Coco thought the latter of the two was the correct version of the idiom. Having hopped and flapped his way over and then being left alone on the table after everyone else had walked away, he felt abandoned. Pablo and Squeaker weren’t ones to offer much comfort, since their goal was to scrounge up as many scraps as possible before Pablo’s “detour.” Once Robert and Kyra had gone back into the living room after Pablo’s “Great Rescue,” as it became known, Coco was left all alone once again. Trying, yet again, to get everyone’s attention, Coco abandoned his polite “Hello” for a less subtle screech. The windows were vibrating as Coco let out a shrill screech from the dining room table. He could fly, yes. However, he preferred not to fly if he could simply convince people to walk over to him and offer him a ride. He was never one to turn down a free ride, after all…except maybe one from Cathy! “Coco, what is it?” Grandpa asked from across the house. “Did we leave you all alone out there? You have the rest of the boys to play with.” Coco looked around at Red, who was half asleep on the top of his cage; Pablo, who was preening himself after his ordeal with the sink; and Squeaker, who was trying to help Pablo fix himself up. Kiku was probably the only other bird in the room who seemed more interested in whatever was going on down that hallway than he was in this room. While everyone was busy doing their own thing, Coco let out another shrill screech that even started the neighbor’s dogs barking. “OK, OK, Coco, you win,” Grandpa half-heartedly argued, as he walked down the hall toward the dining room. “Grandpa, I want to come too!” Kyra shouted, as she ran down the hall to be with her grandfather.

The two of them walked toward Coco and Grandpa raised a hand. “Well now, is that better? You want to come out there with us?” Coco eagerly hopped on; after all, it was a free ride! As they walked down the hallway, Coco could hear the sounds of the rest of the family. “We leave tomorrow,” Robert’s voice echoed in the middle of a conversation. “We have to be out of the house by 4:00 a.m. to catch our flight.” When they rounded the corner Coco saw the other three sitting on the sofa, coffee cups in hand. Coco, however, was more interested in the play stand in the corner. This one was much smaller than the stand they had in the dining room, and much less complex. There was a metal pole rising from a base with four legs. On top of the pole, a wooden branch extended several inches in either direction, with many smaller branches extending out from it. Coco and Red often fought over this play stand many years ago. It was the favorite. There was another, smaller stand tucked away at the side of the room that neither bird liked very much. It was just a wooden pole attached to a metal stand. Neither stand was nearly as elaborate as their other play stand. It didn’t matter much to Coco at the moment; he was just content being near the rest of the family. “Hi there, Coco!” Anna called out when she saw him enter the room. “Are you all done with dinner?” Anna’s words went through his head without much acknowledgment on his part. Anytime he entered a new room, Coco felt slightly uneasy. Everything has a place, everything should be in its place, and he was bent on making sure everything was ed for. While Grandpa carried Coco toward the play stand, Coco went down his mental checklist. “Sofa still there, check; coffee table in the middle, check; potted plants on the shelf, check; bookcase in the corner, check; family sitting on sofa, check; area rug still has that same brown stain, check; generic-looking landscape paintings still on the wall, check; TV still in the corner, check.” Coco’s eyes raced around the room while he went through this checklist.

“Hey Coco! Long time, no see!” Robert commented as Coco finally settled onto his play stand. Cathy was up and moving about, looking rather disturbed. “You won’t even consider it?” she asked. Her father answered as he sat back down with a sigh, “Consider leaving this house, the very house you were born and raised in? Don’t be ridiculous!” “Cathy, I think you already have your answer, why do you keep pestering him?” Anna asked in the most polite voice she could muster. “I’m not pestering! I’m simply asking my father a question and trying to do what’s best for him! If he wants to tell me something, then let him be the one who tells me!” Cathy was getting annoyed. Everyone could hear it, Coco included. “Oh great”, he sighed, “another outburst like she used to do years ago. Don’t they ever grow out of this?” Robert piped up, “Well he’s my father, too, and he’s still a fully functional human being. What do you have to gain from this Cathy? I’ve known you my entire life and there’s never been anything you’ve done that you don’t directly gain from, so what is it this time? Do you want the house? Do you want the property? The only things I’m sure you don’t want are the birds!” “What about his dignity?” Cathy argued. “Look, this place offers him everything he could want.” Cathy pulled out a large, glossy brochure that showed people smiling, walking, riding bikes, and relaxing in the sun. It was a picture of total bliss, with brilliant colors and peaceful scenery. “It’s a sales pitch,” Robert argued. “Have you ever been to one of these places? They treat you like a child. You raise a family and work your whole life only to have complete strangers treat you like a child when you get old. I’m not going to let that happen to him!” “Ahem,” their father cleared his throat. “I’m still alive and in this room!” he

yelled in a gruff voice. “No one is going to tell me what I can or can’t do! You’re my daughter, Cathy, and I love you but I can’t figure out where this side of you comes from. Your mother was a good-natured person and always wanted what was best for the family. I’ve been a good father to you kids, or so I’d like to think, anyway. Haven’t I? So, tell me, where does this side of you come from? How can you sit there and try to lock me up while claiming it’s for my own good?” Coco was rather flustered by this. In all the years he has lived here, only once had he seen his friend lash out like that at one of his own children. Grandpa quickly stood up from the sofa with a look of utter disgust and walked down the hall back to the dining room. Robert and Anna got up to follow him, each of them trying to offer some consolation. Kyra walked up to Cathy and handed her an almond. “Here, take this.” Cathy looked down at the woody brown shell of the nut and then looked back at Kyra, “Not now, Kyra, I’m not hungry.” Kyra gave her a quizzical look, “It’s not for you, silly, it’s for Coco!” Kyra pointed at Coco on his play stand. “Well, maybe you should…” Cathy couldn’t get the words out before Kyra was pulling her up by her hand, off the sofa. “Here, he likes them. Give him one!” Kyra said, while offering Coco a head rub. Head rubs were almost always good in Coco’s book, as long as he wanted them. When someone would walk by and offer him one, he would usually accept by placing his head down a bit and ruffling his feathers out. This was no exception. Reluctantly, Cathy approached Coco and held the almond out between her fingers. Coco looked up at Cathy and saw the almond. He reached out almost instinctively for the almond and grabbed it. After doing a double-take, he saw Cathy again and realized who was offering him the almond. Coco quickly dropped the almond on the ground, shouting a very stern, “No!” at her. Kyra laughed.

“Well now, Coco, I’m only going to offer this to you once again. After all, you know who I am; when have I ever done anything to you?” Cathy argued with him, as though she was a stranger offering candy to a baby. “When have you done anything for me?” were the words Coco had translated for her. In all the years he had known her, Cathy had never intentionally done anything for himself or any of the flock. Cathy reached down, picked up the almond, and placed it next to Coco on the perch. “There you go, Coco. Now be a good boy and eat the nut.” “Hrmph! Command me now? Like I’m going to do something because you tell me to?” he let out under his breath. Coco picked the almond up with his foot, wrapping each toe carefully around the shell. When he had a firm grasp on it he looked back at Cathy. “Good boy. Now eat it,” she said, stinking of arrogance as though she was showing off her power over a bird. Coco looked back up at her, then at the almond, and tossed it to the ground with all his strength. “No!” he shouted again. Cathy was turning red in her face as her blood pressure started to rise. “Well, Coco, it seems you’ve learned a new trick since last time,” she said sharply, her frustration showing as her voice cracked slightly, searching for the right words to keep things polite between herself and Coco. “C’mon Coco, be a good boy!” Kyra said while sneaking a sly look in his direction. “That’s right, Coco,” Cathy bent down to pick the almond up, “Be a good boy like Kyra said.” Cathy attempted to hand Coco the almond for a third time…

Chapter Eight

He Bit Me!

In a cloud of feathers amidst a stream of mumbling and grunts, Red pulled himself together and looked up at the distance he just fell from. “Not the worst,” he muttered as he stared at his cage from the ground. Kiku was jumping up and down on the bottom of his cage screaming out shrill little whistles regularly. He was just as agitated as Red by what he heard. Pablo and Squeaker just stood in their cage, looked at one another, and laughed. “Sounds like good old Cathy got it again,” Pablo chuckled. “Nice job, Coco! Keep it up!” Squeaker yelled out. From the family room came the sounds of swearing, yelling, and screaming as well as a very stern, “Let go!” in Cathy’s voice. Hidden beneath her shouts was the tiny laugh of Kyra who had found the recent events rather amusing. Red saw Grandpa, Robert and Anna in the kitchen gathering their jackets. Kyra came scurrying around the corner with a mischievous little grin on her face. “Grandpa, I think Coco needs help,” she chuckled in much too calm a voice. Grandpa looked at her and nodded, returning the smile, understanding the events that just unfolded and fully aware of the humor. Robert and Anna, however, took the more parental approach. “Kyra, did you cause that?” Anna asked with a straight face and the “I know the answer and you’re in trouble anyway” tone. Kyra looked sheepishly at the floor. “I was just trying to make them be friends,” she flashed a pair of puppy dog eyes up at her mother. “What did your mother and I say about behaving tonight?” Robert asked, he too already knowing the answer. Kyra could tell she was in trouble–not serious trouble, but trouble nonetheless. The only time her parents ever called themselves “mother” or “father” were the

times she was in trouble. “I know, but honest, I thought they were going to be friends!” Kyra protested while never raising her voice. Robert and Anna exchanged a look and Robert started to show a small smile. “Well…your mother…she told you to behave, didn’t she?” Robert was doing his best to keep a straight face and play the role of a responsible parent but, deep down, everyone knew he was still a child at heart. “Yes, Daddy,” Kyra sighed. “Good, now grab your jacket, we have to get going,” Robert looked at Anna again with that same hint of a smile. “That bird! He’s a menace!” Cathy shouted out as she came walking into the room, holding her finger. “Would you believe he bit me? I was giving him a nut and he bit me! What kind of creatures are you raising in this house?!” Cathy was understandably upset and decided to direct this at her father. Her father looked at her, then rolled his eyes. “Here we go again,” he mumbled, just loud enough to barely reach her ears. “I should have them taken away. I should call Animal Control and have all of them taken away from here! They’re nothing but filthy vermin, getting feathers and dust everywhere while attacking anyone who walks through the door!” Cathy was starting to go on one of her self-gratifying rants just like she had when she lived there and on every visit since she moved out. This time, her attention seemed focused on the birds. In a futile attempt to appeal to her father, she tried to take on the role of a concerned daughter, “Think about your health. Think about their health.” “Hey there, we’re perfectly fine, little miss,” Red argued while climbing his way back up his cage. It was pointless, though, his mumbles and chirps were muted by Cathy’s tantrum. “They’re angry and upset all the time; just look at what he did,” Cathy continued, gesturing in Coco’s direction. “Actually, I was quite happy today, thank you very much. I told you I didn’t want a nut! How else would you listen to me?” Coco shouted out from the living

room. His voice, however, never reached Cathy’s ears. “They’re a hazard and need to go!” Cathy finished only because she ran out of breath. Her father just stared at her. “I’m sorry. I thought my own daughter just told me I make a lousy parent.” “Parent? No, of course not, don’t be ridiculous, you were a great parent!” Cathy seemed shocked by the accusation. “Well then, listen here. I’ve said this a million times to you already but hopefully, maybe it will sink into your head one day. These birds are as much my family as you are. Your mother and I raised many of them the same as we did you and your brother. You even grew up with Red and Coco. Had you taken the least bit of interest in them back then, they might treat you better; treat you with more respect. They’re only returning the attitude. I’m sorry if you don’t like it!” Cathy went silent, just took a deep breath and collected her jacket. “If that’s how you feel about it, then fine!” Cathy stormed out the front door, letting the screen door slam behind her. Her father just shook his head as she left. “I was hoping it would have been a more pleasant evening,” he said, returning to his old, frail voice. “I better go get Coco before he gets too upset,” he continued. “Don’t worry, Grandpa, I’ll get him!” Kyra whispered in a low, sympathetic tone. “Great, another fight,” Coco commented as he listened to all the commotion. “Why does she even come here? Just to make everyone miserable?” Just after he finished the comment, he saw Kyra’s bright little face enter the room. Nothing could seem to get her spirits down. “OK, Coco, let’s go back,” she whispered to him while the grown-ups were in the other room talking, no doubt about Cathy’s recent outburst. Coco gladly stepped up on her finger.

“I know you’re not a menace. You’re a good bird, right?” Kyra asked, not expecting an answer. “I’d bite people, too, if I didn’t like them!” Kyra walked into the dining room and placed Coco back in his cage. “It’s goodnight time, Coco,” she said in a sweet little voice. “I have to go. I’ll see you in a little while.” Kyra ed her parents who were now gathering at the door to say their farewells. Robert looked into the dining room and called out to the flock, “Goodnight guys. We’ll be back soon!” Pablo gave a little wing flutter, the best he could manage as a salute to his “big brother” and “little-big sister”. Squeaker let out a “squeak” in acknowledgment. Red just let out a slight “goodnight” while his tail flared out and his head went down. Coco was a little more verbose with his goodnight routine. “Bye-bye, see you later. Goodnight, goodnight. Sleep tight,” he called out as he watched them leave through the door. With nighttime upon them, Grandpa made his rounds to each of the birds, wishing them goodnight and closing the cage doors for the night. He looked at the pile of dishes stacked in the sink and let out a small sigh as he walked over to them. He grunted as he scraped the dried bits of food off the dishes before scrubbing them in some hot, soapy water. He looked back at the birds, “Times like this, I miss your mother,” he said, smiling as he continued to wash every dish until they were all spotless.

Chapter Nine

A New Day

“Squeaker!” Squeaker chimed. “Good Squeaker!” he chimed again. He just stood there waiting, staring toward the staircase. “Good…” Squeaker stopped the last one short when he heard footsteps coming from upstairs. Pablo was still fast asleep on the opposite side of the cage while Squeaker kept a lookout for Grandpa. It was the start of a new day and he was eager for leftovers! It was customary for Grandpa to chop up bits of the previous night’s dinner for the birds in the morning after a meal like they had the night before. Squeaker was no fool; he ed the salad like it was still in front of him! “I know, I know, Squeaker, I’m coming,” a voice rang out from upstairs. Within a few minutes, Grandpa made his way down the long flight of stairs and back to the dining room, otherwise known as the “Bird Room.” “So, what can I get for all of you this fine morning?” Grandpa asked, with a hint of sarcasm. He already knew the answer, especially with Squeaker being so subtle about it! “Coco, what do you think? Do you think I should chop up the peppers or the cucumbers?” Grandpa saw Coco stir at the mention of his name. Coco, however, was still half asleep trying to determine if the voice he heard was a dream or reality. “So, Coco, what do you think?” he asked again. “Who turned on the sun?” Coco asked under his breath, trying to determine dream from reality. “Pepper! Pepper, pepper, pepper, pepper, pepper, pepper, pepper!” Kiku was wide awake at the thought of food, voicing his obvious favorite. “OK, Kiku, pepper it is!” Grandpa opened up the refrigerator and pulled out a

large plastic bag with slices of juicy red peppers cut up from the previous night. If he had lips, Kiku would have been licking them. “Hey, Pabs! Pabs, Pabs, Pabs! Wake up, Pabs!” Squeaker started pacing frantically around the cage. “He’s getting breakfast ready, Pabs!” “For crying out loud, can’t a bird sleep around here anymore?” Pablo complained from his, cozy little corner, all pressed up against the cage bars. A loud thud came from the direction of Red’s cage. “Good morning, old boy!” Grandpa said, without hesitation. “Glad to see you’re awake.” Grandpa put the knife down and approached Red’s cage. He opened the door and offered Red a finger to step up on from the cage bottom he was now standing on, looking lost. “Oh, for the love of…every time! Kiku does it to me every time!” Red complained as he was stepping up on Grandpa. “Coco, I want you to hear this, too,” Grandpa said as he approached Coco’s cage. He placed Red on top of Coco’s cage as he opened the door to let Coco out. “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought and I decided it was time I go visit your mother today. I want the two of you to come with me, to see her…to pay your respects as well. She would have wanted it that way.” Coco and Red looked at each other. “I think he means to take us to the cemetery,” Coco said. Red was too shocked to respond. He sat frozen on top of Coco’s cage, exchanging glances with Coco and Grandpa. Red could see the resolve on the man’s face and didn’t question his decision. Grandpa had been rather obvious in the fact that going to see his wife was one of the last things he wanted to do after she had ed away. He would always make excuses for not going: yard work, paying bills, cleaning bird cages. There was always some reason for not going, but this time Red could see that he meant it.

Red let out a sigh of acknowledgment. He had also wanted to see Helen, “to pay his respects,” as everyone put it. He was partly curious as to what a cemetery was and partly eager to see where his partner was now sleeping. “Well, you two must be starving! Let’s get back to breakfast and then we’ll get ready to go,” Grandpa continued after a long pause. Red stepped back up on Grandpa and the two of them headed back to his cage. Everyone was eerily quiet while they feasted on their breakfast. The only sounds coming out of the room were the crunching of fresh vegetables and some pellets from their bowls. True to form, after breakfast Kiku ed his favorite pastime. Unfortunately for everyone else, they had all forgotten about his bell until Red spotted Kiku climbing down the side of his cage toward it. “No! Take cover!” Red yelled while trying to brace himself against his food bowl. Coco looked up for a moment to see what was going on, and saw Kiku’s tail feathers sticking out from the bottom of the bell. Quickly he looked around: bowl on one side, perch on another…nowhere to hide! In the middle of fighting over a piece of pepper, Squeaker and Pablo looked at each other when they heard Red shout out. The pepper fell to the floor as they scurried up to their hiding spot, but it was too late. The ringing of the bell was only exaggerated by the flapping of wings, thrashing of newspaper, and shouts from the rest of the flock. Grandpa hurried into the dining room to see what was happening. He walked through the cloud of feathers and dust to see Kiku hanging upside down on his bell, Red desperately clinging on to the side of the cage, Coco buried under a sheet of newspaper on the bottom of his cage and Squeaker and Pablo hanging precariously by their beaks from a piece of rope that was hanging down the side of their cage. “I thought I told all of you–no wild parties while I’m gone!” Grandpa forced out a laugh while still looking somber.

After Kiku’s routine, the rest of the morning went without incident while Grandpa finished getting ready upstairs. Just as Red and Coco were both getting settled down, Grandpa came walking down the stairs. He was wearing freshly ironed brown slacks, a neatly tucked white button-up shirt and a light brown paisley tie. Topping this outfit, fitted snugly on his head, was an old-fashioned brownish-green fedora he only wore on special occasions. “OK, boys, are you ready to go?” he asked Coco and Red. The two of them perked up and looked at each other. Red ducked down and started to gently flap his wings slightly–his universal method of telling everyone he wanted to go somewhere, even if he couldn’t express exactly where. Coco was a little more direct in his methods. He looked at Grandpa, ducked down, and said “Let’s go bye-bye!” Grandpa let out a laugh. “After all these years I still can’t get over you, Coco. I take it you’re ready?” Grandpa slid two small wire cages into the room, just barely tall enough for Coco and Red. Coco now started getting excited. It had been a long time since he’d seen one of those. When Helen grew too ill to travel, the cage was placed in storage and he had completely forgotten about it. The second one was meant for Red, but he was always rather hesitant to go out for any length of time that would warrant a cage. This was the first time he had seen it. “You mean…” Red gulped, “I have to go in there?” Grandpa walked over to Coco. “OK, Coco, you ready to head out?” Coco started bobbing up and down while swaying back and forth. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’ I suppose,” and Grandpa stepped Coco up on his hand. A few seconds later Coco was safely tucked away in the small cage, waiting to head out the door.

“OK, Red, your turn.” Grandpa gestured for Red to come out and step in the small cage. “Hey Red, it’s not so bad when you get used to it. Just think of your reason: it’s for Helen!” Coco shouted. Red closed his eyes and stepped blindly off his perch onto Grandpa’s hand…or where he thought Grandpa’s hand was. With a loud thud, Red crashed down to the floor, wings spread and eyes closed. “What the heck!?” he shouted out, annoyed at the miscalculation. “He was right there!” Pablo tried not to laugh at Red’s misfortune; an attempt that lasted all of three seconds. “And I thought I was bad!” Pablo burst out laughing from inside his cage. “Red, you must really want to go! You’re not even going to wait for me?” Grandpa said as he looked down at Red on the ground. Red just grumbled something under his breath and walked the rest of the way over to his small cage. Red glanced over at Coco, “No comments,” he grumbled as he made himself comfortable in his temporary new cage.

Chapter Ten

Playing Games

“Hey, Pabs,” Squeaker whispered from his corner of the cage while chewing a small piece of rope that was used to hang one of their toys. “They’ve been gone a long time, you think?” This time Pablo wasn’t simply tuning him out, partly because he wasn’t expecting Squeaker’s comment and partly because Squeaker did make a point: They had been gone a long time. “It’s nothing.” Pablo did his best to sound confident. “You know how Red and Coco can talk on and on around the old guy. They’re probably just talking the poor guy’s ear off. After all, it’s been how long since Grandpa’s gone up there?” “Yeah, you know…yeah,” Squeaker replied, pretending to sound at ease in Pablo’s confidence. “ the time Coco and Red started talking about mashed potatoes? They went on for over an hour talking about which is better, whipped or mashed. Red kept saying how he liked being able to chew his food and liked the chunks, but Coco kept insisting whipped potatoes were better since he didn’t like having to constantly chew all of his food.” “Yeah, something like that,” Pablo commented while searching for a toy of his own as a distraction from his thoughts. Although Squeaker had gone as far as to start chewing some of the ropes that were left hanging from their old toys, Pablo was a little choosier about his toys. He liked somewhat new ones, and if he couldn’t find any new ones, he was satisfied chewing on the most colorful ones he could find. It may have been years since he lived in that last home, but when he had a piece of wood in his beak he let his frustrations out! After Cathy’s infrequent visits, he also had an urge to start chewing on things, but he saved thoughts of her mainly for some of the bits of paper and scraps he would chew apart and wrestle to the ground. He looked up to see Squeaker still hard at work chewing his length of string to

shreds. He was being showered in rope lint with each bite Squeaker took. “Hey, you mind?” Pablo asked from the bottom of the cage. Squeaker paused for a brief second. “Not at all, Pabs! You want to have a go at it?” Pablo let out a huff and continued his search around the cage. Squeaker gave him a quick shrug and continued his work on the rope. There was a bit of almond shell here, a splinter of wood there, but so far nothing Pablo stumbled across on the bottom of the cage seemed worthy of being called a toy. “Bingo!” he exclaimed. “Perfect!” Pablo raced over to the side to dig up a small, blue, round wooden spool that had fallen off the toy Squeaker was chewing on the night before. He grabbed it with his foot and started to look for a good place to bite down. Still thinking about last night, Pablo started to picture Cathy’s face painted on the blue-stained wood. “You won’t be needing this!” he commented as he sank his beak into a side of the spool and peeled a sliver off. “You know, Pabs, Cathy’s never done anything to you, right?” Squeaker commented. “There’s just something”–crack– “about her,” Pablo snapped. A splinter of wood went flying from the side of the spool. “Notice how she never talks to us when she’s alone? How she only looks at us when someone makes her pay attention?” Pablo asked, while wrestling another splinter of wood off the spool. “Yeah, Pabs, I know. I think everyone knows. Heck, you saw him last night… even Kiku knows!” Squeaker laughed. “Besides, why does she think I’ll let her get away with talking to Robert like

that?!” Another splinter of wood went flying, clear across the cage. “She always picks arguments, every single time they’re together.” Pablo dropped the spool to get a better grip on the other side. “And never mind the way she treats Kyra!” “I think it’s a game,” Squeaker responded. “Kyra sets her up, and sees how long it takes for Cathy to yell at her.” Pablo stopped to look up at his yellow cage-mate, surprised by the observation and his rationalization for it. “You might be onto something there, Squeaks,” Pablo grinned. “Hope you didn’t want your nose!” Pablo grumbled as he cracked a small chip of wood off the spool. Squeaker looked down at Pablo to see him sitting in a bed of frayed rope and blue wood chips. “Ah, you must be in one of those moods,” Squeaker commented, then set about chewing some more rope apart. Both Pablo and Squeaker came to a dead stop when they heard a flurry of activity across the room, coming from Kiku’s cage. “I got you now!” Kiku yelled. “Thought you could hide from me? I’ll show you what happens when things hide from me!” Pablo looked on, wondering what the ordeal over there was. Squeaker was also staring intently in Kiku’s direction. All they could see were some tail feathers sticking out from beneath a layer of newspaper on the bottom of his cage. “Hey Squeak, what’s going on over there?” Pablo called up to Squeaker, who had a better view from the top of their cage. “I…I don’t know. I think he’s fighting with something in his cage. Looks like it’s buried under the paper on the bottom,” Squeaker replied, seeming rather concerned by Kiku’s sudden aggression toward whatever it was.

“You’re mine now!” Kiku exclaimed, muffled by a few sheets of newspaper covering his head. “I think he caught something on the bottom of his cage!” Squeaker reported to Pablo who was still trying to get a clear view of the show. “Pabs! You think… You think it’s a rat?” Pablo could have sworn he saw Squeaker’s yellow tint go a few shades to white after that last comment. “Don’t be ridiculous! I’ve seen rats before. Grandpa keeps this house too clean to have rats,” Pablo assured his friend, even though he cautiously looked in his cage. A huge crunch rang out throughout the dining room area. “Mmmm, tasty!” Kiku exclaimed, pulling himself out from the pile of paper in his cage. “Told you, you were mine!” Once clear of the paper, Squeaker could see the object of Kiku’s excitement; a huge almond Kyra had handed out the night before must have fallen to the bottom while Kiku was on his walkabout with her. Twenty hours later, that almond was still just as tasty as it had been the night before; Kiku never liked to discriminate against food.

Chapter Eleven

Birdnapped

The day was starting to fade to night as the last rays of sun ed through the kitchen window, painting the walls in a fiery orange light. The dishes from this morning’s breakfast were still sitting in the sink, the floors still showed signs of dust where Grandpa placed the carriers down for Red and Coco before he opened the front door. Nothing had changed over the past ten hours, including the company. “OK, Squeak…now you can start worrying,” Pablo said in a distant voice, facing the front door, waiting to jump at the first signs of life that came through. “Start now? I started hours ago!” Squeaker commented while chewing the last of a tattered rope toy to shreds. “Hey, Kiku, you hear anything? He did say he’d be back soon, didn’t he?” Pablo called out to Kiku, who was busy pacing the bottom of his cage. “Kiku! Kiku? He’ll be right back! He’ll be back! Just wait, he’ll be back, I know he will!” Kiku chirped in his excited little voice, allowing the pressure to show through his normally nonchalant tone. “What are we going to do, Pabs? What are we going to do?” Squeaker asked with a rather distressed sound in his voice. “He’s been gone for hours; Red and Coco too! What if…what if they…” Squeaker stopped his thought with a look of horror across his face. Unable to continue, he didn’t want to think about what may have happened to the rest of his family. Pablo noticed this was one of the first times Squeaker decided not to talk. He had often wondered what it would take to keep him quiet; however, he was hoping it would have been something a bit more simple. Minutes felt like hours as Pablo waited, staring at the door. Every so often the creaks of the old house would startle him, making him think the front door was

about to open and in would come Grandpa and the rest of his flock. Finally, he heard something! “Hey, Squeak! Get ready, I think they’re coming home!” Pablo yelled in a shrill little excited voice. He was studying every action and every sound he heard coming from the door. He heard some scratching from the knob, no doubt because Grandpa was managing two birds as he was trying to open the door. There was a garbled murmur outside as the scratching stopped, it sounded like two people possibly. This wouldn’t be the first time Grandpa brought a friend back after a long day out. Pablo and Squeaker were both bubbling with excitement as they stared at the door. Looking down, Pablo noticed Kiku acting unlike his usual self. Instead of clowning around like he usually did, Kiku was making his way to the back of his cage, looking for something to hide under. “Kiku! Hey, what’s going on?” Pablo questioned with a confused look crossing his face. “Kiku doesn’t like this. It sounds…different,” Kiku managed to stammer out while fiddling with a piece of newspaper Grandpa had just laid out on the bottom of his cage that morning. “Different?” Pablo wondered. “You know, Pabs…I think the little clown has a point,” Squeaker started getting the same look in his eye as Kiku; however, his eyes were still fixated on the door. Just then they all jumped slightly as they heard the deadbolt unlatch. Kiku flipped over on his back, trying to cover himself with the last of the paper he could find, while Squeaker was climbing the side of the cage looking for some cover to disguise himself in. This left Pablo to fend for himself, exposed in the front of their cage. “Pabs! Psst, Pabs! Get up here!” Squeaker shouted in the best whisper he could

manage. It was too late, though. As Pablo looked around to see where he could get to fast enough, the front door creaked open. “Paper! I could hide under the…No! What am I thinking? They’ll spot me for sure there!” frantically, Pablo looked for a good hiding spot near the bottom of his cage. Feathers were flying everywhere, mixing in with the bits of frayed rope and splinters of wood while Pablo scrambled across the floor of the cage. Finally, without a second to spare, Pablo dove into a pile of wood chips from the block he had been chewing earlier. It wasn’t ideal, but at least he stood a chance! Before the door could even finish opening, Cathy stormed in. There was a look of determination on her face that was much different from last night. The unsettling part about her, though, was this look mixed in with another one that almost resembled…happiness? “Come on, come on! I’m not paying you to just stand around!” Despite the look of happiness, her voice sounded anything but. The birds at this point had all peeked their heads out of their hiding spots slightly. Even though none of them ever truly trusted Cathy, at least she was better than what they feared. “Move it!” Cathy shouted out the door in an unusually bossy tone. They had heard her talk like that before, but combined with her determination, her voice sounded like razor blades cutting through the air. Still, she seemed happier than normal. “Yes ma’am,” a deep, thundering voice rang out from out the door in a rather casual tone. Within seconds two men appeared in the doorway, each of them dressed in light blue overalls. The men towered over Cathy, making her seem almost as small as Pablo felt at this moment. Their height was only part of this effect. Each man was also at least twice as wide as Cathy! Careful not to injure themselves, they each had to duck while walking through the front door to avoid creating a new entrance for their heads. One man, the slightly thinner one, ran his fingers through the scruff on his chin as he looked

around the house for a second. The other was a bit larger and had legs that Pablo could have sworn were tree trunks! “Where do you want us to start?” The larger of the two men asked. “You know we get overtime for doing this at this hour, right? That’s…that’s…” the man fumbled with his fingers for a moment, trying to find his next words in one of the stubs attached to his palm. “What my partner means is, we work late, you pay us more. Fifty percent, got it?” the other man chimed in, rescuing his friend from the confusion his fingers were causing him. “They don’t seem that bad,” Pablo whispered, while still unsure about poking his head out any farther from his cover. “Money, yes, I got it. Trust me, money’s no object,” Cathy barked. “I want this house packed up tonight. I want no trace of that old man left in here whatsoever, hear me? I even want the bedsheets folded up and burned!” In order to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, Pablo looked up to see Squeaker’s reaction to this. Just as he had feared, Squeaker’s beak was dropping just as far as his own must have. “Why would she want to pack all of his things?” he asked. “Psst, Pabs,” Squeaker whispered from the top of the cage. “I have a really bad feeling about this. Do you? I think we’ve gone from bad to worse!” Not able to get any words out, Pablo nodded slightly, while keeping a careful eye on the people invading his house and home. He was right. Pablo was getting a sinking feeling in his chest at the sight of these ogres skulking across the house, lifting all of the belongings and looking at each piece of furniture as though they had lived here their entire lives. “Start in this room and work your way up, OK?” Cathy’s sharp tone sent shivers down Pablo’s spine, even though the words themselves were harmless. The two men entered the living room, dragging several large rolls of brown paper, folded boxes, and a whole assortment of mechanisms and doohickeys that were possibly designed to make their jobs easier. There were large two-wheeled metal carts, rolls and rolls of clear plastic tape, pale yellow blankets, and an

entire case of screwdrivers and power tools. “You wrap the plates, I’ll move the cabinet,” the smaller of the two men ordered from around the corner of the room. “What about these?” the larger man asked. Pablo was struggling to see what the men were talking about but was only able to see some vague shadows of their movement on the wall. “Just pull them down and we’ll shove them in here with the china,” the other man ordered. With the movements he saw, Pablo could tell they were dismantling the “wall of shame.” “Wait, is this a bad thing?” he asked in a brief second. Before the thought could leave his head, the house was filled with the crash of glass and porcelain. Several unrecognizable words came streaming out of the living room in a rather harsh tone. “You clumsy oaf!” Cathy shouted from the hallway while running frantically into the living room. “I didn’t hire you to tear the place down, did I?” “No, ma’am,” one of them replied in a deep, gruff voice. “It won’t happen again. I promise.” “It better not, or else I’ll send you away along with my father! Now, clean this up and get these things moved!” Pablo’s interest was piqued by Cathy’s last statement. “Send him away? Send him away where? Why send him away?” Pablo looked about as distressed as he sounded, which caught Squeaker’s attention. “Hey, Pabs, you hear what I heard?” Squeaker asked. “What do you think she means by that? Do you think she did something to Grandpa? What about Coco and Red? Do you think she did something to them, too? Pablo…Pablo, you listening?” It was strange how, even with all the commotion going on in the house, Pablo

was still able to tune Squeaker out. It was almost a gift he had! Despite outside appearances, however, Pablo most certainly did hear Squeaker. What if Grandpa was injured? What if Coco and Red were lost? Pablo had no idea what to do if the worst-case scenario played out. All he could do for now was sit and watch, keeping all of his toes and wing feathers crossed!

Chapter Twelve

Mayhem

“Oww! Geez, Ralph, he got me! I’m bleeding! Look at this! That little runt bit me!” The larger of the two men staggered out the front door of the house with a tissue held in his hand while using his good hand to gesture inside the doorway. “He’s a bird, Harry. They have beaks. They use those beaks. Why did you go and stick your finger in his cage like that?” Ralph, the smaller of the two men replied, walking up the creaky steps of the front porch. Harry started down the steps toward his co-worker. “Look, he really got me good!” Harry, although angry at the bite he received, was almost in awe as he gazed at the puncture wound. “Harry…no! Get off the…” With one last creaking of wood, the steps gave way in a thunder of snapping and crackling. The weight of the two men as Harry stepped down to show Ralph his battle scar, was just too much for the old wooden planks to . The men, shocked by their current predicament, struggled to figure out what had just happened. They were each standing in a pool of wooden splinters and bent nails in the middle of the outside staircase. What little illumination the porch light provided showed the two men nearly hugging one another for while their legs were tangled in the debris. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, as if to soothe the headache that suddenly struck him, Ralph let out a sigh. His right hand was firmly grasping the handrail still, helping to keep him standing upright. “Harry…” he paused, thinking of the precise words he wanted to use to convey his message. Not feeling particularly articulate, he just chose the first words that came to mind, “You’re an idiot!” Harry was only about ankle deep in the remains of the former step. Height does have its advantages, after all! Although at this time, that height was a mixed blessing. Trying awkwardly to balance his lumbering body, Harry, moved his leg

slightly forward. Had there been an extra half-inch of step for Harry to catch himself on, this seemingly simple task would have proven quite easy. Of course, the difference between the space Harry thought he had and the amount of room he actually had, was about a half-inch. Raising his leg to move it slightly, Harry’s massive foot caught the end of the board he had just snapped like a twig. Without a second to think, Harry grabbed the closest thing he could that would provide him some , much to Ralph’s dismay! Not prepared to catch the full body weight of his partner, Ralph folded like a piece of tissue paper when Harry started to fall. It seemed to happen in slow motion as the two men desperately tried to grab onto the handrail to catch themselves and prevent the unpleasant with the concrete below. There were hands grabbing at thin air, feet sliding backward looking for any kind of footing, and heads turning in all directions trying to figure out exactly where they were going to land. Cathy stepped out from inside the door just in time to watch the two grown men tumble to the ground below. There were parts of the step strewn halfway across the front yard, flakes of paint scattered up the stairs, and one lone, blood-stained tissue floating down the sidewalk. Cathy didn’t say a word; she just stared hopelessly at the scene below. She leaned back a bit on the beam at the top of the stairs and crossed her arms as if to say, “Whenever you boys are done playing around…” Both Ralph and Harry looked up the stairs to see Cathy standing there, glaring at them. “Sorry ma’am! We’ll get this fixed right up!” Ralph gasped from underneath his giant of a friend. “Harry, you klutz, move it! Get offa me!” “Sorry Ralph, I fell,” Harry apologized. At least, he apologized the best he knew how, which would have seemed almost humorous to anyone else at the time, but Cathy wasn’t amused. “Don’t clean this up. Just pack the house…tonight! I’ll get the carpenter here to fix this mess, and expect it to come out of your paychecks!” Cathy spun around with her head held high and stormed back into the house.

“Of all the movers I could have hired…why these two?” Cathy muttered to herself as she walked back in the house, down the hallway. The house was nearly all packed up. The large bits of furniture were outside in the moving truck and boxes littered the floor space inside. The furniture, decorations, pictures and memories were all piled in plain brown boxes. All the life, the color the house once had was now nothing more than piles of brown corrugated cubes, stacked hastily throughout the rooms. Looking at her watch Cathy shook her head, “It’s almost morning already,” she commented while walking back toward the kitchen. “Now for you, you little troublemaker…” Cathy glared at Kiku through the bars of his cage. “I already took care of those other two,” she glanced in the direction of Coco and Red’s empty cages, “Now it’s time to take care of you!” Kiku stood fast. His eyes were fixated on Cathy, as his body vibrated back and forth. So much energy he didn’t know what to do with! “I hurt him and I’ll hurt you too! I’m not afraid, just try it!” he squeaked. All Cathy heard were a series of angry sounding chirps and whistles coming from this tiny bird. “You’d almost be cute…if you didn’t make me sick to my stomach!” Cathy said with a smug look on her face. “So many years of trying to be your friend can get tiring. I gave you all treats. I always talked to you and still, you hate me! You all hate me!” Cathy paused to take a breath. “At least I don’t have to concern myself with it anymore. I’m done being friends. Now that I control this house, all of you feathered rodents are being evicted!” Kiku huffed up, took a deep breath and charged the side of his cage, hoping Cathy would place a finger on a bar. “Rodents! Yes, you did hear me correctly. What? You don’t like that word? After all, you’re all pests, living here rent-free, eating all of the food and making a mess of everything, just like mice do!” “Kiku’s no rodent! Show her who’s boss, Runt! Give her a taste of your beak!”

Squeaker was screaming from the sidelines, like a fan at a sporting event. “Oh, don’t even get me started on you, you little feathered banana! ‘Squeak’ this and ‘squeak’ that. Like you’re pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes with your little act? You’re as much a leech as the rest of them!” Cathy replied to Squeaker’s commentary of whistles, squeaks and chirps. “Wait…hold it. Hold it, Kiku. Now! Now! Charge, get her!” Pablo coached Kiku from beside Squeaker. With Cathy’s back turned, preoccupied with dealing with Squeaker, Kiku followed Pablo’s directions perfectly. Cathy inadvertently left her fingers hanging inside the cage while she turned to Squeaker. Thanks to Pablo’s coaching and Kiku’s quick reflexes, Kiku latched onto this fingertip. Cathy’s screams of pain were muted by the birds’ cheers of excitement. They sat back with pleasure watching Cathy writhe around in agony with a finger still stuck inside Kiku’s beak. “Give me that back!” she screamed. Kiku held fast, beak still clamped down on her fingertip. As Cathy twisted a bit, a piece of nail snuck its way in under Kiku’s beak. The crunching sound of fingernail-between-beak was quite impressive! Wriggling around in pain, Cathy wasn’t sure which was worse, the sheer pain of it all or the horrible sound. Finally wearing Kiku out, Cathy managed to free her fingertip from the inside of Kiku’s beak. She quickly grasped the end of her finger and pressed it firmly into her body. “That’s it. In the crate you go!” Hearing all the commotion, Harry stepped inside the dining room to see what was going on. “Uh, you need help with that?” Harry asked, watching Cathy drag a small plastic carrier out of a closet. “Just grab one of those towels out of that box over there,” Cathy shouted, and then pointed to a box stacked in the corner labeled “bathroom”. “Uh, OK. Now what, ma’am?”

“Throw it over him!” Cathy motioned toward Kiku’s cage. Kiku was now in a panic! Towels were the last thing he wanted to see. Towels usually meant putting him somewhere he didn’t want to be, taking him someplace he didn’t want to go. Anything but a towel! Harry opened the door and tossed a huge bath towel over Kiku’s back. Kiku was now stuck underneath the towel, burrowing recklessly through to find a way out. “Oh, no you don’t! Come back here, little birdie!” Harry called out in the best “cute” voice he could muster up. Harry’s hands resembled cinderblocks more than any actual human hand. They were massive balls of flesh, covered with calluses, with five stubs protruding from them. He slammed these cinderblock fists down on either side of Kiku, cutting off any escape. “Oh no, Pabs, they got him!” Squeaker cried out in horror after watching the struggle. “He’s a goner for sure, they’re going to put him in the crate!” Squeaker started to shake nervously; his little pink legs started turning white. “Aha! Got you now, little birdie!” Harry bellowed, taking great pleasure in his ability to corner a six-inch tall bird. With a scoop of his massive palms, Harry grabbed Kiku, complete with towel. “Off to your carrier you go, little birdie.” When Harry arrived at the other side of the room where Cathy had set the carrier, he paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to go about opening the carrier, placing the bird in the carrier, and closing the door while still holding Kiku in both his hands. Kiku wasn’t sitting still for any of this; he wanted out and he wanted out now! Kiku desperately tried to tunnel his way out, squirming from one side to another. He was biting down on anything that remotely resembled flesh, only to find Harry’s huge fingers well protected by the layers of cloth that enveloped him. Harry came to the conclusion that the obstacle presented before him was too much for him to solve. He was going to need some help. “Uh, ma’am, I need some help…please?”

“What is it? Why can’t you two do anything without help?” Cathy complained from the living room, just beyond the wall. When she peeked her head around the corner, she saw Harry standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face. “Oh, for cryin’…give me that!” Cathy stormed over to Harry, grabbed the bundle of towel from his hands, and tossed Kiku inside the plastic crate like he was dirty laundry, slamming the door firmly shut behind him. “There. It’s done. Now go get those other two!” “Well, OK, but what about the packing?” Harry looked around at the mess of boxes scattered throughout the building. “These are my property and I want them packed just like everything else, got it?” Cathy motioned towards Squeaker and Pablo while making an exit from the room. “But they’re birdies, not property!” Harry complained, well under his breath. “Don’t worry, little fellas, I’m not going to hurt you. Now come here…” Harry was trying to whisper in an attempt to be cute, but the depth of his voice carried far too well to sound soothing. Squeaker and Pablo turned to look at one another and in a silent nod, they knew what they had to do.

Chapter Thirteen

Flying Lessons

“No, Pabs, up…up…up!” Squeaker shouted from mid-flight. “I…know…just gimme a sec.” Pablo struggled, while trying to catch his balance. Despite having wings, flying was still getting the better of him. He could barely spare the thought at the moment though, since he had bigger problems to worry about; problems about six and a half feet tall and right on his tail! “But birdies,” Harry’s monstrous voice echoed from behind. “We’ll all go for a car ride and then we can go home. I’ll take you home with me. We can all eat ice cream and watch cartoons all day!” Squeaker wasn’t sure if Harry was telling the truth or trying to sound comforting, but either one terrified him. This was his home! Why would he want to go anywhere else?! With a slight adjustment of his tail, Squeaker gracefully glided his way toward the main staircase to the bedrooms upstairs. “Hurry, Pabs! We need to move fast!” “Show-off,” Pablo huffed to himself while watching Squeaker move as though he had a hot air balloon lifting him up the stairs. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if there was, since he always thought Squeaker was a bit full of hot air! Pablo started laughing at his own thought and for a moment forgot he was flying. His mind came rushing back to reality when he thought again about the gravity of the situation. Then, like a row of dominoes, that thought toppled into the next as he realized the front door, which was now closed thanks to Kiku’s ordeal, was closing in quickly! “Turn!” he yelled to himself, as if somehow the link between his brain and muscles failed and his body only reacted to verbal commands. With a flurry of feathers racing in every direction, Pablo shifted all his weight to the right, trying to make a path to Squeaker, who had just disappeared up the stairs.

Usually, when someone uses a feather duster, the feathers aren’t still attached to the bird, but this wasn’t the case with Pablo! With a quick brush of his tail against the front door’s window, Pablo managed to change direction toward the stairwell. “I did it!” he shouted with short-lived delight. The elation quickly ed when he looked in front of him only to end up staring directly into Cathy’s eyes! Cathy shrieked and quickly jumped to the floor when she realized she was now on a collision course, face-first, with Pablo. “You…attack me!?” she complained in disbelief from the hardwood floor on which she was now lying. Pablo let out an evil little laugh as he managed to pull himself through the air, up the stairs to the second story. “Squeaker! Where did you go?” Pablo panted. “Over here, Pabs!” Pablo heard the reply coming from the right but couldn’t tell from which room. As he came to the top of the stairs, Pablo had a choice to make; right or left. Straight ahead of him stood the wall and, if experience taught him one thing, it was to think before he flew! Squeaker’s voice, though muffled, sounded like it was coming from the right, so Pablo quickly turned his body in that direction. Wings tipped, tail spread wide, he managed to round the corner with plenty of room to spare. “Hey!” he exclaimed, “I did it! I’m actually flying!” “Shhh, keep quiet!” Squeaker whispered from down the hall. Pablo couldn’t figure out which room Squeaker was hiding in. With all the furniture removed from the house or packed in boxes, the walls echoed every little sound. “OK, I go down this hall and then…” he instructed himself, but Pablo was still at a loss. He had been up here many times, years ago with Robert, but the places he was

most familiar with were on the first level of the house. Since the kids moved out and Helen had ed away, none of the birds ever came upstairs. The last one he can recall being up this far was Red. Ahead of him was a long, dizzying hallway with doors on both sides. Some were open and led to rooms that were familiar to Pablo. This is where the family would spend their nights and most of their mornings; however, the birds had very little need to come down here once the kids had moved out. With time working against him and Cathy now recruiting Ralph to in the chase, Pablo took the first turn he came to, which was also the only room he really knew. Just as the footsteps reached the top of the stairs, Pablo twisted his body out of sight on the other side of the doorway to Robert’s old room. There were boxes haphazardly stacked across the floor, taking up space where the furniture used to be. He could see the old faded stains left behind by dresser legs and the foot of the bed. Even the rug he and Robert used to play on was rolled up and tossed against the side of the wall. This room looked just like the rest of the house at the moment, but Pablo did notice something. As he approached the center of the room, most of those boxes and even the roll of area rug were all covered with thick layers of dust; some even had cobwebs reaching from them to the walls, as if being tied down by an overambitious spider. It was obvious this room had been packed up like this long before Cathy and her new friends barged through the door. These would probably be details he might not normally notice, had it not been for his attempt to land. A cloud of dust filled the room, while some of the stray strands of cobweb fell loosely to the floor near Pablo’s feet. The landing was perfect, except for the fact that there was nothing but a hard, slick floor to land on! “OK, stop…stop…brakes!” Pablo panicked for a moment when he realized the momentum of his body was carrying him to the other side of the room well after he touched down on the floor. Coming in much harder than anticipated, Pablo slid across to the other half of the room, slamming belly first into a stack of empty cardboard boxes. “Well, at least I stopped,” he commented under his breath as he sat there, staring up at the boxes stacked precariously on top of one another.

“OK, now, if I slowly move this way…” Pablo was getting a bit nervous at the sight above him. A couple of shoeboxes hung just off the edge of the much larger box that Pablo had crashed into. With each breath he took, he could see them sliding a little more off the edge of the box above him. “Careful. Careful. Just a little more,” Pablo coached himself through the process, hoping to make it easier to duck out of the way in time. Unfortunately, luck had never been on his side in the past, nor would it be now. Before he could gather himself up and scoot out of the way, the shoeboxes slid off the edge of the large box, tumbling down through the air. The little “screech” he let out was only drowned out by the sound of the empty boxes coming down all around him. The one right above his head landed upside down, right on top of him! All he could see was darkness as the shoebox created a small, rectangular prison from which he couldn’t escape. “Pablo!” Squeaker’s voice rang through from the other side of the box. “Are you OK?” “Wait, where am I? Am I…am I…??” outside of the initial confusion, Pablo was starting to worry. Had the box landed on top of him after all? Was this the voice of an angel? “No, silly. You’re trapped! I watched it all happen from inside that rug. I tried telling you where I was but you were set on trying to land on the floor, and then I watched you slide across like that and thought, ‘He’s never going to make it out in time!’ Then I saw you panic when the boxes were about to fall and…” Nope, definitely not an angel. There was only one bird he knew who could talk in one long breath like that, and that was his old pal, Squeaker! Come to think of it, ever since he started this thought process, he hadn’t heard a peep out of Squeaker. Pablo started to wonder where he went. Pablo leaned down and tilted his head a bit to the side to try to get his beak slightly under the side of the box. Although it wasn’t a heavy box, there weren’t many beak-holds for him to grab onto. He finally managed to get his beak slightly under the edge and then clamp down on the box, trying to push his way through. For a moment, he thought he was

making some great progress. The second he applied the slightest bit of force, the box slid easily forward and slightly up. It wasn’t until a half a second later, when he was being dragged through the air, that he realized he hadn’t misjudged his own strength. Within a second of being under the box, Pablo was now staring eye-to-eye with Harry. “There’s the little birdie!” Harry exclaimed, with a certain school-boy delight in his voice. “Give me that!” Cathy shouted to him while she quickly scooped Pablo up in a towel. Looking over before being completely enveloped in the towel, Pablo saw Squeaker wrapped up in Ralph’s arms; only the tip of his pink beak showing through. Pablo and Squeaker were now hopelessly trapped in a cocoon of bath towels. The two of them were quickly tossed into the back of a large plastic carrier with a square mesh of wire bars covering the front. The inside was barren: no food, no water, no toys, and only a large towel covering the bottom that followed Squeaker in when Ralph tossed him in, towel and all. “Now what? What are we going to do, Pabs?!” Squeaker sounded like he was getting frantic. “Well, Squeaker, looks like we’ll be here for a while,” Pablo sighed. After some arguing between the two men and a sharp swinging in the carrier as they ed it over to Cathy, Pablo could tell they were back in the kitchen. Across from them was Kiku, sitting quietly in the back of his carrier, still in shock.

Chapter Fourteen

Dungeon

The corridor was long and wide, cold and sterile. The walls consisted of bare concrete blocks that sprawled on seemingly forever down the hall. The roof was a mesh of metal girders, concrete, and a couple of dingy skylights that looked like they were added as afterthoughts when the structure was complete. No doubt someone thought they would add light and a feeling of space to the interior, but years of dirt and cobwebs have a way of blocking light and creating the exact opposite effect. A “dungeon” was the only word Coco could think of that described this place in which he and Red were now trapped. Their small travel cages lay at the beginning of this corridor, thrown down on a folding table that was once being used as a desk but had recently been “prepared” for their arrival. The random pieces of loose paper that littered the top of the table now sat in towering stacks next to their cages. The surface of the table looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. Rings from mugs and the occasional coffee stain marked the dull gray surface. Along the length of the room a few hanging fluorescent light fixtures, suspended from the ceiling, swayed in the constant draft that drifted in through the doors at either end. The ghostly white light emitted from each of these fixtures painted the finishing touches on the room. Had it not been for the presence of one oddity along either wall, Coco would have lost interest and shut down his senses. Despite the dull, bleak interior of the room, he was fixated on one feature: the bars. Along either wall, sticking a few feet out, were more concrete block walls. At the front of each of these walls were solid steel bars that stretched down the length of the room. He had never seen anything quite like this before. “Red, what do you think is behind there?” Coco pointed one of his wings at the nearest set of bars. “It looks like a prison of some sort.”

Red’s cage was a bit to the side of Coco’s and set farther back on the table. He had to stretch to peek around the corner, but Red could also see the same set of bars. “I don’t know. What do you care anyhow? Don’t you realize what happened? You should be more concerned about what’s going to happen to us!” Red did make a painful point that Coco was trying his best to push out of his mind. Exactly what was going to happen to the two of them? It seemed like it was only yesterday morning that all five of them were in the house with Grandpa. Now he and Red were separated from the rest of the flock and Grandpa was nowhere in sight. At this point, the two of them had been in this room for almost twelve hours, but time had a way of standing still in this bleak “dungeon,” and without proper daylight to use as a guide, Coco had no way to be sure exactly how long it had been for the two of them. Occasionally they would see a human walk by wearing a gray uniform. He counted about five people, most of them seeming to ignore the two birds, coming near only to check a piece of paper next to their cages. At best they showed a healthy fear of the two birds, at worst, they treated them as a contagious disease; never looking at them and even wearing masks when they came near. There was one person, however, who did show them a bit of comion. She was the one who gave them fresh water and food. Unlike the others, she didn’t wear the gray uniform. She wore jeans and a t-shirt whenever they saw her. From what Coco could tell, she was kind enough, albeit a bit hesitant to approach either of them. “I have to it, the cuisine here is really first-rate!” Red squawked from his cage, as he sank his beak into the crisp shell of a sunflower seed.” “You better not let Grandpa catch you eating those!” Coco voiced a bit of fatherly concern for his flock mate. “You know what he says about giving us sunflower seeds…especially to you!” “Relax. I’m too old and too tired to care at this point,” Red mumbled with crumbs of seed falling out of his mouth. “Besides, I never get these at home! So what if they’re junk food, full of fat? Look at this. I have an entire bowl full of

them!” Coco glanced down at his bowl for a moment and saw the same thing as Red; a bowl filled to the brim with an assortment of seeds including sunflower seeds. He only ate a few bites throughout the day. The birds had grown spoiled with their diet of fresh produce and healthy food. The food in their bowls only served as a reminder about how far from home they were. “OK, time to let them in,” a loud masculine voice called out from the far end of the corridor. Suddenly, lights on the tops of all of the metal cell doors lit up with a bright green light. A loud sound of grinding metal filled the room followed by another, more familiar sound of…barking? Coco and Red both jumped at the sudden change of atmosphere in the room. It went from being a desolate echo chamber to being full of sounds coming from every direction! “W…w…what happened?!” asked Red, trying to regain his balance on the floor of his cage after being startled off the perch. “I, I think there are ‘woofs’ in those cells!” Coco exclaimed, still in shock from the sudden change. “Woofs? There must be over a dozen of them down there! What kind of place would do this to an animal?” Red asked, now fully back on his feet. Although they still couldn’t see any of the faces on their new roommates, they started to hear multiple conversations taking place. As best as they could tell, there were nearly a dozen cells in the room; most of them seemed to have residents. “Food, food, food! I want food!” a deep, rather hyper sounding voice rang out from across the hall. “Oh great! I got this one again? I want to change. Let me out, give me that one this time!” another, rather surly sounding voice echoed from farther down the hall.

“Is it playtime? I wanna play! Play with me! Somebody play with me! Pleeeeeeease play with me!” Another high-pitched, hyper voice called out. “Psst. You, over there,” this voice was much quieter than the others and had a strikingly feminine quality to it. “You, with the feathers.” Coco looked in the general direction from which the voice was calling. It seemed to be coming from the cell directly parallel with their table. “You mean me?” Coco asked, trying to figure out what part of the wall the voice was coming from. “Yes. You and that other bird behind you. You two are new here, aren’t you?” the voice asked. “Umm, well, yes. You see…” Coco started to answer the voice, talking directly to the wall in front of him. “Down here, silly! The drainage pipe at the bottom,” the voice interrupted. “Oh, I see! As I was saying, we’ve only been here for half a day or so, I think. What is this place and who are you?” Coco now looked down toward the pipe the voice referred to. Sure enough, right along the floor was a small hole in the wall that looked like it was once a pipe. Coco could see far enough to see a nose and part of a snout sticking out of the hole. “Well, you see, most people call this a ‘shelter.’ In reality, though, this is more like a storage facility for the homeless animals this town has forgotten about. I’m Tasha. And you are?” she snorted from the hole in the wall, trying not to inhale the dust that was settling on the floor near the wall. “I’m Coco and behind me here is Red,” Coco motioned behind him toward Red’s cage. Red let out a slight squawk of acknowledgment and tilted his head a bit. “So how did you end up here and how do you know ?” Red asked. “It’s a long story, I’m afraid. To give you the brief version, I was once in a large family with several other companions. We used to romp and play all day long and just have a fun time overall! Occasionally I would be allowed in the house

and get to meet the rest of the family. There were quite a few birds living with them at the time. There were two just like you, another African Grey like Coco over there and a few others. I also one really big, bright white one who used to complain about everything all the time. He either wanted more attention, wanted less attention, wanted a different food…you name it. I think they called him a Cockatoo?” Tasha explained. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but how did a ‘woof’ like you come from a home such as that to a place like this?” Coco asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. “A what?” Tasha asked, rather confused. “You, a ‘woof’,” Coco almost sounded annoyed at having to repeat himself. “Oh…woof…I get it. You might want to try ‘dog’ instead.” Tasha’s lips lifted a bit, hinting at a smile behind the wall. “One day I woke up in the morning and went to go inside the house. Only problem was, the door was closed. They used to keep the small door open for me all day long, so I knew something was wrong. I looked around the entire yard. Jumped up around the fence to try to get a glimpse but saw nothing. That’s when I noticed it…nothing. No cars, no people. There was nothing around the house. It was as if they packed their bags and left without me,” Tasha struggled to finish her thought, getting choked up toward the end. “I’m…I’m so sorry to hear! That must have been awful. I know people who have had to leave on short notice like that. I’m sure they didn’t mean to leave you behind. Sometimes…well, sometimes it can be painful for them and they can get confused. I know Kiku is one you should talk with about that…” Coco trailed off for a moment with a distant look in his eyes. “It sounds like you have some history of your own there. Care to share?” Tasha asked, noticing Coco’s hesitation. “Well, we were with our human the other day. He took us to visit our Mom at the cemetery. There are five of us living together, but Red and I knew her the best, so he wanted to allow us to see her one more time, I think–see where she was sleeping. He placed our cages down in front of her grave and then started to break down into tears.”

“A couple hours went by with us just sitting there in silence. I guess he thought it was time to leave, so he started to pick us up when he suddenly stopped in the middle of reaching for our cages.” “He just…stood there, halfway, looking at me. Then his eyes slowly closed and he fell to the ground, taking a large gasp of air.” “Red and I were frantic. We were screaming, yelling, trying anything we could to get him to wake up! Our yells drew the attention of one of the workers up there and soon we had dozens of people gathered around us. Some were wearing white robes with instruments hanging down from them; they’re the ones who arrived in the flash-light-box car.” “I Grandpa telling me about those things when we would go for walks. He said they transport sick people in them,” Coco paused, breathing deeply and sniffling a bit, “Before they wheeled him in, I heard them talking to him, telling him to ‘hang in there’.” “One of the workers at the cemetery brought us here afterward. He was speaking a strange language I couldn’t understand, but then the people up front brought us back to this table. I think that was a day or two ago. I can’t tell for sure,” Coco whispered while he was trying to fight back the tears as he concluded his story. He turned to the sounds of some sniffling that wasn’t his, coming from behind him. He saw Red, sharing the same sorrow. “It sounds like you two will fit right in here. Everyone in here has a story like ours. I can’t think of one of us here who wants to be in this place. What about the others you were talking about? Where are they now?” Tasha asked, showing genuine interest in their story. Perhaps it was just a way for her to get her mind off her own history and sad story. Or, perhaps, in a place like this, conversation is the only thing that allows one to hold onto their sanity. Coco and Red looked at one another. They both knew exactly what the other was thinking. What has happened to the flock?

Chapter Fifteen

Out for a Drive

The pattern of asphalt bumps as the van drove was almost entrancing. One after the other, Kiku would find himself listening to the pounding noise the tires were making, anticipating the next that would come like clockwork, one second later. At least this simple pleasure kept him occupied; kept his mind off the reality at hand. He had lost track of the time it had taken, but Ralph, Harry, and Cathy finally managed to pack up all the birds in the back seat of a large moving van. This had been the fifth trip back over this same stretch of road–Kiku could tell by the asphalt patterns. Pablo and Squeaker were situated in a carrier across from him, with the front facing the back of the seat they were wedged against. Other than an occasional “squeak,” Kiku could barely hear the two of them over the obnoxious sounds the truck made. The grinding gears were almost deafening at low speeds. The tires squealed whenever Harry would make a turn. The furniture shifting in the back would fall and pound the sides of the van like a novice drummer still learning to play his instrument. The sound of every bump and rattle would vibrate through the floor and up the side of Kiku’s carrier, amplifying everything. Occasionally there would be some moaning and complaining coming from the front seat. Sitting in the enger seat, Harry was still holding the finger Kiku chomped down on earlier. On occasion, he enjoyed shoving it Ralph’s face as they drove. Ralph would, of course, react to this by reaching across the seat to smack his partner upside the head for being a “moron,” as he put it. For the next several minutes, Kiku sat in one place with his eyes closed, focusing on the bumps and calming himself down. Although Ralph looked back to check on the birds briefly and thought Kiku had settled down and gone to sleep, that was far from the truth. Several minutes had gone by since Kiku started to focus himself. The bumps on the road surface, the squeal of the tires, and the agonizing sounds the van made

all seemed to fade into an open abyss of fuzziness. Nothing seemed to exist beyond the breaths Kiku was taking in and out. With a sudden jerking motion, the van stopped, shoving all the cages a couple inches to the front of their seat, while the percussionist in the back had a field day with the furniture! “Hey birdies, we’re here!” Harry exclaimed in his creepy, child-like tone. “I’ll get these two, you get that one,” Ralph gestured while removing his seatbelt. Within a few seconds, the two men were out of the van. Kiku was amazed that lumbering hulks such as these two had the dexterity to move out of such a small space so quickly! Moments later, the front doors opened, the seats were pulled forward and Kiku was face to face with Harry. Reaching across his carrier, he heard Harry unclip something, and then he started to move. “Oh, no. Here we go again!” Kiku whispered to himself. Kiku prepared himself just in case another finger happened to be placed carelessly in front of his carrier door. Harry, however, had already learned his lesson. This time he was more careful with his fingers and kept them well away from the front of Kiku’s door. “You birdies are going to have a new home! This nice place here…see!” Harry pointed with his free hand, to a huge concrete building directly in front of them. “There are doggies and kitties and other animals just like you in there. You’ll have lots of friends!” Harry exclaimed with naive excitement. “Prison?” Kiku asked. Of course, neither of the men paid attention to his little “peep.” The two men walked up to a pair of sliding glass doors that opened as they approached. Kiku could see the torsos of several other people walking by but couldn’t see any of their faces at the height Harry was holding him. As they walked farther into the building, the two men stopped at a tall counter. Kiku’s only view now was of the chipped paint at the base of the wall.

“We were told to tell you that these birds are supposed to go with the others,” Kiku heard Ralph say to someone. “Oh, you mean the other parrot and the Grey?” a female voice rang out from behind the counter. “If they’re birds, then yeah,” Ralph replied. “Just sign here, fill this out and leave the carriers by the wall. I’ll have Judy take them out back,” the woman said abruptly and to the point. Kiku began to miss the everyday chatter of Grandpa or Kyra’s regular visits. Compared to the conversations he’d had or heard over the past couple days, those seemingly meaningless words he had grown accustomed to were starting to have greater value to him. There was a bit of movement again and then he felt the carrier finally come to rest on the tiled floor of the room. As Harry walked away, Kiku could get a better glimpse of his surroundings. They were exactly as he would expect them to look considering the outside. The room was rather small with white-washed, concrete walls on every side. Although he heard quite a bit of chatter he thought sounded like people, looking around, he could tell the six of them were the only ones in the room. He still heard the constant rumbling of voices but couldn’t tell exactly where they were originating. Behind the desk, slightly to the side, was a large metal door. This was probably the only surface of the room that stood out. The bare steel bars clashed brilliantly with the faded white of the room. Coming from the side he couldn’t see, Kiku heard the metal of another door slowly creak open. “Oh, my! Are these the others we were expecting?” a much gentler sounding female voice asked. Behind the desk, Kiku could see the first woman nodding in his general direction. “What have we…oh! Aren’t you two so cute!” the mystery voice exclaimed. Kiku could tell she was talking to Squeaker and Pablo. Over the low rumble of background voices, he could hear Squeaker, say one thing, “Squeak!”

Footsteps were approaching his carrier. After a few seconds, he was being lifted back up, this time being held higher than Harry had before. His carrier slowly spun around to face the woman holding him. “Aren’t you adorable, too!” the woman exclaimed as she and Kiku exchanged their first glance. Although Kiku was a bird, with limited human experience, he could tell that the woman he was staring at wasn’t exactly ugly for a human. She had short blond hair, and a narrow face, complimented nicely by a set of neat, rectangular glasses. Overall, though, it wasn’t her physical appearance that made Kiku think she was rather attractive; it was her demeanor. She had a very gentle approach with each of the birds, trying to refrain from poking or prodding them like so many people had recently been doing. It was a welcome change from their previous company! She also knew just what to say and when to say it, trying not to add any stress to their already stressful situation. For the first time in the past couple days, Kiku felt slightly at ease and let out a little “Kiku!” as a sigh of relief. Judy’s calm voice was exactly what they needed now as she carried them into the back room, behind the large metal door Kiku had noticed earlier. As the door opened, Kiku could now hear the sounds of the people clearer than before, only…they weren’t people at all! Barking? Was that barking he was hearing? He had heard others talk about them before, but Kiku had never seen a real-life dog before! Now his fear turned to excitement at the thought of getting to meet a real-life dog in the flesh! “There you go, little guys. Rest here for a while and I’ll be right back with some fresh food and water for all of you,” Judy said as she placed the birds down on a table at the end of a long concrete room. All around him, Kiku could see more walls, several metal bars, and…Coco and Red across the room on another table! Kiku had to do a double-take when he spotted his other two flock-mates. He heard Squeaker next to him shout out, “Hey guys! Over here! Oh, we’re so glad to see you finally! You wouldn’t believe what they put us through!”

Kiku heard Coco shout out his welcoming “Hello!” and saw Red give them a nod of acknowledgment. His eyes may have been playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn Red also nodded in his direction as well. Amidst the barking, Kiku heard another female voice call out, “So, are these the others?” Looking around, Kiku could see a figure crouched down in a small concrete enclosure across the room from him. It looked like the figure was talking to the wall toward Coco and Red. Kiku overheard Coco respond, “These are the other three we were telling you about.” The figure quickly lifted itself up off the floor and started moving toward the front of the small enclosure. For the first time in his life, Kiku was looking at a real-life dog! She looked just like the pictures he had seen! Well, except those dogs all looked happy, playing in fields of green grass, chasing people around and running after balls. Something was different about this one he was now looking over. The environment seemed to shed a different light on her than on the dogs in the images Kiku had seen. Despite the dreary surroundings, Kiku could tell she had a sleek black coat, slightly long fur, and soft white belly. Her fur is what stood out, perhaps because it was stained with dirt and matted in knots around her lower torso. She had a narrow snout, dark brown eyes and long floppy ears that hung down either side of her head. There was something of a puzzled look on her face as she stared back at Kiku. Her ears perked up a bit as she started to speak. “Aren’t we an interesting looking group? Kiku closed his eyes briefly and took one more deep breath. This was the first time he was about to talk to a dog, and he wanted it to sound perfect!

Chapter Sixteen

Dog Talk

“Kiku, Kiku, Kiku, Kiku, Kiku!” Kiku squeaked from across the room. “Well, isn’t that…um…interesting?” Tasha replied, rather puzzled. “Yep. He’s special alright!” Red offered his input on the subject. Tasha tilted her head a bit, letting one ear flop inside out over the top of her head. “And I believe they call you a Kie…No, that’s not right.” Tasha thought long and hard about the word she was searching for. She ed it was a strange-looking one, spelled completely different from the way it was pronounced. “Caique! That’s it!” she paused, “Well, if I wanted to say it phonetically, I guess I could call you a Kay Kwee. Words can be funny like that,” she smirked. Coco looked over at Kiku and then in Tasha’s direction. “Are you sure you’re really a dog and not just a large furry bird?” Tasha replied to him, “I told you, I was around a lot of birds before. The family had several smaller ones, some of them looked like Kiku.” Tasha started to drift off inside her own head after talking about her previous family. She paused abruptly to collect herself and get her thoughts back together. “No, I can’t keep thinking of them like that!” she argued under her breath. Coco cocked his head a bit to the side, bent down and asked her, through the wall again, “Thinking of who like what?” “They left me. They left me out there in the yard…” she started to choke on the tears she was trying so desperately to hold back. “I can’t think of them as family! What kind of family would do that?” she went from sounding sad to sounding outright angry with that thought. “I gave them two years of my life. I thought they were going to be with me

forever! I can’t think of them as a loving family! I don’t know any family that would do that to another…” Tasha cut herself off as she looked around. “Playtime? Play with me…pleeeease!” she heard another dog cry out from farther down the hall. Tasha just sighed. “Look at this place. All of them have been through the same things we have. They all have similar stories. How can I be the only one going on like this?” Coco tried to offer some consolation, “Maybe it’s because you still and you know what you’re missing? These others sound like they’ve been away from their families for a while. They probably don’t what it’s like to have a home or a family.” Coco continued, “Why do you think you’re the only one talking to us or even acknowledging us? We have something in common; we all know what it’s like to have a home and lose it. For us, it’s still fresh in our heads.” Tasha’s ears perked up a bit. “I guess you’re right about that. Old Gruff over there behind me has been here longer than any dog can ,” Tasha said, as she motioned toward the enclosure next to her. From behind the walls, they could hear a low, raspy voice utter a few words. “This place…they call it a shelter. It gets to you; the same dull routine, the same careless people, the same tasteless food.” “I used to enjoy going outside, I think. That was so long ago I forgot. Now, I could care less…” the voice faded out behind the wall. Tasha looked across at Kiku, Squeaker, and Pablo. There was a look of sorrow on her face. “I can tell by looking that you still know who you are and where you belong.” Tasha sat down at the foot of her enclosure, her ears perked up and tail started to wag. “I’m going to get us out of here; I‘m going to get us all out of here while we still who and what we are!” Red, sighed. “I’ve heard this before…many, many years before. There were dozens of us stuffed in the yard, under shoddy plastic tarps in our old rusted

cages. I would hear a few mutter words like this all the time.” “It always ended the same. They all eventually gave up hope. They all folded their wings back and never even tried. Many of them pulled their feathers out, others started to frantically pace their cages, some even went so far as creating scabs on themselves, just for something to do!” Squeaker shuddered at that thought, “You mean, they pulled themselves apart because they were trapped like we are?!” He was in obvious disbelief at the thought, as he looked over his body to make sure his feathers were all still intact. “That’s horrible! How…how can a bird do that to themselves?” he gulped. “When you’ve been stuck in conditions like that long enough, you never know what’s possible. You change. You may hate it at first, you may also try to break free, but then…then you grow accepting of it. And that’s when you lose.” Pablo, bursting with anger, couldn’t hold it in anymore. “No! That’s not going to happen, that won’t happen, I won’t allow it to happen! “If she says she can get us out of here” Pablo pointed a wing feather toward Tasha, “then I say we go along with her!” Tasha’s nose started to twitch uncontrollably through the air. “I smell food. Dinner time!” She glanced over at the birds, “Perk up, look healthy! Don’t let them suspect anything.”

Chapter Seventeen

Bird Food

“What is this stuff?” Squeaker asked, with a look of disgust on his face. “I think they call it food,” Pablo responded, with that same look. Looking into the newly placed food bowl, Squeaker saw lots of seeds, mountains of seeds in fact, but nothing resembling the food to which he had grown accustomed. Where were the cherries? The ”applepeaches” were also missing! “Now imagine eating this year-round and consider how lucky we are!” Coco also had a disgusted look on his face as he picked through the assortment of bland seeds piled up in his bowl. “How can they do this to us? How can they get away feeding this stuff to us? We have to say something! We have to do something!” Squeaker started shouting as loud as he could through his carrier door. “Would you birds quiet down in there?” a loud, harsh voice responded from the other side of the door. “I can’t stand this! You call this food? I want some real food!” Squeaker complained. “Who cares…food!” Kiku exclaimed, while hopping around his carrier so much he almost tipped it off the edge of the table! Red tilted his head a bit and looked at Squeaker. “You better calm down or else Bart’s going to come back here.” “But this…this is horrible!” Squeaker continued, barely giving thought to the latter half of Red’s comment…until at least a second later. “Bart?” “Bart, huh? I can take care of a Bart!” Pablo huffed. Red chuckled, “We’ll see about that.”

The front door suddenly slammed open as a tall, muscular figure ducked through the frame. “Listen to me birds. I said to be quiet! Now I don’t want to hear another peep out of any of you, especially you ‘Goldie.’ You understand me?” the man snarled while ducking down in front of Squeaker. The room went silent. All the barking, scratching, howling, whining, and even breathing came to a halt in the presence of this beast of a man. This man’s height was rivaled only by his frame. He must have been as wide as he was tall, and everyone could tell he had the muscles to fill out the rest. His shaved head and handlebar mustache only added to his fearsome appearance. The one oddity, however, were the bifocals sliding down the bridge of his nose. Squeaker quickly jumped back from the bars and fell over on his back. Although Pablo was close by to pick him up, he was too busy engaging in a staring contest with this giant beast. “Stick your nose here, just a couple more inches. Go ahead!” Pablo kept prodding him on while standing near the bars, hoping the man would be gullible enough to fall for it. From across the hall, Pablo heard Tasha start to bark. This wasn’t just a casual bark like the others had been making, this one seemed to have a purpose. The man quickly turned and walked over to her, taking only two strides to reach the other side. “Exactly what’s your problem?” he reprimanded her as a parent would to a child who had just misbehaved. Tasha continued to bark. “Listen, you. Don’t make me open this door and come in there. You don’t want me to come in there, do you?” Tasha calmed down and stopped her barking. With her tail between her legs, she slowly sunk into the shadowy rear of the enclosure. “Thought not,” the man grunted as he turned around and headed back for the door.

“Get back here! We’re not done yet!” Pablo screeched. “I was just about to…” “Ahem,” Coco cleared his throat, trying politely to interrupt Pablo. “I think you may want to thank Tasha for saving you, Pablo,” Coco said, motioning toward Tasha’s enclosure while looking at Pablo. It was a look that filled in the blanks between Coco’s words; the same look adults give to children...the look that says “you better say ‘thank you’.” Pablo took this as almost a bigger insult than Bart’s outburst. “What? Save me?! Hogwash! I can handle myself!” Pablo seemed insulted by the fact that he would ever need to be helped by anyone, let alone a stranger. “Listen to your friend, little one. Bart is not a person you want to get agitated,” Gruff’s old, raspy voice echoed out. The room was still silent. “I’ve been here longer than any of these dogs. I’ve seen them come and I’ve seen them go. If they’re lucky, people come by and pick them out to take them home. If they’re unlucky, they get walked down the hall to that far door…and there’s never been a dog who has returned from back there.” “Bart is the only man I’ve seen take pleasure in walking dogs through that door. He always seems his happiest when he’s taking one of us back there…well that and yelling his head off at one of us.” “Just because you’re surrounded by plastic and smaller than him doesn’t mean he won’t take that same pleasure in walking any of you down this hall. You should just count your blessings that you aren’t next.” Pablo hesitated for a moment as he had a thought cross his mind. “Well, who is next?” A few of the dogs started whimpering and old Gruff went silent once again. Tasha looked at Pablo from across the hall and motioned over towards Gruff. “He’s been here the longest. They walk the oldest residents back to that door first. The longer you’ve been here, the higher the odds it’s you.” There was an eerie silence that filled the room. Every single creature in the building was lost, deep in their thoughts; each of them wondering what they would do when their time came. No one made a sound for the remainder of the evening.

Chapter Eighteen

Shelter Life

A new day dawned inside the shelter; however, no one could tell exactly when the sun came up. The dusty, dingy window barely let any hint of sunlight through. The only indication the animals had that a new day started was the sound of Judy’s energetic voice and the bleach of fluorescent lighting across the recently dark room. “Well, good morning, everyone! I hope you all slept well, we have some visitors coming in a little while,” Judy exclaimed, with a large degree of excitement in her voice. She walked in the room, bringing with her a high degree of energy and a cart stacked full of food bowls and odd-shaped toys. Still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Coco saw Red trying to catch his balance on the small perch running through the center of his cage. They had been cooped up in these cages for a couple of days now. Grandpa had assembled them for each of the birds as travel cages, but they were never intended for long-term living. He looked over at Kiku and the others and realized he shouldn’t be complaining. They were each shoved in plastic carriers that someone obviously pulled out the back of a closet somewhere, with towels carelessly tossed in the bottoms. “Well little guys, how did you sleep?” Judy asked, while checking on each of the birds. “Good morning,” Coco replied. Judy paused and stared…then paused for even longer and stared again, for even longer. “What was that? Did you just…?” “Good morning little ones!” Coco replied again, this time adding the last couple words. “I don’t believe…you just…you can really…you…?!” Judy was quite literally speechless.

Red looked over, it had been a long time since he’d seen that reaction but ed it vividly from the few days Grandpa and his wife had taken both he and Coco out around town. Red didn’t care much for the noise and traffic but did that face–the same face Judy now had. “You said ‘good morning’ to me?” Judy asked, with her interest piqued. Coco looked her over and again, the words came out, “Good morning!” “Some people” he muttered just under his breath, “just don’t seem to get it. They stand there and talk to me non-stop but when I talk, they seem surprised by it? As if I’m not allowed to have a conversation?” “What’s your name, little Grey?” Judy asked. “Can you say your name? Name. Say your name.” Judy sounded as if she was trying to coax a baby to say his first words. Holding her hands up, pointing at Coco. “I’m Judy and you are…?” Coco stared at her. “Give me a break. Treat me like an infant and expect me to have a conversation with you? We’re probably the same age lady, but you don’t see me treating you like a two-year-old, do you?” again, his words fell just short of Judy’s comprehension. “Fine, I’ll play along. There better be something good in this for me though!” Coco took a deep breath and reluctantly called out. “Coco.” “What’s your….Is your name Coco? Is that you?” Judy asked. “Are you that dense? You asked my name, I gave you the answer and now you doubt me? What kind of conversation is this? Can’t a bird get an intelligent conversation around here?” “What’s your name pretty bird? Is it Coco?” Judy seemed obsessed with getting Coco to say his name once again. Only this time, she was met with silence as Coco turned his back on her. In a defiant tone, with his back turned, Coco just answered, “Bye-bye.”

“Awww, how…wait. Did you just tell me ‘bye-bye’?” Judy stammered her words a bit and seemed rather insulted, the same as any rational person would if their conversational partner just brushed them off. “Now you’re getting the hang of this, lady!” Coco responded to himself, letting out a slightly audible sigh. “Well, OK, I can take a hint! Here, just eat up little guy. We don’t want you starving to death in here. Maybe later you’ll tell me how it tastes?” Judy topped Coco’s cage off with more of the same mix of seeds that were already overflowing from his bowl. “Think you could have gone easier on her?” Red commented from the side. “After all…” his words were interrupted by the crunch of a sunflower seed, “she doesn’t seem all that bad.” Had Coco put any thought into it, Red’s observation made sense. As far as people went, Judy wasn’t nearly as bad as others Coco had met. Cathy, for instance, would have been toward the bottom of his list while people such as Judy were much closer to the top of his scale. “Suppose you do have a point, old-timer. Nothing seems the same here, though. I miss the conversations in the morning, the cage cleanings, and showers. Heck, I even miss Kiku wrestling with his annoying bell!” “Quite a little show you put on,” Tasha’s voice interrupted. “It’s been a long while since I’ve seen a bird do that with a person before. Does it come naturally, or did you have to practice?” Coco looked down and saw Tasha’s snout sticking slightly out of the hole near the floor. “I’ve had a bit of practice,” Coco responded, reg himself to eating a small bit of the seeds he was recently given. “Well, it would appear that you…” Tasha was interrupted. “No, Tasha girl. Those birds are not for eating!” Judy sounded like a mother scolding her children. “Here, you have some fresh breakfast.” “Food!” Tasha exclaimed.

Her snout quickly vanished from the floor of the enclosure as Coco heard Judy’s voice talking again from the front. “See, we have the good stuff today! I know it’s your favorite!” Judy seemed genuinely excited about Tasha’s enthusiasm over the food bowl. “We have some visitors coming today, little girl. I want you to put on your best happy face, OK? After all, you never know, they might be the ones.” Coco heard scratching coming from farther down the row on his side of the hall, followed by a low whimper. “Oh Gruff, I didn’t forget about you! I have your food right here, too. Coco heard the cart squeal as Judy pushed it farther down the hall, out of sight. “What does she mean by ‘the ones’?” Coco asked, pointing his head down to the hole in Tasha’s wall. “Tasha? Oh, Tasha? You there?” Only the sound of chewing came from Tasha’s direction. A moment later, her snout reappeared, covered with crumbs of dried dog food. “A family,” she replied. “People come here every so often to look, to bring one of us home with them. It’s every dog’s dream in here to find the right people to go home with,” she said with a full mouth, as she stretched her tongue out almost to the tip of her nose to try to clear some of the crumbs off. “But…” Squeaker shouted out from the far side of the room, “How can people just pick you out like that? Don’t you get to choose them?” “In an ideal world, maybe; when you’re in here, you take what you can get. The longer you stay here, the more likely you are to end up in Gruff’s position,” Tasha commented, while she motioned towards the enclosure next to her for Squeaker. “No offense, old dog, but none of us want to be here as long as you have,” Tasha commented. “You better be careful where you point your words. If I recall, you didn’t get

here much later than me,” Gruff’s voice whispered and then went silent once more.

Chapter Nineteen

New Routine

Judy was making her way down the row, one enclosure at a time. When she got down to the end, she turned around and started to come back up the other side. This came as a relief to Squeaker, who was pacing the bottom of his carrier, waiting in anticipation for her to come back toward him. “She didn’t forget! Look, she’s coming back Pabs!” Squeaker seemed relieved as Judy started on her way back toward their carriers. Kiku was just as excited to hear the news as he was running around the bottom of his carrier, trying to shred bits of towel in frustration. “Food?” He asked, with his curiosity at new heights. “That’s right, Kiku, we have food coming! Oh, how wonderful; I can’t wait!” If he could, Squeaker would have been drooling in anticipation. “Squeaker!” he chirped as Judy came closer and closer. Pablo just looked at him with a disgusted look on his face. “And here we go again…” he commented as Squeaker hung on to the side of the carrier, twisting his head around to try to catch a glimpse of the food bowls. “Honestly, do you have no shame?” Pablo asked, sounding about as disgusted as he looked. “She’s only two doors down!” Squeaker replied, oblivious to Pablo’s disgust. Years have ed since Squeaker ed the flock, but no one ever knew if he really enjoyed being around them for their company or just enjoyed being around them because they were company. For Pablo especially, having a conversation with him was much like talking at a brick wall. On occasion, the two of them would have an exchange of thoughts and ideas, but the rest of the time words seemed to have little effect on Squeaker. “Only one door away now!” Squeaker chirped, barely able to hold onto the side

of the carrier anymore as the anticipation grew. While his head was turned, the large metal door nearby swung open and Bart peered his head in. “Judy, you have people here,” his grumble echoed down the hall, again sending chills down everyone’s spine. “Thanks, Bart. Have them come back,” Judy replied, while squeezing her way out of one of the enclosures. “Oh, mommy, mommy, mommy! Look at all the little doggies!” a shrill voice cut through the hall, above the sound of chewing and grunting from the local residents. In a matter of seconds, the source of the voice could be seen darting through the door. A little boy, no more than seven years old, sped his way through the door, holding his mouth open in awe. Following behind him was a slender young woman trying to keep a close eye on her child. “Jeremy, don’t go too far. what I told you.” Her sweet voice was a sharp contrast to the grumblings of Bart just moments ago. There was an odd sound that rang out throughout the hall as if everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief upon hearing this woman and her son. “I know, I won’t touch them. I’ll be good…oh look, birdies!” Jeremy barely completed one thought as he turned his head and caught a glimpse of Red sitting in the back of his cage. “No, wait. Stop it. I really don’t want to…” Red was caught off guard as the child started to approach his cage. Judy casually walked down the aisle toward the woman. “Well, hello there. You must be the one who called about adopting a dog?” The woman nodded her head. “Since it’s just my son and me, I wanted him to have a friend who would also liven up the house a bit.” Judy nodded, apparently understanding the woman’s situation. “Well, we have a lot of energy around this place. I can show you around if you like.”

“Mommy, look at this one!” Jeremy called out from the corner of the room, still staring at Red while Judy and the woman both walked toward Red’s table. “Oh my, you have parrots here, too?” the woman asked. “We just had these five come in at the same time. Apparently, their owner got very sick and couldn’t keep them anymore,” Judy responded, with a bit of sorrow in her voice. “I read that they can live a really long time, fifty years or more sometimes. Do you know how old they are?” The woman asked, while making her way closer to Red’s cage. “Honestly, we were never told. The family member who made the arrangements didn’t give us much information. There was no one left to care for these birds when their owner went to the hospital, so the birds came here. Jeremy started to poke a finger through the bars to Red’s cage. “Ten years ago, I would have taught you a lesson, kid. No one gets away with sticking a finger at me like that!” Red said, lowering his head and flaring his tail out. “Just be happy I’m not as young as I used to be.” “Look, mommy, he’s showing off for me! I think he likes me!” Judy and the woman both looked at Red, who now had his head fully lowered while his individual tail feathers were sticking as far out as he could manage without breaking them off. “Um, sweetie, I don’t think that’s a ‘happy’ pose right now,” Judy cautioned from behind. “Jeremy, what did I say about that?” the woman asked in a strict, motherly tone. “I know, I know, they don’t like it when I stick my fingers at them,” Jeremy commented, sheepishly, pulling his finger out from Red’s cage. “They’re scared honey, how would you feel if strangers kept pointing their fingers at you?” the woman continued, in her same motherly tone. “But I don’t want them to be strangers, I like them!” Jeremy perked up.

“I know you do. Friends respect each other, right?” the woman paused, not actually expecting an answer. “You show them some respect and then they’ll show you some, too.” Judy looked over at Coco, who was standing at attention in the presence of the new company. Much like Red, Coco wasn’t terribly fond of strangers, but Grandpa made sure to introduce him to new people often enough to get him used to the idea that others existed and taught him proper manners when people were around. “This little gray boy here is called Coco, or so I think,” Judy looked at Coco expectantly, still hoping, perhaps, that Coco would volunteer to share some more information with them. “Jeremy, you see Coco?” the woman pointed toward Coco’s cage. “Wow! He’s pretty!” Jeremy stepped to the side, losing interest in Red almost as fast as he saw him. Red took a deep sigh of relief. “Oh no, I’m not going through this again,” Coco commented as he watched the people make their way toward his cage. I thought Kyra would be the last time I had to raise a child, I can’t sit there and go through another child from scratch; teaching him how to talk properly, what foods I like, how to peel an applepeach!” Coco’s fears showed through as his body shivered a bit from the thought. This time, Jeremy listened to his mother’s advice and kept his fingers away. Obviously, he was a well-behaved child, although a bit too rambunctious for some of the birds’ tastes. “We also have these three, who arrived a little bit after those two. They came from the same home,” Judy pointed across the hall at the carriers on the table. “Food! You forgot the food!” Squeaker was chewing at the carrier door, hoping something would break loose and he would be able to get himself over to the food bowl sitting on the cart just down the hall. “Um, Squeaker. Is it me, or do they look like they’re coming over toward us?” Pablo asked hesitantly.

This time Squeaker noticed Pablo’s concern and looked over at the people now making their way over to his carrier door. But what Pablo thought of as a bad thing, Squeaker saw as an opportunity. “Squeaker!” Squeaker shouted, trying to get their attention. “Mommy! Did you hear that? He said Squeaker!” Jeremy’s face lit up. Across the hall, Coco shifted his weight a bit, turning slightly just in time to see the people heading toward Squeaker. Coco and Red both looked over at the same time and they both started whispering words of warning as loudly as they could toward Squeaker. It was pointless though, as Squeaker had his mind on only one thing…food!

Chapter Twenty

Adopters?

Squeaker wasn’t sure who these people were, what they wanted, or why they were staring at him, but he knew they were outside while he was inside his carrier. Squeaker started to panic; he was still inside his carrier while the food cart was at least several feet away and the new guests didn’t seem to care. “Mommy, he’s soooooo cute!” Jeremy’s now all-too-familiar voice squealed in delight. “Oh my, he is handsome, isn’t he!” his mother agreed with him. “Alright, I get it, I’m cute! Now, right there…just over there…you see it?” Squeaker made a futile attempt to point down the hall toward the cart, gesturing at the food bowls. “Do you know his name?” the mother asked Judy while iring the beauty of Squeaker’s yellow plumage. “If he’s anything like Coco, I think his name is Squeaker. I heard him talk once or twice in the past, but this is the first time I’ve seen him carry on like that!” Judy said, watching Squeaker have a fit in the front of the carrier. “I think he might like you!” Squeaker let go of the bars with his beak and started to pace the front of the carrier, hoping that he may have somehow missed a gap he could squeeze through. Jeremy saw this as an opportunity to get a closer look, so he approached the front of the door, peering directly in the carrier with his deep brown eyes. Pablo jumped back when he saw these two giant orbs staring back at him. “Great, now what?” he wondered. “Mommy, can I touch him?” Jeremy didn’t even bother looking back toward his mother as he spoke, as his eyes were still fixated on Squeaker. “I don’t know,” his mother paused while looking at Judy, “Do you think we

might be able to see him closer?” Judy looked around at the rest of the birds and then the room. “As long as he doesn’t fly off, we should be fine. I don’t think these birds came in knowing how to fly.” As Jeremy squealed with delight upon hearing Judy’s words, the entire room started howling, barking, scratching, and whining in unison. His energy was contagious and the rest of the dogs picked up on it. Even Gruff walked over toward the front of his enclosure to see what all the commotion was about. Tasha looked over at Squeaker’s new “friends” and then proceeded to whisper to Coco. “This isn’t a good thing, is it?” Coco leaned his head a bit in her direction and responded, “Not in the least.” Coco even surprised himself with that answer. In truth, Squeaker had been with the flock for so long, he was a part of the family. Even though Coco had no real attachment to Squeaker like Pablo did, the flock was important to him – to all of them – and Squeaker was a part of that flock. “I knew he should have kept his mouth shut,” Coco commented. “Now he has their attention and they’re awestruck. They always fall for it!” “My partner used to make that mistake with me when he would take me for walks with him. Always showing me off and having people stop him to talk with me. Sure, it was fun at first, but how often can you deal with people sticking fingers at you or boring you with the same 3 words over and over again?” “Bet that would get pretty irritating,” Tasha commented. “I grew tired of it after a while. No peace and quiet, no time to think. Just a bunch of people always looking at and talking with you,” Coco shook his head. “I had to set some boundaries, so I let him know I was getting fed up with all the people. Funny thing about that old man, he’s always known how to listen to me,” Coco looked back at Squeaker. “There are times to talk and times not to…I think Squeaker may be about to get a lesson in the latter.”

Squeaker hesitated for a moment. Now stepping back a bit from the front of the cage, he realized the attention he earned for himself wasn’t exactly the kind he wanted. Tasha mulled the situation over in her head for a moment and then looked over at Squeaker. Her thoughts were interrupted for a moment when she heard Gruff start scratching at the bars, trying to dig his way out through the concrete to meet the new guests. Her ears perked up as she had a sudden thought. With a flick of her tail, she rushed over to the front of her enclosure, tilted her head to try to get a better view of Squeaker. The people were now entirely in front of the carrier, making it difficult for her to get a clear view. “Let me open this up and we’ll see if he wants to come out and say hi to us,” Judy suggested to the others. “Pabs, I don’t think I like this!” Squeaker now seemed to be fully in the moment, realizing he was the center of their attention. “Stand back Squeak, let me handle this!” Pablo shouted with a malicious tone in his voice, thrusting himself in front of Squeaker. “When I say go, you charge them and fly out the door. Got it?” Pablo asked Squeaker, sounding more like he was issuing an order than asking a question. “Um, whatever you say, Pabs!” Squeaker’s voice was shaking with nervous anticipation. Judy managed to get the latch unhooked and started to open the door. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t notice Pablo and Squeaker shift positions until after she had the door open and a little green bird jumped out, beak first! Being rather accustomed to animals, Judy’s reflexes kicked in as she quickly moved her hand out of harm’s way. This, however, left a wide-open door for Squeaker and Pablo to take advantage of. “Now! Go!” Pablo shouted back to Squeaker, who was charging the door well before Pablo gave the order. Before he knew what hit him, Pablo ended up on the floor below the table as

Squeaker zipped past him on his way out of the carrier. “I’m out! I’m out!” Squeaker shouted with joy. “Sorry about that, Pabs!” The entire room was bustling with activity now. All the dogs were jumping and barking at the little yellow silhouette buzzing by their enclosures. “Playtime!” a small dog barked as she jumped up to chase Squeaker as he ed. “Psst, Squeaker!” Tasha called out. “Over here, land over here.” Squeaker wasn’t typically inclined to trust a dog with their huge teeth and sharp, peering eyes, but he soon found himself out of options. All the doors were closed and the windows barred shut. He briefly stopped on one of the tallest beams on the ceiling but lost his balance in the grime and dust that had built up over the years. As he was falling, he spread his wings and aimed at the gap in Tasha’s bars. He tucked his wings, put his head down, and swiftly made his way through the bars inside Tasha’s enclosure. The only obstacle left now was landing. Not being familiar with the immediate area, Squeaker picked the one and only spot he saw available, Tasha’s head! Tasha looked up, confused by the long yellow tail feathers hanging down in her face. “I didn’t say on me!” “Sorry, I couldn’t exactly plan it ,you know!” Squeaker stumbled around the top of Tasha’s head, trying to get his balance as his tail brushed up against the front of her snout. “Look, mommy! He’s in there!” Jeremy appeared in front of Tasha’s bars, looking in at the odd couple on the other side. “Oh dear, that can’t be good!” His mother exclaimed while quickly trying to get Judy’s attention. “What was that about? Now you stay there, little guy, OK?” Judy said while Pablo willingly stepped up onto her finger as she placed him back on the table next to the carrier.

Judy turned her head to see the two guests staring into the enclosure and realized something was wrong. “Front! No, this way! This is the front!” Tasha was calling up to Squeaker who was still fumbling his way around the top of her head. When Squeaker turned toward the front of the enclosure he saw three people staring at him. The two adults were turning white and acting frantic. “Take it easy, Tasha girl. Just relax!” Judy instructed Tasha while she started to open her door. Tasha whispered up to Squeaker, “You see the window on the wall to your left?” Squeaker looked up and saw that the wall had a small barred window looking into the neighboring enclosure. “Yep, I see it!” “Good. Now, when I say so, you fly up to it and walk over into the next enclosure,” Tasha nodded, hoping Squeaker understood her instructions. “You mean where Gruff is?” Squeaker asked, hesitantly. Tasha nodded some more. “Here they come! Go!” On her command, Squeaker took off to the window, squeezing himself through the bars the same as he had the door. The exasperated sighs of the people could be heard behind him but, at the moment, Squeaker found himself face to face with the dog he had never fully seen before!

Chapter Twenty-One

One Ugly Dog

Squeaker may have thought Tasha was making this up on the fly, but the little grin that crossed her face when she watched Judy and the others head toward Gruff’s enclosure gave her away. Tasha watched as the people left her space and moved on next door. She tilted her head up toward the window, trying to listen to the events unfold. “So, you must be one of those ‘birds’ they keep talking about around here,” Gruff barked in his old, raspy voice. Squeaker looked down at him and saw one of the ugliest creatures he could possibly imagine! There was skin folded over on itself, practically covering his eyes. His short, stubby legs looked like they were going to snap like twigs under the weight of his round, saggy body. And his face…Squeaker could hardly believe his face! There was a constant dribble of saliva running down one side of his mouth, his ears were short and floppy, his snout was flat and stubby and his eyes were huge, brown things squinting under the weight of his sagging forehead. Squeaker was taken aback when he first laid eyes on him and didn’t have the presence of mind to control his reaction. His body language gave him away, followed by the words that more or less fell out of his mouth a moment later. “Oh, I…. I…err…” Squeaker was speechless at this sight! Gruff turned his head toward the door, his sagging jowls catching up to the rest of his face a few seconds later. The people were now approaching the front of his enclosure. “People!?” he seemed shocked! “People coming in to see me?” It had been years since Gruff has been with a true family. His puppy years were well behind him and his previous family had all grown up and moved away.

The thought of being around people crossed his mind like it did most of the dogs in here, once in a while. Occasionally people would come by, like Jeremy and his mother, looking to adopt a companion. At first, he would put on a whole song and dance, eager at the chance to show off for them. As time went by, though, he gave up on the idea of being adopted to a new family and would barely notice new visitors. Eventually, people just stopped looking at him. Occasionally he got it in his mind to get up and walk over to the door to see who was here, but he always turned around again before anyone could look at him. It was better to not get his hopes up than to have his hopes crushed by rejection, he reasoned. Now, for the first time in months, Gruff suddenly had people looking at him, even coming into his enclosure! He started to wag his stubby little coil of a tail. Judy was desperately struggling to get the latch to the door open as she kept a watchful eye on Squeaker. “Now what?” Squeaker asked to anyone willing to listen. Tasha whispered from the next cell, “Just stay there, let them come in to you.” Squeaker stared back at Judy, keeping as close an eye on her as she was him. Gruff picked himself up and started to wander over to the door that Judy was now starting to open. As Judy entered the enclosure, Jeremy stepped right in behind her. “Jeremy, no! what I said? Don’t go in there!” his mother’s words went in one ear and straight out the other, as Jeremy spotted this little lump of skin and fur staring up at him, wagging a twisted, coat hanger-like tail behind him. Jeremy knelt to get a closer look at Gruff. He slowly put a hand out toward him, trying to touch him. Gruff hadn’t had this level of attention for longer than he cared to . For the first time in a while, he let his callous exterior down and pushed his head under the boy’s hand, forcing him to give him a head rub.

Judy was oblivious to the activity at her feet as she was still trying to talk Squeaker down from the window bars. “Come on little guy. I promise I won’t hurt you. You know me! I’m the food lady!” she laughed, apprehensively. Squeaker heard those words and realized he had almost forgotten breakfast! He got so caught up flying around the room that he forgot about his food, which was still lying in the cart right across the hall! As Judy stumbled to the back of the enclosure, Squeaker once again spread his wings and took off, this time right back out the door. He landed safely on the food cart parked right in the aisle and started to look around. “Hrmm, this isn’t mine,” he mumbled as he tossed a piece of dried, crumbly dog food on the floor. Judy looked both annoyed and relieved; at least her fear of him getting eaten settled down a bit as she watched him rummage through the food cart looking for his bowl. When she turned around to follow Squeaker out into the hallway, she had to stop herself from stepping on both Jeremy and Gruff. The two of them were now eye level with one another on the floor as Jeremy was laughing every time he would stop petting him and Gruff would nudge his head under his hand. Eventually, Gruff completely let his guard down and rolled over on his back, pushing his little stubs of legs straight up in the air and twisting his body around in circles. The invitation couldn’t be any more obvious for Jeremy as he placed his hand over Gruff’s exposed belly and started rubbing him vigorously. Judy paused, shocked to see these two making such a connection. “Gruff, have you made a friend?” she asked. Jeremy sat a bit more comfortably on the floor and Gruff didn’t hesitate to take advantage of what he saw – a lap! Not more than a second later, Gruff jumped up in Jeremy’s lap and started to lick his face. Judy looked up and saw his mother also watching the two of them with a large

smile on her face. Although she might not have understood birds that well, Judy knew exactly what Gruff was thinking. For that matter, Judy could also tell exactly what the people in front of her were thinking. “The mother looked up at Judy and paused for a second, “Is he up for…?” She wasn’t able to even get the words out of her mouth before Judy delightfully interrupted, “Definitely!” “Let me get this little guy back in and we can go over the papers. In the meantime, feel free to get acquainted!” Judy was nearly in tears at the thought of what was about to happen. “Ah! Finally! Hey Pabs, I found it!” Squeaker called over to the table where Pablo was intently watching the action unfold. “Hey! What’s going on?” Squeaker was startled by the sudden movement of the cart as Judy carefully started to push it back to the front of the aisle. “Let’s go back and have breakfast now, Squeaker,” Judy sighed with relief while she watched Squeaker bury his head in his newly discovered bowl of food. Squeaker didn’t argue or even put up a fight when Judy picked the bowl up, with Squeaker still on it, and placed them both securely back in the carrier. Pablo hopped in right after them, also eager to finally get to eat breakfast. Judy looked back and saw Jeremy playing with his new friend. The two of them were running laps around the inside of Gruff’s enclosure. She picked up a leash that was hanging near the front door and started over toward the three of them, “OK guys, time to make you an official family.” She was trying her best, but couldn’t hold back the tears of joy that were welling up in her eyes. The oldest, ugliest dog here was going home with a family!

Chapter Twenty-Two

Sunflower Seeds

“Mmmm, sunflower seeds!” Red was in heaven each time a fresh bowl of food arrived, full of sunflower seeds. They were the purest form of junk food he knew, short of an occasional potato chip one of the kids would sneak him! A couple days had ed since the “Flight of Squeaker” as Judy called it. The residents were settling back down and even the flock seemed to be getting accustomed to their new environment. For the past couple days, Red was rather unaffected by the change. He had overheard Coco talking to Tasha about the times he and Grandpa spent together. He occasionally heard Squeaker and Pablo talking to one another, with Squeaker dominating the conversation as usual. He also watched as Kiku would wrap himself up in pieces of paper and towels, keeping himself entertained. Red occupied his time by engaging in some meaningful arguments with Coco about how many times in a day the big hand spins around the little hand on the clock at the end of the room. He seemed satisfied as long as he didn’t have to think about the past and their home. After their last conversation and in this relative solitude, keeping those thoughts at bay became a real challenge! The sunflower seed split in half once he wrapped his beak around it, raining pieces of shell down across his cage. His thoughts were elsewhere, contemplating all the recent and long-past events. The next few seeds peeled easily and just popped out of their shell, not posing much of a challenge. It was rather unfortunate that it didn’t take more effort, as Red’s mind started to wander again. He paused halfway down, shoved his head deep into the bowl, and tilted as far as he could. He then raised his head from the bowl and looked around. “Great” he uttered with a sigh, “no more left.” Coco looked at the impressive pile of shells piled beneath Red’s feet.

“Better enjoy it now. Grandpa’s going to have a fit when we get home and he sees you eating those!” Coco commented from the other side of the bars. Red wasn’t surprised by Coco’s optimism. For Red, the word “when” would be closer to “if” and even that was stretching it. It wasn’t that he liked being pessimistic; life had just taught him to be that way. He had seen the look in Grandpa’s eyes when they were at the cemetery. He watched as the people wheeled him into the ambulance. He had little hope their lives would ever go back to the way they once were. “Ah, missed one!” Red leaned down again, uncovering the tip of a seed he had missed. As the shell fell to the floor, he looked down and noticed the mess he had created. His obsession with cleanliness was taking a holiday at the moment as there wasn’t much he could do, being confined to this small space. It was just like the one he had grown up in–littered with shredded paper, discarded food, and general filth. The other cages also were overflowing with waste. Because of the cramped space he and the others were confined to, a mess from one cage would easily find its way into another. All he could do was try to ignore the general area and focus himself on his small space. The large metal door to the room suddenly swung open, but this time Red braced himself. The chatter that had become commonplace at this point all went silent. Everyone stood still and didn’t say a word as Bart walked down the center of the aisle. Bart turned and tilted his head down a bit to look at the empty enclosure Gruff had once occupied. His glasses slid down the bridge of his nose, coming to rest as they ed over the center and sunk into either side. Everyone watched as he reached for a small red card tucked away in a small plastic envelope just on the side of the enclosure. He glanced over the card and then walked back toward the front door. He stopped after only a couple steps and turned to look at Tasha’s door.

He looked down at her as she was trying her best to avoid direct eye with him, and whispered something to her. Just after that, he placed the card in a similar envelope on her door and walked out of the building. Silence continued to fill the room as all the other dogs just stared at Tasha. Some of them whimpered a bit, while others backed away without making a sound. Coco was the first one to break the silence. “What was that about?” he asked. There was silence coming from Tasha’s direction for a few minutes as Coco tried to get her attention. “I’ve been given…” Tasha gulped, “The Card.” Red’s curiosity was getting the better of him. “What card is that?” he asked. Tasha paused again, for several seconds. “It’s the same card Gruff had. It’s the card they give you when you only have a few days left before Bart walks you down the hall,” her voice quivered. Everyone could tell Tasha could barely get the words out of her mouth. After that, she went silent and no one questioned why. Although Red may have been accustomed to seeing all manner of creatures coming and going from his life, this place was different. In the past, he was happily detached from the outcome of the actions around him. He could merrily eat his food without worrying about where his neighbor from the day before had gone. In this place, there were only two options and they were as different as night and day. Something started to happen to Red as he thought about this. It seemed that he was experiencing something that had buried itself in the recesses of his brain. It was a feeling he had pushed aside since the last day he was with Helen. It was… sorrow. Red found himself feeling sorry for Tasha. For that matter, a lot of other repressed feelings started to creep up. He let out a little chirp, followed by what can only be described as the sounds of crying. He “cooed” a bit in sorrow, as unbridled emotions poured out of him like

a waterfall over a cliff. The entire flock turned to see what was happening. None of them had ever seen Red express emotion in front of them, never mind to this extent! “I…I…” Red was trying to collect himself and come up with an excuse but was failing miserably. Red thought of sitting with Helen in the bedroom of the old house as she was growing ill. Again, he started to break down into tears. His mind wandered back to just a few days ago, seeing her final resting spot, and all the repressed feelings he had hidden for all the years came crashing down on him once more. He was a wreck and everyone could see it. For the first time in years, Red had dropped his calloused exterior and his emotions were taking over. All the others could do was watch. No one dared say anything. This was a first for all of them and no one knew exactly what to say. After all, Red was expressing the same things they were all feeling. As the day ed, so did the overwhelming feelings that had taken over Red. He was still shaken by the event, but wasable to regain some control of himself. He even managed to find time to have a conversation with Coco about the day they came here. They decided to keep it brief, or they could both end up in the same condition from which Red was now recovering. The front door swung open once more. This time a strange-looking older man walked briskly into the room followed by Judy, struggling to catch up with him. He was quite a sight! The man had wild, messy white hair springing from his head, as though it was trying to jump off but got caught halfway. His wrinkled exterior only accented the permanent creases in his face that came from years of scowling and frowning at the world. His clothes all looked second-hand, with his slacks held up by string and clipped shut with safety pins. The only thing he wore that looked semi-normal was a pair of glasses. Even those, however, seemed odd and misshaped for his head. They were small, round spectacles that were each at least one inch thick, held on his head by rusty frames, with duct tape holding them together on either side.

The birds all stopped in their tracks to see what this odd character was doing in front of them. Red looked up and felt a strange feeling he hadn’t felt for years. He ed it off as aftermath from his breakdown earlier. “But Mr. Johnson, you need to fill out the paperwork first!” Judy argued with him, apparently continuing a conversation they were having before entering the room. “Nonsense!” Mr. Johnson argued. “I hear you got birds and I need me some new ones. While I’m here, I was thinking of picking me up an old guard dog for the lot, too. You can’t be too careful nowadays!” “We’d love to help,” Judy continued, “but we need you to fill these out, and then we can help you choose which ones are a good fit.” Judy was waving a piece of paper around in front of him, but Mr. Johnson didn’t seem to care. “Why, that’s a messy looking Caique you got yourself there. I can take him off your hands, piece of cake!” The scruffy-looking man continued down the aisle on the far side from Red’s cage. “And these two, what’s their story? How come you got a Ringneck living with a Senegal? Something just ain’t right with that.” Squeaker was quick to jump on the carrier door and start biting at the bars. “Why, you…How can you say that?!” Pablo was fluffing his feathers out, forming a perfect square with his head, staring intently at the man. “Yeah, you better stay on that side of the door!” he threatened. Completely ignoring their peeps of anger, the man turned to look at the two others who were left, the next one being Red. “Well, looks like we got ourselves an old Green-Cheek here,” the man continued without hesitation. “You gotta be at least middle-aged…and scruffy looking at that!” Ironic for him to use that choice of words, considering Red gave him a

look that said the same thing. “And lookie here, an African Grey. You talk any, boy?” the man gestured toward Coco, who was trying his best to refrain from telling the man exactly what he thought of him. “Scared–typical African Grey,” he commented while turning to Judy. “I’ll take all of them from ya. I have the space and I been around birds since you were still in diapers, young lady,” the man commented while taking the paper from Judy’s hands. “I also said I need me a guard dog. You got any here like that?” Judy paused, trying to think of either a dog who would fit the description or a polite way of telling the man he was out of luck. Before she could open her mouth, Bart entered the room with a smile on his face. “Hi there, old friend!” He said in his best friendly tone–a tone the animals weren’t accustomed to hearing from him. “How can we help you out today?” “Hey there, young fella. I’m going to take myself these birds you got here. But I also need me a guard dog. You know of any?” Bart thought it over. “Well, I think I know of a girl who’d perfect for you.” Bart walked ed Red and Coco’s table, making his way over to the front door of Tasha’s enclosure. “This one here’s full of spunk. Just the other day she tried to attack me, through the bars and all!” Bart let out an evil little laugh as he peered down at Tasha. “Then I’ll take her!” Mr. Johnson replied. “Alright, then. Judy, would you go over the forms with Mr. Johnson and I’ll be right there?” Bart asked as more of an order than a question. Judy tightened her lips, looked at the disheveled old man, then made her way to the front door with a slight nod of her head.

“Follow me, Mr. Johnson, we’ll get this worked out for you,” she said as she opened the front door and walked out with the man. Bart looked down at Tasha and whispered a few words, then also headed out to the front room. Red still felt uneasy, as if the emotions that flowed out of him like a river a short while ago were now trying to send him a message. He just couldn’t figure out what that message was supposed to be! Tasha commented to Coco, “Perfect. Now we’re all condemned to leaving with him, of all people!” she wasn’t shy about letting her agitation show through. “I got a feeling from him,” Red commented across the table, toward Tasha. “I don’t really know what it is, but just a feeling.” Coco added, “By the way, what did Bart say to you now and before?” Tasha replied to both of them. “I’d trust that feeling, ‘old feathers.’ Mr. Johnson has been coming here for years, I hear. Every week he shows up, looking for new animals to take with him. Problem is, no one asks where the previous ones went. Judy made that mistake once and Bart didn’t hesitate to reprimand her for it, calling her all sorts of names and telling her to mind her own business.” Coco looked down again at the hole in the wall Tasha’s snout was sticking slightly out of. “And Bart’s comments to you?” “Well, let’s just say Bart and I have never gotten along. He was the one who brought me in here on my first day. He got his arm a bit too close to me that day and…well…I gave him something to me by. From that point on, he’s always threatened me when he had the chance. Today he commented about how much he would ‘enjoy this’ when he slid that red card on my cage. This time he said this was ‘even better’.” The birds all paused. Kiku was the first to come out and say what they were all thinking, “What’s so bad?” “It can’t be…” Red hesitated. “Mr. Johnson. Mr.…Frederick Johnson…?” Red gulped.

Talking to no one in particular, Red repeated to himself in a low tone, “Not him, anyone but him! Please, not him! Don’t let it be him! Bart opened the door. “OK, Fred, pull your van around and I’ll get them ready to go.” Red suddenly felt his legs give out from under him as he collapsed off his perch. Not having heard it for a couple days and being taken by surprise, Coco turned to look at him. Red was as pale as a bright green bird could get and shaking all over! “Red…Red…What is it?” Coco asked. “He’s…he’s come back! He can’t…they took him away…I saw it!” Red rambled on. “They packed us all up and put us out front. I saw them shove him into a car and drive off while we sat there. How can he be back?!” Coco looked confused, “Who’s back?” Red gulped. “My…‘breeder’.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Not This Guy!

The noise was tremendous! Dogs were barking, birds were yelling and people were shouting. Even though it was only a matter of moving a few cages, anyone nearby would have sworn they were packing up the entire shelter! The back door swung open and Bart came walking briskly down the hall. He had a leash in one hand and a set of keys in the other. As he ed, the dogs in each enclosure went silent. They all knew that back door and none wanted to chance going “for a walk” down that hall. Bart stopped at Tasha’s cage, clipping his keys onto his belt and getting the leash straightened out. “You first,” he snapped at her. Tasha backed up against the wall, lowering her tail and bowing her head, her lips curled up slightly as the door opened. She never let him out of her sight when she would see him walk by, and this intrusion was no different. “Get over here, you mutt!” Bart whispered in a voice that would have been considered yelling had it been raised a few decibels; instead, it came out sounding hoarse and raspy. Just as Bart entered her enclosure, Judy entered from the front door. She had bags of bird food in hand, along with a couple small towels. Unlike the previous day when Gruff went home, she didn’t seem as excited and full of energy with this adoption. She looked as though something was troubling her, but she would never it what. She continued toward the table with Kiku, Squeaker, and Pablo. Reaching under the table, she pulled out a small stack of newspaper to add to her collection and then placed them all down on an empty corner. At this point, some low rumblings were coming from Tasha’s area that caught her attention. The rumblings started getting louder and louder until a human voice was heard shouting.

“Ouch! You rotten mongrel…you bit me! Me, of all people? I ought to…” Bart’s voice echoed down the hall, overwhelming the entire room. Judy peeked around the corner to see Tasha holding a piece of pant leg in her mouth that matched perfectly with a small piece torn from the bottom of Bart’s pants. “Bart, I can handle that if you want,” Judy calmly stated, trying hard not to cheer Tasha on. Bart did something rather uncharacteristic for a man of his stature. This frightening giant of a man looked at Judy and was almost…crying?! “But she bit me…again!” he argued, not responding to Judy’s comment, “No dog bites me twice…ever!” Although she barely scratched his leg and did more damage to his pants, the greatest damage Tasha seemed to do was to his ego! She managed to find the weak link in his otherwise solid armor, entirely by accident. Bart threw the leash down on the ground as a sign of his resignation in this struggle. There wasn’t much he could do. Fred was taking her home, and Bart was the one who promoted her as a fearsome guard dog. He couldn’t discipline her without looking bad in front of Fred, but he didn’t want to just give up and let her get away with it, either. Fortunately for Tasha, Bart’s job came before his anger. Realizing the futility of the situation and not wanting to it defeat, Bart stormed out of the enclosure and toward the front door, barking orders at Judy. “You take these out to the van,” Bart growled, as he pointed in the general direction of Tasha and the birds, “I have more important things to do, like filing his paperwork. “And mending your ego…” Judy whispered under her breath. “Alright, Tasha girl, let’s get you ready to go to your new home!” Judy was an expert at making any situation seem like a joyful event. Despite her anger at the situation, she spoke in a tone that immediately made every creature around her relax.

Tasha, not wanting to give Judy the same treatment as she had Bart, relaxed her posture and started licking her on the hand. “That’s a girl. Let me put this on and we’ll take you out back. You ready?” Judy fastened Tasha’s leash to the collar around her neck. Within seconds, the two of them were headed out the back of the hall, through the door. Every dog in the enclosure whimpered a sad little “goodbye” as she walked down the hall. Many were dogs Tasha had never seen or known. Their farewell was more a gesture of general respect than of friendship. They all knew what happened when a dog was walked down the back of that hall. This was the first time Tasha had seen the back room. Despite being by Judy’s side, she was still extremely nervous. She, along with all the dogs in the shelter, knew that no dog ever returned from this area. Continuing through the room, she tucked her tail and hung her head so far down she was almost crawling on her knees. “What’s the matter, girl?” Judy asked, noticing Tasha’s strange behavior. “Just a little farther and we’ll be outside,” Judy comforted, as they continued down the hall, nearly dragging Tasha, who was almost frozen solid by fear. Tasha briefly turned her head up to look at Judy and couldn’t help but notice some details of the room. In fact, the room was a long, brightly lit hallway. The walls were a whitewashed cinderblock with the fluorescent lights reflecting the white so vibrantly they became one large white glow, with each block bleeding into the next. The ceiling in this stretch of the hall was much lower than the one in the main room from which Tasha had just come. Instead of a ceiling with metal cross beams and s running to the walls, this one was only slightly taller than Judy and had large, white s running in an even pattern down the length. There were windows on one side of the hall that seemed to lead into more rooms, each with similar lighting as this one. On the opposite wall was a small assortment of a few smaller windows, each reinforced with thin metal wire making a grid inside the sheets of glass. Beyond the metal and glass screen, Tasha could see a hint of what must have been sunlight, but the glaze covering each of the windows made it difficult to tell for sure.

Overall, the hall had a very institutional look and a sterile feel to it. There was no variety, there were no shadows, there was nothing that even hinted of emotion. Even the floor, which Tasha could feel was still concrete, was coated with a white finish. The only bit of life she could see were some dark gray speckles sprinkled down inside the finish. When they approached the end of the hall, Judy turned a corner, struggling to tow Tasha behind her. In front of them was a heavy metal door with thick bars covering a small window near the top. Judy pushed on the metal handle and the door gave way under the complaints, screeches, and squeals of the heavy metal. Sunlight! Tasha could see sunlight peeking in through the gap in the open door! She picked her head up and lifted her tail a bit. Now she was eager to get outside and see fresh air and sunlight again! Although she had access to a small fenced-in yard outside of her enclosure every day, the moment she entered this back room today, Tasha thought she would never see daylight again. Now, she was grateful for such a little thing she had otherwise taken for granted! Her trek wasn’t over yet, however. Once through the door, she and Judy entered a large, fenced-in lot. There were cars parked on either side with a wide-open stretch of asphalt separating them. At the moment, though, a large gray van sat in the center of this lot with its doors wide open, blocking all the cars in. Standing at the back of the open doors was Fred. “There’s my new dog!” Fred’s crackling voice called out. “I’ll take her from here, little lady, you go get the rest of ’em,” Fred sniffed, reaching for the leash well before he even opened his mouth, and snatching it from Judy’s hand. “Well, I also have some food for her. You want to adjust her…” Judy was interrupted before she could finish. “I’m not spoiling my dogs with that fancy food! She’s going to eat the same as my other. You just go be a good little girl and get my birds now, you hear?” Fred was harsh and abrupt with Judy, just like he had been in the past. First Bart and now Fred, Judy realized she was in a “lose-lose” situation. Neither

of them were willing to listen to what she wanted to say, and she couldn’t speak her mind if she had any desire to keep her job. The most she could do was comply with them and continue bringing the animals out to Fred. One by one, she managed to bring the cages out and each time Fred quickly grabbed them from her to stack in his van, ordering her to bring another one out to him. The ordeal lasted for about an hour, with Judy finally getting the last of the supplies Fred would need to get him through the next couple days, as was standard procedure. Beyond that, she knew the animals were on their own, since it was up to Fred to provide for them. Judy was under no illusions about who and what Fred was. For almost a year, he had been coming to the shelter trying to adopt anyone and everyone he could get his hands on. Cats, dogs, ferrets and even a rat or two had all gone to his home. To hear him comment about feeding Tasha the same as his other dog sent chills down her spine, since he had adopted at least six others. Now, here she was, watching Fred squeeze all the animals and carriers tightly into the back of his van. There was nothing she could do, other than wish them all a safe trip and the best of luck, as she helped Fred close the doors to the back of the van. Watching Fred pull out of the parking lot, Judy realized there were days she really hated her job.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Rotten Luck

“Hey, where are we going?” Kiku asked, looking around at the stacks of carriers inside the hollowed out, metal van. “A new place? What about the food? Are we going to have food?” The others must have had similar questions racing through their minds, but they were all too worried to care about food as much as Kiku did. The term “breeder” for most of them was a distant, intentionally forgotten memory. Once Red told the others about Fred just after they were packed in the van like sardines, they all feared the worst. Kiku chewed on the bars of the carrier as if testing to see if the metal had changed to a more palatable material. Nope! Still the same cold, tasteless metal as last time he checked. It was fair to say that Kiku was going a bit stir-crazy in the carrier. It had been days since he was stuffed in the small tan, plastic box. The only source of light had been coming through evenly spaced slots in the side and the wire grate in the front. The only way he was able to stretch out fully was to face either the back or front as the sides would crease his tail feathers if he faced either of them. Cathy had taken little care in her placement of Kiku or her choice of carriers. Grandpa had specialized travel cages for each of the birds. They were spacious and had lots of toys and perches hanging from them. Coco and Red had the luxury of having theirs with them when they were taken. Kiku, Pablo and Squeaker were stuck in the hand-me-down carriers Grandpa collected from wellintentioned neighbors who didn’t quite understand birds. The inside of his carrier at this point was a complete mess! There were bits of newspaper shredded to pieces on the ground that were supposed to cover the towel which they used to toss him into the carrier. Pieces of unidentifiable food bits were littering the corners and Kiku was forced to shuffle through all of it while he made his way from one end to the other. One thing Kiku had up his sleeve, that no one else was aware of, was a small

detail Cathy overlooked. There was a reason Grandpa used small travel cages for the birds; they were made of metal wire. Kiku had noticed a small crack in the back corner of his carrier a few days earlier. At first, he was just looking for something to do, but as time went by, his hobby turned into something of an obsession. The hole he had now chewed in it was big enough to poke his head through! No one was aware of Kiku’s little scheme. He put up the perfect cover; a carefree, single-minded bird. Perhaps it was the idea that he would soon be out of the carrier that caused him to be so relaxed while everyone else was stressed? Even the humans they had been around were unaware of the destruction Kiku had caused to his carrier. The small tan bits of plastic he had been shaving off the edges of his hole, blended in nicely with the shells and scraps of newspaper that were ankle-deep in his carrier. His towel also helped to cover most of the hole he had created. Had anyone worked up the courage to reach in and move the towel, they would have noticed the hole for sure, but Kiku did the best job he could protecting his space. Up to this point, no one they encountered was brave enough to challenge the point on his beak–even Bart had his reservations! While burying himself in his blanket to work on his hole, he would let out an evil little screech if anyone came near him. At first, Judy thought he was in trouble and tried to open the door. Kiku turned around and quickly let her know otherwise! He did the same to Fred as he was being scooted into the back of the van moments ago. That was the one time he thought he might be in a bit of trouble. Unlike Judy, who instinctively backed away when she saw the beak coming, Fred kept his hand firmly planted on the side. Maybe he couldn’t hear him? Maybe he couldn’t see him? Kiku wanted to think that, at least. The other option lingering in his mind wasn’t as optimistic. Fred might not be afraid of him! Up to now, Kiku had control, even if no one else realized he did. When he wanted something, he would act sweet and friendly. When he decided he didn’t want the attention, he acted bitter and mean. This worked incredibly well with

Judy and about as well as could be expected with Bart. Fred, however, posed a new threat. The man seemed truly disinterested in anything the birds did, any way they were acting, or anything they would say. Kiku didn’t have much time left if he was going to finish his escape route before Fred caught on to his plan! It was obvious no one was going to comment on his questions about food. Working was making him hungry though, and the only thing he had left in his carrier were seed shells and newspaper. “Back to work!” he whispered to himself and then headed back to his ritual. “Eating can wait.” He ducked under his towel, shoving a few scraps of paper out of the way. Getting traction on the smooth plastic floor with the weight of the towel overhead was a bit difficult when he first tried this, but he had found ways around that. With a twist of his head, he flipped himself upside down and pulled himself the last few inches to the hole, on his back. His eyes saw the edge of the hole, with ridges carved in it from his beak. It was much darker in here than he was accustomed to. The van allowed little to no light to come through the back and his carrier was pressed firmly against a wall. Although he could still get his beak around the thin plastic shell, he didn’t have much light to see what he was doing or room to adjust himself. He would just have to make do. Kiku started to get into his routine of chewing the plastic. As the van drove down the road, Kiku’s chewing began to develop a pattern. With each bump, his beak would chew down and at each traffic signal, he would rearrange his body. The pattern seemed second nature to him, as if he heard it before...Kiku lit up when he realized the pattern of the van they were in now was the very same one he had familiarized himself with days ago! “We’re going back!” Kiku exclaimed. “We’re going back home!” His little voice rang out, muffled by the towel over his head. The others just stared at him in silence. None of them even realized Kiku had

spoken a coherent statement over the constant vibration of the van. Kiku let out a little huff, figuring they were all ignoring him again and continued his chewing. As time was limited, he could hardly spare a second to come out and repeat himself. Luckily, the hum of the motor and vibrations coming through the floor gave him the perfect cover for his activity. The crackling of plastic under his beak could barely be distinguished from the rest of the background noise. Kiku believed there wasn’t a soul on board who could hear or knew what he was up to at the moment, and he liked it that way. Forgetting about his present company, Kiku wasn’t aware there may be one other creature in the van who had suspicions about his new pastime. From the front seat, Tasha twitched her ears back with each crunch Kiku made with his beak.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Where to Now

The van slowed, then shook and rattled violently as it left the road. The cages, only being wedged against one another for , started to shift. Pablo looked out the door of his carrier, which was stacked on top of Coco’s cage. The edge of the cage below his started to disappear, exposing more and more of the floor at the bottom. Either the cage below was sliding back, or his carrier was siding forward. Neither situation seemed all that ideal to him. Pablo raced to the back of the carrier, hugging Squeaker in his wing as he hit the back wall. “Pablo! I never thought you cared!” Squeaker gasped in astonishment, trying to catch his balance from the sudden embrace. “It’s alright, we’ll be fine, I know...” “Just be quiet and hold on to something!” Pablo yelled to him. “What? Hold onto what?” Squeaker looked puzzled and slightly disappointed that he wasn’t able to play the hero role he had prepared himself for a second ago. The weight of the carrier shifted with the next bump in the road. Now Squeaker could feel for himself the reason for Pablo’s concern, and began to look for something to hold onto for . Looking around, he saw Pablo clutching the back wall of the carrier, putting his beak through one of the slots and his feet around the towel on the bottom. He was quick to ! No sooner had Squeaker gripped the side than the carrier started to shift violently and slide down to the front of Coco’s cage below. With an earthshattering crash against the hard metal floor, the carrier came to rest. The rest of the flock all looked over in concern. Kiku managed to peek his head out from the towel, as well, to see what had happened. Everyone saw a cloud of dust drift up from near Red’s cage, followed by a stray tail feather or two.

“Pablo! Squeaker!” Coco called out, “Are you alright?!” He looked in front of him, at the back of the carrier that had been stacked above his cage, and saw two beaks hooked through the slots on the back. “Juft feachy,” Pablo said, with his mouth full of plastic wall. Pablo let go of the side to take a look at their new surroundings. They were now facing the spare tire, tied loosely to what was the far. “Great neighborhood, wonderful views!” Pablo grunted sarcastically. “I wonder what the neighbors are like.” “Pabs, are we OK?” Squeaker asked, while letting go of the side. “And there’s one now,” Pablo snickered a bit, trying to make the best of a bad situation. “There’s one what? Who are you talking to, Pabs?” Squeaker failed to see the humor in Pablo’s inside joke. The two wouldn’t have much time to get used to their new surroundings. With one last bounce of the van, they all came rolling to a stop. Fred turned to look in the back and saw the newly rearranged pile of carriers and cages. “Well, shucks! Shoulda stacked them better, I suppose.” He looked at Tasha in the enger seat and gestured toward the back, “I shoulda put you back with them to hold those up.” “Aww, well, I’m too old to everything,” were Fred’s departing words as he opened the front door and hopped out of the van, rather energetically for a man his age. Just to their right, Pablo heard the squeaking of metal hinges and the release of rusty metal latches as the door swung open. “Alright, birds, you can call this your home from now on! We’re here!” Fred reached for the plastic carrier that was now lying on the floor.

“We’ll get you two in first, since you volunteered already,” Fred grinned, exposing the only five yellowed tooth stubs in his mouth. Fred lifted the carrier out of the van, facing the door to the front when he started to walk. He paused briefly to slam the dented metal door shut behind him. Pablo used the opportunity to sneak back up to the front to look around at the new environment. “Blasted gate!” Fred murmured as he was struggling to open a very weathered chain-link fence gate that looked like it was trying to run away from the posts that held it up. “Got you now!” he gasped, as he creaked the gate open, dragging the bottom along a broken concrete slab. The sun was low in the sky, casting long shadows over the terrain. As Pablo looked out, he had some difficulty telling what he was looking at. The shadows were playing tricks with his eyes, making things appear larger than they were, or distorting the shape of what he thought he was seeing. There were a few things he could see, however, that were clear as day. The first being the dirt lot they were now entering. It was free and clear of anything that remotely resembled intentional vegetation. There were some wisps of weeds growing in small patches here and there, along with dried out, sunburned patches of grass. The path they were now walking on looked like it was in a constant battle with the weeds over the years, and was slowly starting to lose. He felt their weight shift as they turned a corner, and now Pablo could make out something that looked like a car. No, make that a van. No, in fact, maybe it was a truck? He paused. He had never quite seen anything like that before. It was neither a van nor a truck. It looked more like a house with wheels! From the condition of it, Pablo reasoned that it must have broken down on this site and Fred just never got around to moving it. There was almost more rust covering the exterior than there was paint and the weeds look like they claimed this as their first victim, well before invading the sidewalk. “Home, sweet home,” Fred sighed as they approached the abandoned wreck of a

vehicle. Fred placed the carrier on the ground just a few feet away from what looked like the front door to this vehicular house. He jingled a set of keys and made his way over to the door. After navigating his way up a rickety, partially decayed wooden step and struggling with a dented, rusted out screen door, he fidgeted with the lock on the main door until it clicked open. He then disappeared inside the flimsy excuse for a door. The shadows were starting to stretch out even longer and were slowly creeping up on the carrier in which Pablo and Squeaker were now sitting–alone – on the cold, hard ground. “Pabs, you think he’s coming back?” Squeaker asked, pushing himself closer and closer to Pablo. “He…he…has to!” Pablo wasn’t hiding his fear at the moment. At the shock of his new surroundings, Pablo had forgotten to play his usual role of “Fearless Leader.” Just as the shadows from a nearby dried-out stalk of one of the scariest looking weeds they had ever seen were threatening to block out their daylight completely, Fred emerged from the house with a bottle in his hand. “Alright fellas, let’s get you set up.” Finally! At least they were moving again! Fred turned slightly, exposing a new section of the lot to Pablo’s vision. Far along a back corner of the old chain-link fence, he could see a small, square plywood box with a large hole cut out in front of it. Along the side there appeared to be about four various sized, plastic bowls. At one point it seemed the bowls were intended to be some bright cheerful colors, but the exposure to the sun and the dirt caked up on the sides had long since hidden their uplifting spirits. “Blaze! Get up and out here, you lazy mutt! I got you a female!” Pablo could detect something hidden in the dark shadows of the interior of that box shuffling around at the sound of Fred’s voice. The lighting, however, made it

impossible for him to tell exactly what was living out there, though. Fred turned again, continuing down the battle-scarred walkway, brushing past a few of the taller weeds that nearly reached his waist. Pablo caught his first glimpse of the end of the path and had to do a double-take when they approached to what he thought was another building. It was a building in the loosest sense of the word. There were a bunch of old pine boards nailed loosely together with dry rot working its way up from the bottom of each. Whatever care had been used in constructing this building hadn’t been renewed for years. The weeds that had already enveloped the house and were in a constant battle with the walkway were also taking their toll on this old building. Pablo could see long, thin vines crawling their way up the sides, most of which had died and dried out a long while ago. The building was not much larger than the van they had just left. For that matter, it wasn’t much larger than the cage he and Squeaker were accustomed to sharing! Along the top, Pablo could see what might be windows. The outsides had a murky, brown tint to them, through which Pablo thought he could make out a metal wire. Fred didn’t even pause to free up a hand when he approached the door to this shack. He placed his foot out firmly in front of him and nudged the door open. If Pablo thought the outside looked sad, the inside of this shack was a Shakespearean tragedy by comparison! Fred reached up to turn on a light hanging by a chain on the ceiling, and the bare bulb illuminated the interior of the shack, highlighting every flaw in horrendous detail. On the walls were old, decaying shelves, held by nothing more than a few rusty nails struggling against the force of gravity and some good luck. Around the back wall was an assortment of small cabinets, each of which might have added “charm” to a normal, well-kept house, but in these conditions, added to the feeling of chaos that was present on the rest of the property. The old wooden floors were buckling under the weight of Fred as he took a few

steps toward the back. The walls were creaking, the roof was crackling; it was as if the entire building was complaining of his existence and just wanted to be left alone to decay in peace. The only thing that looked somewhat new was a small white box on the floor with a power cord creeping out the back. Fred touched a button on top of that box as he walked through the building and a gust of hot air started to blow out from the top. “Can’t have you boys freezing up on me now, can I?” Fred said, still making his way to the back. “You all can call this home from now on,” Fred said, with a creepy smile crossing his face as he held the carrier up to his eyes. Pablo and Squeaker were both quite speechless. “This is only a dream! This is only a dream! This is only a dream!” Squeaker kept repeating under his breath. “Hit me, Pabs! Hit me hard and I’ll wake up!” Pablo wasn’t one to up the chance to pick on his favorite roommate, so he eagerly obliged, without so much as a second thought. “Ouch!” Squeaker yelped. “Wait, is it all…?” Squeaker looked around once more and sank his head. “Still here…” “I’ll have cages for you in a few days. My friend will be bringing ’em on by,” Fred slurred, tossing the now-empty bottle out the front door. “Not the shelf…not the shelf…not the shelf…” Pablo repeated to himself over and over again, fearful that Fred would put their carrier up on one of the dilapidated wooden shelves that lined the walls. “This will do you for now!” Fred lifted the carrier above his head and placed it on one of the highest shelves. Before Pablo could even express his concern over the placement, the light from

the bare bulb hanging in the ceiling was shining directly in his face, blinding him to anything else outside of the space he and Squeaker shared. The disturbing sound of what seemed to be a wild animal howling could now be heard coming from outside in the yard. “Well, it’s about time, you mangy furball!” Fred yelled out, shifting his attention to the front door while sliding his hand along the front of the carrier. This was an opportunity Pablo wasn’t going to let slip past him so easily. It was time to teach this old man a lesson! Already being just inches away from their door, Pablo threw all his weight against the door, with his beak leading the way. Fred, thoroughly distracted by the sounds outside, turned his back and relaxed his arm as he pulled it off the carrier just before Pablo’s beak landed. Fully committed to his act, this left Pablo only once choice! He slammed head-first into the wire door on the carrier and bounced back, spinning around a few times before hitting the floor. “Next time I can hit you if you like!” Squeaker snickered while watching his friend try to figure out which way was up! Fred walked out the door, completely oblivious to Pablo’s attempts to “teach him a lesson.” Pablo eventually stumbled back up to his feet, with his pride hurt more than anything else. “I don’t think he took notes on that lesson, Pabs,” Squeaker joked, taking advantage of his friend while he was down. The momentary light-hearted spirit that filled the carrier was cut short again by the piercing sound of howling, followed by constant barking. “What…what do you think that is, Pabs?” Squeaker asked, all the amusement gone from his voice. “I…I don’t know, Squeak. Maybe it’s that thing he was calling Blaze?” Pablo whispered, trying not to attract any unwanted attention to the two of them.

Squeaker didn’t even seem fazed by Pablo’s sudden abbreviation of his name. There were more important things for him to worry about at the moment!

Chapter Twenty-Six

The Shack

“There it is again! Doesn’t anyone else hear that?” Coco was looking all around his cage trying to figure out what could be making the noise. “Maybe you’re hearing things again,” Red commented, “Like that time you thought someone was trying to break into the house but it was just a tree branch. that? I think Kyra even got a picture of you planting yourself facefirst into the kitchen window around that moment, too.” Red chuckled. He enjoyed tossing those little quips out there to Coco from time to time. Even the current situation wouldn’t prevent him from getting a few words in. Coco didn’t bother too much about Red’s little pastime. At the moment, he was more concerned about the noise he kept hearing. “It sounds like feet tapping, but small feet,” Coco argued. He was looking around every inch of his cage trying to find the source of the noise. “I wouldn’t doubt anything in here Coco,” Pablo called down from his aerial view of the shack. It had been almost an hour since Fred packed all the birds into this little space, promising each of them a new cage when his friend arrived. Squeaker and Pablo were the first ones to witness their new situation, followed by Kiku, Red, and then Coco. None of the birds had seen what became of Tasha after they left the van. All they could see were her sad eyes staring out the window as they were each dragged out and carried up the walkway. As each of the cages was stacked in the shack, all the birds were aware of the hazards of the shelf on which they were placed. They had a bet going on how long it would be before the rusty nails lost their struggle with gravity and gave out from under them. Pablo and Squeaker didn’t appreciate this all that much, since their carrier was several feet higher than anyone else’s. As Fred had dragged the birds in, his strength faded and he had placed each of the birds on lower and lower shelves. Coco found himself on the bottom shelf, across from Pablo and Squeaker.

“And no one else hears this?!” Coco sounded as though he was on the verge of insanity. Suddenly, an array of tiny voices started calling out from the top of Coco’s cage, “Pardon me. Excuse me. Coming through. Out of my way. Sorry, miss. Move over. Heavy load! Move it! Excuse us.” Looking up, Coco saw movement–several movements. Each was the size of a small seed, forming a steady stream of motion across the top of the bars. At the shock of the sudden activity, Coco flapped his wings in a panic and landed with his tail compressed against the back corner of the cage. “Hey! Anyone see wind in the forecast today?” One of the tiny voices called out as they all gasped in unison, letting out a collective sigh once Coco stopped flapping. “Hey, you! You, big guy! Up there,” a little voice called out. Coco turned his head slightly down and saw one of the figures approaching him. The bare bulb shining in the room made it difficult to tell exactly what he was looking at, but it resembled a small seed of some type? “Excuse me. What exactly are you doing here?” the little voice squeaked in a barely audible tone. “Me?” Coco asked in amazement. “Oh, we’re dealing with a real brainiac here,” the voice muttered in a loud whisper. “Yeah you, big guy.” “W...what are you?” Coco asked, feeling rather odd speaking to a seed! “Us?” the little figure made a faint gesture toward the others crawling along the bars. “Must be a real Einstein, I bet!” Coco shifted his head, trying to figure out if this “seed” had really just insulted him! “Ants,” the little voice replied.

Coco had heard Kyra use that word before when commenting on Cathy. He replied, “But you’re not human. You’re too small to be aunts.” “What? What do you mean?” there was a moment of confusion followed by a pause. “Not aunts, dopey, ants…a-n-t” “Well…” Coco composed himself, looking rather embarrassed to be both insulted by an ant and conversing with one. “This is my cage. We were brought in here by that man who lives out there.” The pitter-patter of the little feet stopped. “By the human!?” several voices called out in shock. “I think his name is Fred. Why the shock?” Coco asked, forgetting his audience for a moment. “He’s our meal ticket! Wherever he goes, we follow. We’ve moved our colony around dozens of times following him around. Candy bar wrappers, doughnut crumbs, pizza crusts…” The little voice trailed off into a list of food scraps that sounded appalling to Coco, but to each his own! “So, why are you out here, if he lives in there?” Coco gestured slightly toward the door with his wing. “Well, for the past few days he’s been coming out here, so we figured it was a safe bet he’d leave us at least a week’s worth of food behind!” The voice paused. “So far, we’ve got nothing.” Coco got the impression that cleanliness wasn’t exactly Fred’s strong point. He found it difficult to believe that a person could be messier than he had seen so far, but apparently these ants knew otherwise. “Besides,” the little voice continued to shout, “He has the place rigged.” Coco looked at the door for a moment. “You mean his house?” “Yeah,” the voice called back. “He has these huge sheets of black stuff laid out along all the walls. We walk on it and then get stuck. Lost a lot of good ants that way.” The little voice sniffled for a moment.

The others from above called out in unison, “Farewell, our brothers!” and proceeded to scamper down the side of Coco’s cage. “Well, I’d love to chat and all, but we have a job to do,” the little voice called out as he started to turn around. “Wait! One quick question,” Coco called back, lowering his head to get closer so he didn’t have to shout. “Make it quick. Time’s food, you know!” The squeak of his little voice was a bit clearer from down at this level. “We had a companion out there. She was a medium-sized dog, long fur, floppy ears, black coat with a white belly. Have you seen her?” The scampering of the little feet paused again. “The dog!” They all exclaimed. “You mean, he’s got another?!” the ant asked in his little voice. “Another?” Coco asked. “Our human pal out there has had at least a dozen since we’ve set up camp in his area. They all ran off or just went missing one day. The only one left out there he calls Blaze. A bit slow in the head if you ask me.” Coco looked toward the door again. “I guess that means you haven’t seen another dog out there?” “Hold on, let me check.” The ant turned around and shouted to another ant. “Number 42179, did you see another dog out there with Dim-wit?” There was a long pause, followed by another barely audible series of squeaks. “Well, there you have it,” the little ant called out. “Have what? I couldn’t hear a thing!” Coco looked rather upset. The ant sighed, took a deep breath, and shouted out, “Yes, there’s another one out there again. Looks like your friend. Now, I have my work to do!” The ant scurried off to the rest of his group, climbing down the cage bars,

onto the shelf, and eventually onto the floor. “Bye and good luck!” Coco called out, feeling it was the only proper thing to say. At least he had his answer. Tasha was outside somewhere in the yard. It was rather disconcerting, however, that she wasn’t making an effort to get inside the shed and look for them. Perhaps Fred chained her up? That must be it! All Coco could do was speculate since he had no clear way of seeing outside. If only he had asked the ants where she was…then again, he already felt like he was pressing his luck, and potentially his sanity, talking to them for as long as he had. He glanced around the room, giving everyone a quick scan. Fortunately, everyone was too busy with their own worries to pay any attention to him and his little conversation. It was a good thing, too, since Coco would never live it down if Red caught him having a conversation with himself!

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Mean Man

“Get over here, you filthy mutt!” Fred’s struggled to get the words out while pulling Tasha by her leash. “I got a friend for you, you worthless dog. Now I want you to get out here and meet her!” Tasha cowered as far behind Fred as she could manage. She didn’t want him tugging on her leash but also wasn’t sure she wanted to see what was about to come out of that small rotted plywood shack in the corner of the yard. It had been about an hour since they arrived in the van. Normally things would have gone pretty fast, but every time Fred brought one of the animals in, he would stop by his house for several minutes and come back out holding another bottle in his hand. This tended to add about 15 minutes per trip. He had finally gotten all the birds arranged inside what looked to be a small wooden shed in the back corner of the yard. The last one to be brought out of the van was Tasha. “Don’t worry, girl. Stop pulling! You and Blaze will be best friends. I know it. He’ll even share his doghouse with you” Fred yanked harder on Tasha’s leash as they came closer to the small “dog house,” as Fred called it. “Blaze! You worthless mutt, get out here and see your new friend!” There was movement coming from within the doghouse, but not so much as a toenail was showing from the door. “Alright, have it your way. I’ll just leave her here,” Fred grumbled as he unclipped Tasha’s leash and threw it to the ground. He had more important things to do with his time than babysit a couple of dogs. His bottle was nearly empty and that took a higher priority than any of the animals.

Tasha was a bit conflicted. She knew for a fact she didn’t like Fred. On the other hand, this “Blaze” didn’t seem all that welcoming either. Fred stormed out of the yard and back into his house, slamming the thin metal door behind him with a loud crack. Some thumping from inside the mobile house could be heard, followed by the low, muted sounds of voices and the warm glow of a television set. “He’ll stay in there all night,” a low voice whispered from the darkness of the doghouse. “He does it every night. Most of the time I ignore him when he comes out. Especially after he’s had a few drinks, he’s not a man you want to be around,” the whisper was getting progressively louder until it reached a full-sized voice. “By the way…” a snout stuck out from the front door. “I’m Blaze.” A head protruded, followed by the rest of his body. Unlike the monster Tasha thought would be living in conditions like this, she found herself face-to-face with a dog about her height with short, frizzy black fur on his back, white markings on his belly, and two of the bluest eyes she had ever seen! In fact, Blaze looked like a rather handsome example of how a dog should be! When he fully emerged, she caught a glimpse of his fuzzy tail curling around his back, adding to his proud stature. Tasha raised her eyes a bit, finding herself almost at a loss for words in the presence of this perfect example of a dog. She sheepishly scuffed a foot and started to speak. “I’m…I’m Tasha.” “Great!” she thought, “That’s all I could say? ‘I’m Tasha’?! Seriously? Way to go with first impressions!” Blaze looked her over with his piercing blue eyes. “You don’t look like the type he usually brings home. Come to think of it, he’s never brought a female home before!” Tasha wasn’t sure exactly how to take that last comment. There was some surprise in Blaze’s voice when he commented about her. It was difficult to tell if it was a good surprise or a bad one.

“It’s been…a while,” he continued, “A while since I’ve seen a female.” Blaze straightened his posture, licked a paw and ran it through the fur on his head. “Where are my manners?!” Blaze exclaimed, still shaking off some of the disbelief. “Come in, come in! My home is your home!” Tasha looked at the shack and hesitated. “I know it isn’t much, but you’re welcome to anything I have.” Blaze was trying his best to sound chivalrous…and it was working. Tasha found herself forgetting about the reservations she first had when she walked into the yard. She slowly made her way into the small wooden house. There wasn’t much to see. In one corner she could see a shallow hole dug out in the bare dirt floor and in the others were an assortment of old tennis balls, chew toys, and dirt-covered bones. Blaze hurried in behind her and started to shove some of the items into an out of the way corner. “I know ish isn’t mush,” he commented with his mouth full of tennis ball, before spitting it out into a small hole. “But I wasn’t expecting company so soon. If I had known, I would have cleaned up a bit,” Blaze apologized as he bent down, trying to get a bit of a rubber toy out from a hole on one side. “I figure you can have this side and I’ll make a bed for myself over here,” Blaze said as he pointed toward the shallow hole on the other end, gesturing for Tasha to settle in. “You mentioned something about other types?” Tasha asked, still taking in the sight of the new house. “How many dogs have lived here?” Blaze paused to think for a moment. “About six that I know of.” “Dare I ask where they are now?” Tasha gulped. “Well, you see…Fred isn’t around most of the time. We’d only see him if and when he ed to give us some food and water. Most of the time he either isn’t home, or he drinks himself into a stupor inside his trailer.”

Blaze grabbed a small piece of rubber hanging off the toy and finally dislodged it from the hole. “Some of the others thought they would look for ‘better opportunities’ and took it upon themselves to jump the fence to find another home.” “But you stayed?” Tasha asked, knowing that he did stay, but wanting to know his reasons more than anything. “I know what’s out there. I lived out there for over a year. Honestly, whatever Fred can throw at me can’t be any worse than I’ve already seen. Besides, here I get a roof over my head and food and water–sometimes, at least,” Blaze defended himself as he spit the toy out into the pile with the rest of them. For Tasha, it was strange to see him content to be living in these conditions. “Didn’t you have a family? A home that took care of you?” Blaze tilted his head to think for a minute. “Nope, can’t say I ever have. I mean, I’ve heard of those things and others like you would talk about them. Never had one for myself, though. Don’t suppose I’d ever need one, really.” “That’s…. that’s horrible!” Tasha cried. “To never know what it’s like to have someone care about you as a family would!” Blaze just shrugged. “Guess I don’t know what I’m missing. Should be grateful for that, I guess.” He scratched the floor a bit, loosening some dirt to make his bed. Tasha made her way to the corner and stopped, mid-step. “Oh, no!” she gasped. Blaze perked up, “What is it? You hear something?” “The birds, the flock! I have to see how they are!” Tasha quickly turned to run out the door. “The what now?” Blaze followed, too curious to let her go out alone. “I saw him walk this way…” Tasha sniffed the ground. “Feathers! I smell feathers!” She walked near the house, down the walkway, until she reached the door of the

shack. She nudged the bottom of the door a bit with her nose. “In there! How do I get in?” Tasha asked, frantically looking around the base of the rotting boards. “In there? I never see him go in there. But then, I make it a point to never see him, period,” Blaze commented with a casual tone, but looked over Tasha’s shoulder, curious about what she was obsessing over. “You didn’t watch him bring them all back here from the van?” Tasha asked in amazement, still trying to figure out how to get in the shack. “I heard him going on about something and saw movement when he walked by. Didn’t want him to pay attention to me, though, you know…” Blaze was interrupted. “I know, I know. You don’t want him to pay attention to you. Help me find a way in here!” Tasha complained, scratching at the base of the wall again. “You really can’t figure it out?” Blaze looked partially shocked and partially amused. “Move over and let me handle this!” Blaze walked around the far corner of the shack until he was content with what he found. “Over here!” he called out to Tasha. Rounding the corner, Tasha saw Blaze staring at a part of the wall. “Here what?” she asked. “Right there’s your entrance,” Blaze gestured as he puffed his chest out and backed a few feet away from one of the decrepit old boards. Lowering his entire body to the ground, he looked more like a loaded spring than he did a dog. “Ready…set…” Blaze released his ts all at once, leaping forward through the air. Just before the point of impact, Blaze lowered his head and cracked up against the rotting board with the weight of his body behind his skull. The shack didn’t like this one bit! Just after hitting the board, Blaze’s head went clear through it to the inside…followed by the rest of his body! He wasn’t a heavy dog by any standards, but the old wooden boards didn’t stand a chance

against his strength. Crashing through the wall, it wasn’t until something was blocking him from standing upright that Blaze opened his eyes. The thick cloud of dust glowing in the bare light bulb swinging from above didn’t offer him much of a view. His ears, however, were in full alert to the sounds around him. “What is it?! What is it?!” a little voice yelled from above. “I’ll get it! Let me at it!” another one yelled out from even farther above. A few feet in front of him, he could hear a couple coughs and gasps for air. “Great! This place is so old, the walls are just breaking on their own!” another, slightly larger voice called out from the far side of the shack. “Are you OK?” Tasha’s voice rang out from behind Blaze. “Just fine…I didn’t think you cared!” Blaze responded, blowing a small splinter of wood off his nose. Tasha stepped in through the hole Blaze had created, slinking down on all fours, to fit her body through. His aim was nearly perfect! The hole lined up underneath Kiku’s shelf. Any higher and he would have launched Kiku through the air into Coco! “No, really. I’m fine, I can handle myself. You don’t need to…” Blaze tried standing, only to hit his head against Kiku’s shelf with an amazing crack. Tasha crawled up next to Blaze and then past him, standing up inside the shack. “I’m so glad everyone’s in here!” she said in a loud whisper, as if being quiet seemed like the right thing to do despite the deafening cracks of the wallboards. “Tasha!” Coco called out. “I should have known it was…wait…if this is you, then who’s that?” Coco was pointing at the big, fluffy black dog who was covered with wood splinters, rusty nails, and dust that was older than anyone in the building. “Oh, I almost forgot, that’s Blaze,” Tasha replied, turning around to see how he was managing.

“That wasn’t exactly what I…” Blaze started to explain himself. “Thank goodness he’s so strong! I never would have gotten in here without him!” Tasha’s compliment came through clear as a bell. “I mean…usually, I can make it through a wall twice that thick! I just slipped, that’s all…slipped,” Blaze replied, trying to save face. The dust settled a bit, allowing Blaze a closer look at the voices he had initially heard. He jumped back against the wall when his eyes caught sight of the little creatures all looking at him. “What in blazes are you?” he asked, nearly cracking his head against Kiku’s shelf again. Tasha looked at him for a second, then at Coco. “Do you think he did…” Coco interrupted quickly, “No, I don’t think it was…” “Well, Blaze” Tasha paused, staring at Blaze to see if he would notice his own choice of words a moment ago, “These are birds.” “I’ve seen birds before. I’ve seen lots of birds. None of them were ever in those wire things, though, and none of them ever looked like this!” Blaze shot back, still oblivious to his wording that Tasha was trying to hint at. “I’m Coco, the old one up there is Red.” Coco motioned upwards to a cage filled with a moving pile of newspaper and a bunch of indignant sounding mumbles. “Above you is the little ball of energy we call Kiku, and above him are the unhappily married couple, Squeaker and Pablo.” Blaze looked above him to the top shelf and saw a little beak reaching around the front of a carrier. “Watch it, fuzz-ball, or I’ll make myself a comfy bed with that fur of yours!” “Pabs! What are you doing! Quit it! That’s just rude!” another little voice shouted out from the back of the carrier. “Furball! Furball, furball, furball! I want some furball!” yet another voice squeaked out from behind him.

Red, now unburied from his newspaper, looked down after hearing Kiku shouting. “Um, I would move if I were…never mind.” Blaze yelped as Kiku started pulling a few strands of fur off his fluffy tail. Blaze, still in shock, just backed against the locked door. Tasha approached him slowly. “They’re my friends. It’s going to be fine,” she calmly said to him. “Friends?” Blaze asked, still looking around and watching Kiku play with the pieces of tail fur he yanked out just a second ago. “Yeah, we’re all one big, loving, oddball family in here, alright!” Red added from above. “Well, except maybe Kiku. He’s not that big or loving,” Red chirped, happy to get a shot in on Kiku, who wasn’t anywhere close to paying attention. “Trust me, nobody here is going to hurt you…again, at least,” Tasha continued in her soothing voice. Red perked right up again, “Except for Ki…” Tasha glared up at him before he could finish. He was going to have to save that one for a later date!

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Old Days

Red woke up squinting with the sun hitting directly in his eyes. The sounds of morning filled the air around him; the chirping birds, barking neighborhood dogs and children playing on what he assumed was a weekend. More important than any of those, however, was the fresh breakfast sitting in his bowl. Sunflower seeds were overflowing from his bowl, topped with fresh roasted peanuts, almonds, and little round crackers. It was as if someone was reading his mind and knew exactly what it was that he wanted! “Mmmm, I can live like this any day!” he thought out loud while munching down on a sliver of almond. He looked around at his huge cage. There were perches everywhere and he noticed one right above his food bowl. He recalled liking that one in particular. The toys were almost more impressive than the perches. He quickly glanced over them to find his favorite. Still there! Exactly where he knew it would be! He’d have to get to work on that later after he had finished his breakfast. The entire room was blurred out by rays of light shining into his cage. One of those rays was suddenly blocked by a long shadow. “Well, you’re awake, finally,” the shadow commented. As he bent down, Fred’s shockingly young face hovered into view on the opposite side of the cage above the food bowl. “I’ve been waiting here all morning to see if you’d finally wake up,” Fred sneered. He seemed annoyed at something; Red just couldn’t tell exactly what it was. “I’ve spent myself good money on getting you that girl, now I want you to sit on that nest and make me some babies, you got it?” Red stopped chewing and paused only a second to spit out his food.

“A what?!” Red complained. “You heard me. I got you that girl so you two can make me some babies! You and your friends are going to make me a rich man, just see for yourself!” Fred pressed a wad of money against Red’s cage bars and then quickly tucked it back into the rear pocket on his torn tros. “Yep, you and your pals are going to make me a rich man!” Fred exclaimed while laughing excitedly. He turned his back and started to walk off, turning around briefly to say one last thing. “Now, don’t let the little runts eat your tail feathers off! You no good to me without feathers, you hear?” Fred stumbled briefly and walked out of view. Red was still in shock. “Babies…others?!” he cried out. He could hardly believe what he was told. How was he supposed to make babies? Where did they come from? Where did the others go? Who was this girl? Come to think of it, how did he end up getting here and what was this cage?! Turning around in shock, Red’s jaw nearly dropped off his head! He was staring face to face with one of the most striking birds he had ever seen! Her feathers were bright green, the red on her head looked like the color of a rose blossoming on a Summer day and…wait a second…who was she? “Well, it’s about time you got up and decided to help me with this!” the other bird complained in a voice that sent shivers through Red’s feathers. “I’ve only been sitting on these all night, while you got a nice, peaceful night’s sleep out here on this perch!” Just by the sound of her voice, Red could tell he was in trouble. He hadn’t done anything that he was aware of, but still could tell that somehow he was in trouble. Even though he had no clue who this bird was, he couldn’t help but feel guilty for something! “Your turn” she moaned, while making her way over to the food bowl, leaving behind a mess of feathers, straw, and small bits of paper. “That’s odd,” he thought, “It looks like a nest but I never…”

“What are you waiting for, a handwritten invitation from them? Now go sit on them, they’re your kids, too!” “Kids!?” Red gasped. He had kids? “Don’t you give me that look! You know it’s your fault as much as mine!” The other parrot made her way over to the food bowl and Red quickly snuck back to one of the farther perches. But…he couldn’t have kids! He could never have kids! He didn’t even like kids, never mind having his own! He approached the mess of paper and feathers that resembled a nest with extreme caution. He was wary of any…thing that might be in there, but he was too curious to not take a quick peek. He slowly poked his head over the side to see what was waiting for him on the inside of the nest. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” a little voice called out from inside the nest. “Oh, good. Father’s here at last. I was wondering if we would ever be able to have breakfast. I was growing tired of reading this same new article over and over all night,” another small, yet familiar-sounding voice called out from inside the dark mess of papers. Two more voices sounded in unison, but he could hardly make out what they were saying. One said something about, “get over here already” while the other seemed to go off on a tangent about the shape of the straw holding the nest together. All these voices seemed eerily familiar, but they couldn’t be! No, Red refused to believe they could be his kids! He hesitated one last time before his eyes adjusted to the shadows of the nest. “Daddy!” one of the little voices called out. Red fell backward, ending up on the floor of the cage. “That’s…that’s impossible!” he shouted in disbelief, not even noticing the

distance he had just fallen. “They…can’t be! Not them! Not all of them!” He was having difficulty breathing. “Well dear, you can’t watch over the kids from down there, can you? Now get yourself back up there and give them some breakfast!” the other parrot shouted from the food bowl above. “But…the flock! Coco…Pablo…Squeaker and even Kiku!” Red could barely breathe. “You chose the names, not me!” his cage-mate commented. A tall, dark shadow covered the cage once more. “Well now, old fella, you not going to take care of those babies or what?” Fred sounded annoyed once more upon seeing Red sitting on the bottom of the cage. “Well, I guess I’m just going to have to toss out the whole lot of you this time!” Fred grabbed the sides of the cage and started rolling it across the floor. On the other side of this featureless room, next to a large window facing the outside, was a huge dumpster. “You wouldn’t!” Red shouted. “Now look over there, dear. He’s going to toss us out with the garbage just like he did with the others,” the other parrot said, with a rather unsettling calmness in her voice. Red saw piles of feathers and cage wire bursting out from the top of the dumpster. Some were round, some were square, but they all had one thing in common; they were all thrown out like trash…with the birds still in them! As they approached the dumpster, Red could hear a myriad of voices whistles and calls from other birds, echoing out of the dumpster. “No!” he shouted, “You can’t do this to us! Not the trash!” Red flipped over, falling over once again. When the dust from his cage settled, he found himself staring up at the ceiling of the rickety old shack, the bare bulb still on, hanging by a single wire tied to the ceiling. “Should I even ask?” Coco asked casually from below.

Red took a second to shake it off and get readjusted to the room. “I hate dreams…” he muttered. A new day had started; however, the shack wasn’t too keen on allowing the sunlight to through. The only hints of dawn were a few rays of sun streaming in through the cracks in the walls. One of them crossed Red’s face as he pulled himself back onto his perch. “Don’t bother,” he commented back to Coco. “You wouldn’t want to know.” Red tried hard not to think about it after he straightened himself in his cage. His efforts were made much easier when Fred opened the door. “Well, lookie here,” Fred grumbled. “Looks like I forgot to turn than darn light off last night. Oh well, can’t everything these days! So, how are you all doing today?” Fred looked around and noticed every set of eyes fixated on him. “Kiku!” Kiku screeched from the bottom shelf. Fred started to kneel down to get a closer look. “Well, little Caique, is that your name? Kiku’s your name?” Fred asked. Kiku’s only response was another very loud “Kiku!” As Fred was about halfway down his bend, Coco noticed the splinters of wood collected under Kiku’s shelf from Blaze’s rather dramatic entrance the night before. “Uh-oh, this won’t be good!” he thought, while quickly devising a plan to distract Fred from looking any closer. Although none of the birds had their old cages or toys, suddenly, to everyone’s surprise, one of the most obnoxiously loud sounds they had all but forgotten rang out from Coco’s direction. It was Kiku’s bell! Well, actually, it wasn’t exactly Kiku’s bell, but it sounded just like it! Just as Coco had hoped, the rest of the flock was caught off guard, and feathers started flying around everywhere with the panic and flapping of wings.

“What the…?” Fred quickly jumped up and started to look around. “Kiku bell!” Kiku yelled out in excitement. Fred’s attention now shifted to Coco. “I know my Greys, and I know that must have been you!” Coco just stared at him, not saying a word. “What was that for? You trying to give us all a heart attack?” Red complained, picking himself up from the bottom of the cage one more time. Coco was too busy staring Fred down to respond. “Alright, we’ll see who wins this game,” Fred said ominously with an evil grin as he approached Coco’s cage door. The rest of the flock was glued to the front of their cages, waiting anxiously to see what Fred would do. Everyone except Kiku, who was mysteriously absent at the moment. Coco’s shrill chime even alerted Tasha and Blaze, who were now both standing by the foot of the door waiting to see the outcome of this showdown.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Hero Bird

He heard his bell and now Kiku was on a mission. He wanted to get it back! It was hard to tell if he thought Coco had his bell or not, but now, he was on a mission! His hole was finally complete and only cost him a few neck feathers while trying to squeeze his way out. The part of the plan he hadn’t thought through came when he was standing next to his carrier, on the bottom shelf, with Fred’s back turned. How was he going to get up there to let the rest of the flock out? He couldn’t fly! Kiku looked around and spotted a small, splintering leg ing the upper shelf holding Pablo and Squeaker just above his carrier. He’d climb up while Fred’s back was turned! Fred was now in full showdown mode with Coco. He had his fingers on the latch, slowly opening the door while he commented about something related to “not taking it anymore” and “knowing what’s best.” Kiku caught Coco’s attention when he was about halfway to the top. He and Coco exchanged a slight nod and he kept on climbing. “Wasn’t he supposed to be in his…” Blaze was cut short by a paw stamping down on his foot followed by a stern “Shhhh!” from Tasha as the two of them were watching the events unfold. “Kiku! What are you doing out of there?” Squeaker exclaimed, trying his best to whisper in his excitement. “Kiku go home! We all go home! Let’s go!” The latch holding the door closed was one Kiku had seen a million times in the past. “Put one foot here and beak here,” Kiku instructed himself while twisting his body around the latch. “Now, push down here and pull…” The squeaking of the door moving interrupted Kiku’s train of thought.

“It’s opening, it’s opening! Look Pabs, Kiku’s opening the door!” Pablo looked and, sure enough, Squeaker wasn’t telling stories like he usually did; the door was open! In the excitement of getting the door open, Kiku forgot about the spring-loaded latches he was clenching down on with his body and started to talk. “The door’s oooooooooo…” Kiku was flung across the room, like an arrow released from a bow. “Flap, gotta flap! Kiku, flap your wings!” Squeaker shouted from the open door. First one and then the other, Kiku started to flap his wings. It might have been years since he used them and he may have only tried it once, but he ed how the two appendages on either side of his body were supposed to operate. Instead of an arrow, Kiku now resembled more of a feathered snowball sailing through the air. There was the sound of air rushing over his frantically flapping wingtips as he came closer and closer to the other side of the shack, going headfirst into Red’s cage door. Fred was reaching into Coco’s cage, apparently to “show him who was boss,” when he stopped short and quickly ducked out of the way of the green and yellow blur tumbling past. “Hey!” he shouted while kneeling on the floor. “Who let you out?” He started to pick himself up off the floor when he heard a ferocious growl coming from behind him. Slowly turning around, he saw Tasha staring him down. “Anytime, Blaze,” she whispered through the corner of her mouth. “Any…oh! Right!” Blaze responded. Taking his cue from Tasha, he fluffed the fur on his back up, lowered his head and bared his teeth at Fred. He wasn’t sure exactly what the plan was, but if it involved Tasha, then he wasn’t going to argue. After all, she was the only female he’d seen in years! “Now, now, wait dogs. Wait just there. I’m your master! You can’t growl at me!” Fred started to pick himself up a little more.

Tasha took half a step forward and started barking fiercely at him. It was enough to make Fred stop in his tracks and not move–her intention from the start! While Tasha and Blaze had Fred pinned to the floor, Kiku was now hanging upside down from the front door of Red’s cage. He looked around, obviously a bit confused about which way was up. “Kiku, you little runt! I never thought I’d see the day where I was glad to see you hanging on my door!” Red exclaimed with a flare of his tail. Coco shouted out to Kiku from below, “The latch, pull it up and slide it to the right!” Kiku looked around and saw the latch for the door just off to his right. He placed one foot over on it and slid his body a bit closer. With all of his weight, Kiku pushed the latch up as far as he could. “That’s it! Now, to the right!” Coco and Red both continued to instruct. Kiku pushed as hard as he could, jiggling the latch, but it was no use, the latch just wouldn’t move! “No, Kiku…your other right!” the two of them shouted in unison. “Of course!” he told himself. “I’m upside down!” Kiku quickly adjusted for his position and pulled the lever toward him…to the right. With another creaking of metal wire, Red’s cage door now slowly opened. “I’m free! We’re all free!” Red shouted. “Good luck breeding us now, old man!” Red was the first to take flight, not thinking twice about where or how. His goal at the moment was the front door; after that, he couldn’t care less! “Pabs! Let’s go!” Squeaker quickly followed in Red’s wake, over Fred’s head and out the front door. “I…um…OK…” Pablo looked around, seeing Fred with one eye staring up at

the birds and another fixated on the two dogs pinning him to the floor. “Here it goes!” Pablo spread his wings and took off. Clumsily grazing the top of Fred’s head and eventually gaining some altitude as he ed through the doorway, Pablo flew off into the open sky. Tasha called up to Coco, “I think it’s time we leave!” Coco nodded in agreement and followed the others out the door. Although out of practice, he hadn’t forgotten the overall theory of flight. He managed to gain enough altitude to clear the doorway and make it out into the open air. Kiku looked around and saw the others leave. He figured it was his time, too, even though he wasn’t all that graceful about it! “Kiku, lets’ go!” Tasha called out, slowly backing out the door as Fred finally gained the courage to rise to his feet. Blaze called out, too, “Come on little guy, he won’t stay there all day, you know!” Kiku looked over the ledge as Fred turned around, coming nearly eye to eye with him. “Oh no, you don’t!” Fred shouted. “I’m not losing all of you at once! You going to make me a rich man! You and the babies you going to make will make me rich! I’m going to get you all a girl and you all going to be happy! Just wait! I’ll show you! You know how much I can sell a baby Caique for?!” Fred reached up to grab Kiku, which only helped Kiku make up his mind about flying a little faster than he planned. Without thinking about it, he jumped off the shelf, spread his wings…and landed on the floor! “Wait…land? No! Not land! Fly! Fly!” he yelled at himself as if his body and brain weren’t communicating the way they should. Tasha was now fully out of the front door and couldn’t see the commotion taking place inside. Blaze had just a foot inside still and saw Kiku come to a crash landing only a few inches away from his nose.

“Kiku, get out of there!” Tasha yelled from outside. Looking around at his options and realizing Fred wasn’t going to simply let Kiku walk out the front door, Blaze did the only thing he could think of and scooped Kiku up in his mouth! “Kiku you got to get out…” Tasha paused, in shock when Blaze turned around with a mouth full of green, yellow, and black feathers. “You didn’t!” she exclaimed. “Kiku go for a ride!” Kiku shouted gleefully while twisting his head around to see where it was Blaze was taking him. “Conn eww ust go?” Blaze yelled out, trying not to choke himself on loose feathers while running from Fred. Seeing Kiku enjoying himself and not having time to argue, Tasha led the way while Blaze followed with a mouth full of Kiku!

Chapter Thirty

Escape!

It seemed like only last week that the biggest things on Blaze’s mind were thoughts like “Where did I put that ball,” or “I wonder which food bowl I’ll try eating from today.” Perhaps it felt like only last week because it was only last week. Blaze couldn’t help but wonder what he had gotten himself into as he dodged large patches of dried-out weeds while ducking out of the way of Fred, who was right on his tail…almost literally! “Get back here with my nest-egg you worthless mutt! I should’ve known you’d cause me nothing but trouble!” Fred continued to scream, panting with each breath. “Shouldn’t have gotten you that girl!” “Hey, Runt! Are you alright?” Red yelled down from the sky above, looking at Kiku riding in Blaze’s mouth. “Kiku likes! Wheee!” Kiku was more than just alright, he was outright enjoying the free ride! “OK…well then…just don’t get eaten,” Red said in an almost-protective tone. He seemed a bit shocked by Kiku’s response, but he should have known better; after all, it was Kiku! The birds were flying a few feet above the ground, ahead of the two dogs. They were each managing from the looks of it, and Blaze would occasionally hear the two smallest ones start arguing about something to do with wind currents and wing feathers. He noticed how the little green one flying near the little yellow one almost sounded like he was ready to stop mid-air and smack his friend upside the head. Pablo might very well have done it, too, had it not been for that little thing called gravity that was keeping him a bit preoccupied at the moment. Ahead of him, Blaze saw the fence to the front of the property. Tasha sprinted a

few steps and easily cleared it with her entire body, barely grazing the tip with a piece of fur from her tail. Kiku looked forward and closed his eyes as he saw the fence approaching. “This will hurt!” he called out, bracing himself as best he could between the slobbering teeth in which he was being held. “I have a plan,” Blaze reassured him. “You might not want to look, though. In fact, maybe just keep your eyes closed.” Blaze ran faster and faster with each step. He closed his eyes, lowered his head, and aimed for the rickety old gate that led out to the driveway. With a screech of metal and snapping of rusty links, the bottom of the gate burst off its hinges and flung open just enough for Blaze to fit through without even hesitating. The top, however, was now twisted around the rusted latch that struggled to hold it on. “Whee! You’re strong!” Kiku shouted. “Well, I…” Blaze was nearly about to blush when he realized he was losing sight of the others. He heard Coco shout out, “This way” as the group made a left onto the road in front of the house. “No time now. You can thank me later!” Blaze responded to Kiku, trying to make up for the lost time the fence caused. Blaze looked behind him to see where Fred was. Kiku also glanced over–not that he had a choice in the matter. Luckily for them, Blaze’s “prison break” left the fence in no condition to open easily from the latch. Blaze grinned a bit, taking pride in his accidental tactics. “Turn right!” Kiku shouted, making himself somewhat useful. Blaze looked ahead and saw everyone making a right at the next corner. He then looked to his right and saw an open backyard. Not being one to care much about property lines, Blaze decided to take a shortcut.

He jumped over a small retaining wall and entered the backyard for a corner house. What he failed to notice was the trampoline on the other side of the small wall. His landing was a little less graceful than he had planned, as all four legs slid out from under him and he hit the spring-loaded surface with the weight of his entire body coming down on his chest. With a sudden gasp of air and loss of breath, Kiku shot out of Blaze’s mouth like a cannonball! He was launched several feet forward, up in the air. The most he could do was flap his wings in an attempt at flying. Before Blaze could react, his body was now moving upwards at almost the same speed he had been going down. Kiku was only about a foot away from the tip of his nose as the two of them found themselves airborne, traveling half the length of the yard without touching so much as a blade of grass. Blaze hit the ground first, tumbling once before getting back up on his feet. He started to run again, looking for his little enger as he started to move. “Hey, buddy, where did you go?” he called out, looking around for Kiku. “Kiku go for a ride!” he heard a little voice shout from the back of his neck, followed by a tug on his collar. Well, at least that solved that mystery. Now he just had to figure out where the others went! He cut through one more backyard, this time an open one where no kids were living. After making it out the other side, he turned down an alley and saw an opening leading toward the street. Tasha, still running at full speed, started to wonder what happened to Blaze and Kiku. Last she knew they were behind her, but she hadn’t seen either since they turned the corner. She was considering turning around to find them when she saw Blaze shoot out from an alleyway in front of them all. “It’s about time!” she called out with a sigh of relief. “Don’t worry. I have a little navigator helping me out!” Blaze laughed, ea a bit to keep pace with the others.

“Speaking of navigating…Tasha looked up toward Coco. “Any idea where we’re going?” “Away!” Coco called back, while trying to stay focused on keeping himself in the air.

Chapter Thirty-One

Camping

“This is soooo much better than being in a cage.” Squeaker grimaced while trying to avoid the dripping water. “I just love what you’ve done with the place, Coco. Who’s your decorator? You think we can get some room service?” Squeaker stood on the slick, rusted bar, scooting closer to Pablo to try to avoid water dripping on his head. The flock, including the two four-legged friends, found themselves taking refuge in a drainage tunnel overnight. The sunlight was fading away and the purple night sky started to creep up from the east when Coco had spotted a small ditch off to the side of the road and flew over to take a closer look. There was a point at which it ed under the road through a large concrete pipe, sealed at one end by some old iron bars. He said they would be safe spending the night there, where no one would look for them. The flock thought trees might have seemed the more logical choice, seeing as they’re birds, but their non-winged companions had helped make their decision. “Would you rather go to a breeder and be forced to have babies in a wire cage your whole life?” Red chimed in. There was silence. “Didn’t think so! So just sit back and deal with it. We need you to get a good night’s sleep so you can find your way around tomorrow.” “Sleep in this? Who knows what’s living in here!” Squeaker turned to look down the long, dark tunnel that was behind him. Coco was trying his best to block out the noise and just focus on their situation. “Tomorrow we’ll have to figure out where we are and where the house is. We have to get back there and you, Squeaker, are the only who has seen it from above the street.” In all their years living under the same roof, neither Coco nor Red had ever flown over their own house. The only flock member who had was Squeaker,

before Kyra found him in the yard. “Well, at least you need me for something,” Squeaker huffed. He settled in next to Pablo, who already had one foot up and his eyes closed. Red and Coco made themselves comfortable on the bars next to the other two, while Kiku decided to take advantage of the soft fur coat Blaze provided and nestled in next to his neck with Tasha nearby. Time ed as they all fell asleep, exhausted from the day’s events. The moon rose and set again, leaving the early morning sky black until the sun came up to take its place in the sky. “Food?” a small voice whispered. “Not now,” Squeaker whispered back, half asleep. “Food?” the small voice whispered again. Squeaker just repositioned his head behind his wing a bit and continued to sleep. In the half-second he was awake he figured he had a little while until daybreak and he wanted to make the most of it. There was a slight gnawing sound coming from just underneath him, but he made a conscious effort to ignore it, still trying to squeeze in as much sleep as he could. “Food!” the small voice now exclaimed. Squeaker, again, just shifted his head. He was trying hard not to open his eyes, since he knew that would just confirm that he would be awake. The gnawing continued from below. “Where are you…don’t go!” Coco started whispering in his sleep. “Can I come?” “Food?” another small voice asked. “Food,” another voice confirmed.

“Would you please be quiet!” Squeaker shouted, now opening his eyes. “We don’t have food; we’re all hungry! Who keeps asking?” The others were jolted awake by Squeaker’s sudden outburst. Red managed to prop himself against a bar to keep from falling over, but it didn’t prevent him from hitting his head on the bar above! “What’s your problem?” Red asked, wincing from the lump he gave himself and squinting in the early morning light. “Who keeps asking for food?” Squeaker looked around at the most likely candidate, Kiku, who was standing on the ground, looking up at him. His furry bed had left at some point, but Kiku was too occupied by Squeaker to notice. “You, Kiku. We’re all hungry, alright?” Squeaker shouted out in a rather uncharacteristic fashion for him. Then again, sleeping in a drainage pipe was also uncharacteristic for him, so no one seemed all that surprised. “Alright,” Kiku replied. “But…” “Good, now can we get back to sleep for a little while?” Squeaker moaned, starting to place his head back on his wing. “But…” Kiku paused. “What are those?” he asked as he pointed up with his wings. Tasha, now awake and behind Kiku, looked up and saw about a dozen, small, gray creatures with little legs and long bare tails, scurrying up the bars. “Um, we may have a problem!” All at once, the entire flock looked down and saw these creatures climbing the bars, getting closer and closer to each of them. “Rats!” Squeaker exclaimed, only to look down and see one right below him, holding the tip of Squeaker’s tail in his two little feet and gnawing on the end of it. “Accckkk! Give me that!” Squeaker yelled, yanking his tail back and holding it in his beak, assessing the damage.

“You’ll have to excuse my children,” a low voice gurgled from the shadows of the tunnel. “They haven’t any manners when we have guests.” The flock turned toward the inside of the drainage tunnel to see the source of the voice. From the depths of the shadows, a pair of large red eyes emerged, followed by a slick, oily-looking four-legged creature about twice the size of the others climbing up toward the birds. “I tell them it’s not polite to talk with their mouths full, but kids never listen,” the creature said. The two beady red eyes squinted as a smile exposed a small set of needle-like teeth. Tasha lowered her head and started barking fiercely at the unwanted visitors. They seemed unfazed, however, by the commotion she was making on the opposite side of the grate. “You think you can squeeze through these bars before my children and I are done with our meals?” the oil-stained rat challenged. Tasha knew she was too far away. She was at least several feet from the grate, keeping guard on the outside of the tunnel, while the birds were still perched on the grate. With the rats already at their tails, there wasn’t time for them to fly or for Tasha to make it to them. Although this tunnel had seemed like the best cover in case anyone was looking for them, at the moment the plan seemed not to be going quite as well as they had all hoped. She looked down and saw Kiku standing next to her, with his pupils shrinking and feathers standing on end. He was taking the place of his friend Blaze, who was missing in action. “Great time to go for a walk, Blaze,” Tasha commented, not seeing a trace of him anywhere. “Food? Food. Food. Food!” the little voices all started chanting in unison. “Food! Food! Food!” “Well,” the large rat croaked, “I can’t keep my children waiting. It’s time we eat.” “Food, food, food, food, food…” all the little voices were shouting out louder

and louder as they slowly approached the birds, hesitating a bit as the flock backed themselves up close to one another on the grate. The small critters were everywhere. Inside, outside, on the ground and even crawling up the walls! “Well, Pabs…I…I…I always…” It was the first time Pablo heard Squeaker stutter, but was also one of the few times Pablo actually found himself wishing for Squeaker to keep talking! “I know, Squeak,” Pablo choked the words out. “They aren’t getting to you without going through me first!” “You want me? Come and get me! I’ll take you all on at once!” Pablo screamed, flaring his tail and spreading his wings, challenging each of the little rodents to a fight. He was terrified but wouldn’t show it. Right now, the only thing on Pablo’s mind was taking as many of them out as he could. Coco looked around. “I’m sure we can settle this like…” Just then he felt a tug at his tail. “Hey! I need that!” he shouted, pulling his tail up. Coco looked around but saw the situation was hopeless. Tasha was too far away to help and she couldn’t through the grate if they were taken inside. The rats had strategically placed themselves on the opposite side of the grate from her, just to prevent anything from happening. Had they all been a bit smaller, or better practiced, perhaps, all of them might have been able to simply fly away when they saw the rats approach. Their wings were either too long to spread out in the bars or they were too out of shape to take a flying leap from their perches. Squeaker may have been the only one capable of it, but he currently had a couple of the smaller rats hanging on his tail, grounding him at the moment. “Food! Food! Food!” the voices continued to ring out while waiting for their mother to make her way over to the grate. “Just as soon as I…” her raspy little voice stopped mid-sentence. “Breakfast,” another large, very familiar sounding voice calmly interrupted from behind her. She turned, as did the others, including the birds. She was now staring at a set of

sharp canines, each the size of her head, with saliva dripping down them, forming pools on the ground. She backed up slightly toward the grate as the large shadow followed her out from the sewer pipe. Blaze’s eyes reflected the morning sun that was starting to peek over the horizon. “Now, let’s not be too hasty here. I’m a single mother with all these mouths to feed! I’m just trying to do what any mother would do!” pleaded the rat, who now looked very small compared to the massive set of teeth in front of her. Tasha slowly approached the grate from behind them, also making it known that she too would eat the first thing that moved her way. Coco looked down at the sight below. All the smaller rats were stopped dead in their tracks, with a look of fear in their beady little eyes as they watched their mother come face to face with certain death. “Wait!” Coco shouted. “Let them go. Let them disappear into the sewer and leave us alone. We’ll be leaving once the sun comes up anyhow.” Blaze gave him a curious look. “And what about food for us? I haven’t eaten fresh food for days and right about now, these are looking mighty tasty to me,” he snarled, with his lips upturned at the mother-rat. “If we let them go, they can help us,” Coco argued, motioning toward the large rat Blaze was eyeing as breakfast. She wasted no time in taking her cue from Coco and chimed in, “A-a-a-anything you want, we can do!” “Good. See that?” Coco said, as Blaze backed off slightly. “Now,” Coco asked the rat, “Do you know where we are or where this street goes?” The rat paused and answered the best she could, “This s-s-s-s-street goes downhill for a while and then meets another larger street. We go under there sometimes to get to the shops on the other side. They throw out enough to feed us for months on some days!” Though she may have been answering Coco, she didn’t take her eyes off of Blaze for even a second!

“Shops?” Coco asked. “Well, there are some newspaper stands, a flower shop, produce market, drug store…” Red interrupted. “Produce market?” He looked at Coco and the two of them nodded. “Has to be the same one!” Red eagerly whistled. “Thanks, I think I know the area,” Coco responded. “Just one more thing…” “I can hardly say ‘no,’ can I?” the rat replied. “Don’t worry, you’ll like this one,” Coco snickered. “You know the garbage truck that comes by?” “Every week, we set our mealtimes by it!” the rat responded. “Perfect!” Coco exclaimed, dislodging himself from the bars in the grate. He fluttered down to the ground after jumping off the bar he had been perched on for the night. With Blaze still baring his teeth at her, Coco approached the rat and whispered something into her ear. The two of them both started to laugh. “Alright, little ones, mommy found us all some food to last us a while! Let’s leave these skinny piles of feathers alone so we can get some real food!” the mother called out to all her children, who followed her back into the tunnel past Blaze. “I hope you have a plan for our meal now,” Blaze complained, as he watched each morsel walk by, back into the sewer. “Don’t worry, once we get home, you’ll have all the food you can eat. She told us exactly where we are, all we need is for Squeaker to scout the area and tell us which direction looks best and what streets to turn down,” Coco instructed. He looked up at Squeaker who was nursing his partially chewed tail feather. “By the way,” Red asked, “What was it you told her?” Coco smiled a bit and answered, “Just gave her directions to a place we all know

that has plenty of garbage piled up and a few days of stale dog food lying around.” They all started laughing at the thought of Fred now getting his wish to breed animals partially fulfilled. Instead of parrots, however, Fred would now get to breed rats…as many as he could feed!

Chapter Thirty-Two

Finding Home

“Just down here. Two more blocks and then we turn. Alright, Pabs?” Squeaker confirmed, gracefully floating through the air. Just a bit behind, Pablo struggled to keep up. Although he was able to gain quite a bit of height with wind moving under his wings, he still struggled when the need to change direction came up…which it would in two blocks. They were well above any of the rooftops, as well as many of the trees around them. From up here the birds could see for miles. Only Squeaker, however, knew which direction even looked remotely close. Below them, Pablo could make out people walking down the street in the morning bustle. In the streets below, the markets were open, cars were belching out exhaust fumes, people were walking, and these two birds flying went completely unnoticed. Pablo hesitated with his wing flaps for a moment, spotting something out of the corner of his eye. “Other birds flying?” he asked himself. Sure enough, he looked over his shoulder and saw a large flock of dark brown and tan speckled birds flying in chaotic circles next to the two of them. “Um, Squeaker?” Pablo called out to his oblivious friend. “Are these friends of yours?” Squeaker looked past Pablo. “Oh no, not them!” “What do you mean, ‘Oh no, not them’?” Pablo sounded a bit nervous. “Just get ready to turn, it’s coming up!” Squeaker continued as if he had said nothing just seconds ago. “Wait, no! Go back. You said…” Before Pablo could finish, Squeaker dove slightly down and made a sharp left-hand turn.

Not having time to think it over, Pablo followed along. Just half a second into the turn, he realized Squeaker’s dive wasn’t just for show! The wind smacked Pablo in the face like he flew head-first into a brick wall. His body was suddenly pulled up into the air as if hoisted by a crane. “Pablo, duck!” Squeaker shouted out from several feet below. Pablo tried lowering his head, but the wind was just too strong for him to push his body against. In the process of trying to shift his weight, Pablo noticed the large flock of birds start to circle Squeaker below. “Hey, uh…boys. Looks like the Pipsqueak’s come back!” one of the lead birds shouted back to the others. “Yeah, I him!” another bird shouted back. Squeaker started fluttering his wings a bit, trying to outmaneuver the flock of birds circling him. Their numbers were too great, though; for every turn and climb he would make, the birds always seemed to be right in front of him. Squeaker was being blocked into a tight circle by the group of birds as they closed ranks and started to get closer and closer. All Pablo could do from his height was watch as he heard the flock start calling out names to Squeaker. The headwind was still too strong for him to fight against and kept lifting him farther and farther up! “Just leave me alone already! I didn’t come back here on purpose!” Squeaker argued, but no one seemed to care about his words. The flock of birds was too busy trying to pick him apart with their insults to care what Squeaker had to say. “Can’t you take a hint Lemon-Head? We left you out there on purpose! You talk too much. You stand out from us. You attract attention. And…you talk too much!” the lead bird shouted at Squeaker, who was now desperately trying to find a way out of this circle. “Gotta get down!” Pablo kept telling himself as he struggled to lower his body into the wind. With each push he made, it seemed the wind would counter with its own gust. At this point, Pablo was twice the height of the other birds and kept going up!

The view from up here was tremendous! He could see the street with the drainage tunnel the others were waiting in, behind him. All around him were low hints of clouds blowing by as he continued to scan the town below. The flock of birds now resembled a small puff of smoke, with Squeaker being a mere yellow dot in the center. Below this, he could see the street they were now following, just off the main road in town. There were several smaller houses all lined up in rows, but Pablo couldn’t tell one from the other. All he could see were rooftops. For all the times he had crash-landed and been unable to fly, this was the first time the reverse was true. For all his effort, the only thing he could manage to do was climb and climb some more! “I used to crash all the time!” he shouted to himself. “All the time I would drop like a brick. Think Pablo, think! What did I do when I was first learning?” Pablo took a big gulp when the realization of what he needed to do struck him. He rolled his eyes back a bit, took a deep breath, and…stopped. Pablo completely stopped flying in mid-air. Contrary to every bit of common sense he had and every signal his brain was sending, Pablo folded his wings in and tilted his head down. “Hey, it worked!” he breathed for a moment before he realized gravity now had the upper hand. “Oh no…it worked!” he shouted as his body now became a small, green bullet. “Think…got it! Wings out,” Pablo instructed himself, telling his body out loud in case the signal from his brain got lost in the clouds along the way. With great effort on his part, Pablo managed to extend his wings slightly. Even with his wings out a bit, his descent wasn’t slowed nearly as much as he had hoped. He was now making a beeline for the flock of birds swarming Squeaker. The air was whistling all around him as his feathers cut through it like a razor blade. Even when he was only a few feet above the flock, he could tell they were still shouting out to Squeaker but couldn’t hear anything with the deafening sound of the air he was slicing through.

After he crashed head-first into the lead bird’s back, dragging them both down to the ground in a hurry, Pablo still couldn’t hear anything but the wind. It wasn’t until the two of them were on the ground that the pressure on Pablo’s ears eased and his hearing slowly returned. Fortunately for Pablo, the strength of the other bird broke his fall enough to keep him out of harm’s way. The other bird thought differently as he tried to untie their feathers from one another. Being on the bottom, however, he found it rather difficult to reach his extremities. The stray feathers that had exploded from the impact were slowly starting to settle around the two of them, along with the rest of the flock and Squeaker. “Pablo! I knew you would save me! I knew you could do it! See? I told you my friend was going to be really upset with you if he found out!” Squeaker walked up to Pablo and extended a wing toward him. Pablo shifted his body around a bit to reach for Squeaker’s wing, yanking a few of the other bird’s tail feathers out along the way…purely by accident, of course! “Oooof!” the bird gasped as Pablo lifted his weight off him. Although the other birds may have had the size advantage of feathers, Pablo was definitely a heftier bird than any of them were. The bird gasped a couple more times and started to rise. “You…you win. We’ll leave,” the lead bird panted as he rose. The rest of the flock looked at one another and then at Pablo. They all bowed their heads and backed up slowly. “We didn’t mean anything by it Squeaky,” one of the birds said. “Yeah, we were just playing with ya!” another one shouted from the back. “No hard feelings, alright?” another voice shouted out. The leader lifted himself off the ground. “Hey! No need to play dirty, Pipsqueak! We were just messin’ with ya!” The leader dusted himself off and faced Pablo. “If you ever get tired of hangin’ with this guy, we could use some extra muscle!”

With those parting words, the flock took off, disturbing a good bit of dirt on the ground as well as some of the loose feathers that had floated down from above. Squeaker wrapped his wing around Pablo and pulled him in, “My hero!” Pablo was too busy brushing himself off to acknowledge the compliment. Even though the other bird lost quite a few feathers, Pablo wasn’t completely unscathed, either. Just about every feather on one wing was either sheared off at the base or bent back over itself. Squeaker noticed noticed the broken feathers. “Oh no, Pabs…but…how are you going to fly? How are we going to find the house?!” Squeaker was on the verge of tears at the thought of being stranded in this strange place. All these strange people and these strange houses around them! The one they were sitting in front of was one of the strangest on the block! While all of the other houses had a sleek, modern look to them, this old house had an antiquated look, with a white-washed, wooden porch, bleached wooden siding and large old windows that looked drafty just by seeing them from the outside. The porch was also a mess! There were cracks in the stairs with splinters of wood everywhere. “Look at this, they just throw their garbage out on the lawn! Haven’t these people heard of garbage cans?” Squeaker cringed at the sight of the trash. “Squeak…” Pablo started to talk, but Squeaker was on a full-blown rant. “People need to learn to respect their property! I mean look at this! Old magazines, wet cardboard boxes, and this bicycle must have about 20 years of rust on it!” “Squeaker…” Pablo was cut off again by Squeaker’s rant. Squeaker approached some of the piles of trash that were sitting next to the front porch. “Kitchen utensils, notebooks…no respect, none at all!” Pablo gave up with the subtle approach and grabbed Squeaker’s head between his two wings, slowly turning it to the right. “Over there. See them?” he asked.

“Yeah, they even threw out their bird cages! That’s what I mean, no respect! I mean, those four cages aren’t exactly easy to come by. Look at that one! It’s just like ours. You know how many times Grandpa had to fix that broken door over there because he couldn’t afford a brand-new cage?” “Look! You can even see the bar he had to weld back when that bottom one rusted out last year. Just like he did on…our…cage?” Squeaker’s rant came to a crashing halt as the realization struck him. This was home! Cathy had apparently done some house cleaning while they were gone. It seemed anything she didn’t think of as valuable was carelessly placed outside while the “valuable” furniture was moved in the truck. Pablo and Squeaker walked over to the cages that were lined up near the side of the house. They examined each of them and found all of their toys and belongings still scattered throughout. Even Red’s play stand found its way outside, although it didn’t seem to survive the move in once piece as there were a couple branches piled next to it. “Squeak. I’ll stay here while you go get the others. They left the food doors open so I’ll hop in the cage while you go and bring the others here since I can’t fly anymore anyway,” Pablo reasoned with his partner. “Alright, Pabs, just sit tight and the rest of them will be coming back with me!” With a flutter of wings, Squeaker took off back in the direction they had just come. The only thing for Pablo to do now was to wait for the others to show up. He pulled himself up the side of his cage to the open food door. It was just large enough for him to squeeze through. “Now I wait,” he sighed.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Traffic

Tasha’s lungs burned with each breath as she ran to keep up with her flying companions. Ever since Squeaker’s news, the flock couldn’t stay put; they were too eager to return to their home and find some answers to their questions. Tasha hadn’t been there for their ordeal but at least she had some understanding of what they must be going through. It was as though the thoughts of her lost home were being relived through their ordeal. They were only a couple blocks away from the main street in the town. The number of vehicles started to increase as well as the number of people. The birds didn’t seem to mind. Coco was leading them straight down the road, into town. Red followed along, with a very tired Squeaker trailing behind. Luckily for Tasha and Blaze, none of the birds, other than Squeaker were in very good shape. They would often come to rest on rooftops and tree limbs to catch their breath as they flew. She did find it rather amusing that creatures with wings such as theirs would have difficulty using them. Of course, she was quickly humbled as she tried to keep pace with them when they were airborne. “It’s not much farther!” Squeaker called out to the others. “We just need to fly past this road and then a couple streets up from there.” The bustle of the crowded street started to drown out Squeaker’s words. There was a solid layer of white noise covering all the sounds. Although she could hear everything, at the same time, Tasha could hear nothing. She looked around to make sure she had the flock in sight and then looked for Blaze, who was trailing slightly behind her with Kiku riding on his back. The traffic was growing denser as they approached the busy street. They were just a few feet away from the asphalt when Tasha stopped in her tracks. Their path was blocked by a sea of metal and glass moving by them at high speeds. To Squeaker and the others, this might have seemed like any other street they had flown over. To Tasha and Blaze, however, this street presented a huge obstacle. The two of them, along with Kiku, stopped on the sidewalk, just shy of the black

asphalt. Blaze looked around. “I think we can make it,” he commented, almost as if he was asking for reassurance. “I’m not too sure about this,” Tasha hesitated as she backed away coughing after the fumes of a ing bus drifted by her. “No, it’s not safe!” Kiku called out from Blaze’s back. Looking up, Tasha saw the flock sitting on a tall pole across the street from them. They were looking at her, then turned their heads and started to motion to her left. Looking to her left, she couldn’t tell exactly what it was they were pointing at. She figured it would be worth her while to go investigate a bit since they had reached a dead-end on their current course. “Would you look at that? What do you think they are? Where are they going? Is someone going to do something about this?” were some of the comments Tasha heard people make as they all stopped to stare at the three of them when they walked by. She just realized how they must look; two dogs and a small bird all walking down the busy sidewalk together. “Blaze,” she called out, “I think we might want to get off this street sooner than later.” The crowds on the sidewalk parted down the middle, allowing for the three companions to continue on their way. It wasn’t every day that people would see this group together, just going for a casual stroll. Kiku was, perhaps, the icing on the cake. This little black, green and yellow bird was sitting on Blaze’s back, holding onto the collar with his beak. As the crowd thinned, Tasha saw what the others must have been pointing to. On the corner of the block was a small group of people standing. They were standing in place, as though they were waiting for something. She wasn’t quite sure why people would just wait for anything in this area, but she watched out of curiosity. After only a minute, the small crowd of people quickly hurried into the street. Tasha went to cry out to them, to warn them about the moving cars and other vehicles but she was mostly ignored. The group of people all flowed into the

street. The most amazing thing from Tasha’s eyes was the fact that all the cars had stopped for them! Blaze looked at her, “Think we can make it if we tried?” Kiku also gave his perspective on the situation, “Let’s go! Let’s go! We can do it!” The three approached the corner and cautiously looked around. The group of people were clear across the street, walking up to the other sidewalk. “So, it looks like they just put their feet into the street here and the cars stopped for them,” Blaze said. “Are we feeling brave enough to give this a try?” “Well, I don’t see any other way,” Tasha replied. Just as Tasha started to place her front paw into the street, shouting was heard from behind them. “Over there!” a voice called out. “Thank goodness you’re here! I saw them go that way,” another voice shouted. Looking behind her, Tasha saw a large man in a blue uniform approach them. Her heart suddenly missed a beat as her knees tried to collapse from under her. Several feet away, in the middle of the block, she saw Bart running toward them, with chains rattling around his shoulder as he brandished a long, slender pole in his hands. As their eyes met, both stopped in their tracks. It was as if the rest of the world was put on hold at that very second of recognition between them. The voices of the people faded and the questions Blaze started to ask drifted past Tasha’s ears without the slightest bit of acknowledgment. Bart curled his lips, mouthing his threat without uttering a single word. He didn’t have to say anything and he knew it. Tasha fully understood the threat without needing to hear anything. “Run!” she cried out as she placed all four feet into the road.

“But…” She wouldn’t let Blaze get another word out as she started to run into the street. Not knowing why she was in such a hurry or where she was going, Blaze followed along, with Kiku spinning down and dangling from the scruff of his neck. There were several large, painted lines on this part of the street. Tasha saw the crowd stay within these lines and figured that would be the safest path for them to take as well. The only problem presented itself when the people cleared the street and she started to hear the shouts of people from the sidewalk. Car horns started to honk and Bart started yelling. Looking back, Tasha saw Bart jump into the street after them, shouting something back to the crowd on the sidewalk. She was alarmed that he would take the time to even blink at anyone else, never mind talk to them! When she looked up, Tasha noticed a light flashing at them from the other end of the street. “What do you think that means?” she asked Blaze while panting for breath. They were now at the halfway point in the street and there was a small concrete barricade separating the two sides. Carved out in this barricade was a small path the people before them had walked through. She sprinted across the pathway into another lane of traffic just as she heard Blaze shout out from behind her. “Duck!” “It means ‘duck’?” Tasha seemed confused by his response. Blaze came to a halt at the barricade, gesturing just up the road from Tasha. “No! You…now…duck!” The urgency overwhelmed his speech for a moment as he struggled desperately to get his message across to her. Turning her head up the road, Tasha saw a huge truck barreling down the lane directly toward her! “Oh!” she exclaimed while hitting the pavement with her belly, laying as flat as possible.

Blaze couldn’t watch as he turned his head and shut his eyes as hard as he could. Kiku wasn’t given much of a choice in the matter as he was hanging on to Blaze’s neck as his head turned. Kiku now found himself looking back at Bart who was stopped in the middle of the street. Cars were driving by on either side of him, honking their horns and shouting some rather harsh but indistinguishable words at him on their way by. Tasha had a bigger problem at the moment, however. She spread herself as flat as possible on the pavement and closed her eyes as hard as she could until her eyelids hurt. There was a tremendous blast of wind that smacked Tasha in the face as the truck approached. Just after that, she felt the heat from the truck just over her back with a deafening growl. The smell of burning rubber, hot diesel, and engine grease flooded her nose. Just when she thought she couldn’t take anymore, the truck had ed with one last gush of wind. “She made it!” Kiku chirped from Blaze’s back. Blaze opened an eye and peeked in her direction. Sure enough, there she was, in one piece! Tasha opened her eyes slowly. “Am I…did I make it?” she asked, not believing she could have survived that ordeal. “You’re fine!” Blaze barked, while running into the now much emptier street. “Let’s go, that guy’s almost caught up to us!” “Now you’re mine!” Bart yelled as he crossed the middle of the street, right behind the two dogs.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Animal Control

“Duck!” Kiku shouted out while gripping firmly to Blaze’s collar. “Now left. Go right...no, other right!” Blaze was weaving and ducking at Kiku’s command because, right behind them, there was a very large, angry man chasing them! He had no idea why they were suddenly being chased by this man. Tasha’s look said it all, though. Whatever her reasons, she was absolutely terrified of the man and that was all Blaze needed. “So...” Blaze panted in between strides, “Who is this and what did you do to him?” “It’s a long story,” Tasha also panted. “His name is Bart, and let’s just say he wants to get even with me.” “Jump!” Kiku ordered from behind Blaze’s ears. He was like a child playing a video game, only his was voice-activated...and for real! Without a second guess, Blaze leaped into the air, just in time to avoid a swipe from a long pole with a loop hanging from the top of it. The other end of that pole was held by a very large, very angry-looking man! Every so often Bart would shift his attention to Tasha, who was feeling the effects of several days’ worth of strain more than Blaze. At those moments, Blaze made sure to refocus his attention by darting in front of Bart or chasing after his feet from behind. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this up, though! The flock had long since flown around the corner at the end of the street, leaving the three of them to fend for themselves. “Left!” Kiku shouted out again. Blaze made a sharp left, off the sidewalk and into the street. Once again, the

whiff of the pole swinging through empty space was heard right next to them. “Good job, feather ball!” Blaze called back to Kiku. Blaze knew the street was much less crowded than the one they had just crossed, since he hadn’t seen a single car drive by yet. The houses on either side were smaller buildings with lush green yards and small fences boxing each of them in. Maybe the calmness of the area is why he was quick to jump out into the street the way he did? As luck would have it, however, the second Blaze broke through the wall of parked cars along the curbside, he found himself playing a game of “Chicken” with an oncoming delivery truck! Blaze shouted up to Kiku, “When I say ‘jump,’ you jump. Got it?” Blaze didn’t wait for a response as he launched himself into the air, staring face to face with the truck driver, only a few feet in front of him. When he reached the height of his jump, he shouted back, “Jump Kiku, jump!” Kiku didn’t wait for the words to finish leaving Blaze’s mouth to spring up into the air with his wings spread. He didn’t have time to think about how to fly, he just knew he had to fly! Kiku drifted up into the air, being carried over the hood of the truck by a gust of wind, and then catching a blast of air that pushed him even further up into the air to clear the back of the cab. His feet touched a flat surface for a moment, but he couldn’t figure out what it was or why he couldn’t keep his balance, until he looked down and found himself skiing across the top of the trailer, with the momentum and draft pushing him farther and farther towards the back. His little legs couldn’t keep up as he tried to desperately hold ontto something to catch his balance. The surface was just too smooth and moving too fast for him to find a good foothold before the back of the truck ed under him, reintroducing him to the gravity threatening to pull him back to the ground. Kiku frantically flapped his wings in an attempt to soften the blow. He closed his eyes and flapped as hard as he could. At this point, he resembled a hummingbird more than he did a Caique!

With a soft thud, he landed on the ground below. At least he thought it was ground. When he regained the courage to open his eyes, he found that he was now facing forward, looking down Blaze’s back, toward his head. “Glad you came back,” Blaze commented, lifting himself off the ground. Whereas Kiku took the high route over the truck, Blaze had ducked his way under it. The smell of grease and motor oil lingered in his fur from his close call with the undercarriage. Just as he picked himself back off the ground, he felt a pull around his neck. “Got you now!” Bart said, with an evil grin. Blaze did everything in his power to escape the noose that was draped around him. First he pulled, then he pushed, and then he shook his head from side to side, but Bart’s grip was too firm. Bart had been doing this for years, perhaps before Blaze was even born. He could chase dogs down in his sleep if he wanted to. Sadly, Blaze didn’t stand a chance at escaping him, since Bart had years of experience with dogs under his belt. Birds, however, were something Bart hadn’t encountered until a few days ago! In the heat of the moment, with the adrenaline rushing, Bart was slow to react to Blaze’s little enger. He didn’t think to look down when he felt a tug at his pant leg or the pull on the back of his shirt after getting the noose around Blaze’s neck. A blood-curdling “Gaahhh!” could be heard from far enough away that Tasha turned to see Bart stop dead in his tracks, swinging his arms around wildly above his head. “Get off of me!” he continued to shout while spinning around in circles as if he was dancing around a campfire. Kiku had now latched securely onto the back of Bart’s neck with his beak, twisting and pulling while letting out shrill little chirps of excitement. Despite the years of experience Bart had with catching dogs, Kiku’s beak was something for which he was unprepared. The moment the searing pain of having

the back of his neck pierced ed, Bart instantly let go of the pole that was connected to the noose around Blaze’s neck. Blaze turned around, with the loose pole dragging behind him, to see Bart drop to his knees right in the middle of the street, yelling and shouting while trying to reach behind him! Blaze sprang back to action and jumped at Bart’s head. Composing himself for a fraction of a second, Bart dropped his head to the ground to duck for cover. Kiku, also seeing Blaze incoming, jumped off Bart’s neck and caught on to the underside of Blaze’s collar as Blaze leaped over Bart’s back. Blaze felt a slight bump as he ed over Bart’s back and hit the pavement again with his four feet...and a pole! The pole was dragging under him, right beside Kiku, and Kiku watched as the pole smacked Bart square on the head as Blaze came to a landing. He let out a little laugh even though he was now hanging on to Blaze’s collar for dear life by his beak. Bart was taken out of the chase for the time being, allowing the trio to safely gain some distance between themselves and their pursuer. They could tell by the excitement of the flock above that they were getting close to their destination. One more corner and they were there! As they rounded the final corner to their journey, the saw the flock settle down in front of a large, old house toward the middle of the block. All the houses on this street were small, fairly modern-looking, with fresh paint and neatly manicured lawns...all except the one on which the rest of the flock was focused. When Tasha, Blaze, and Kiku arrived, Kiku chirped, “Home!” while hanging now by his feet under Blaze’s collar. Blaze looked around and paused for a moment. He looked at the neighbors’ houses, then across the street at more houses, then back at the house they called home. The old rickety structure showed its age on the surface. There were also splinters of wood scattered across the stone walkway that led up to the front stairs that appeared to have come from one of the steps that was missing from the middle of the flight.

“This is it?” he asked, enjoying the fact that he could now relax for a moment and catch his breath. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s home.” He looked at Coco, who had flown down to the top of a cage sitting against the side of the house. There was a certain look in Coco’s eye that he couldn’t quite place...

Chapter Thirty-Five

Grandpa

It had been such a long, traumatic ordeal for them, Coco had almost forgotten the reason they were there in the first place. “Grandpa!” Coco let out in a gasp of panic. “He’s...he’s...not here.” The entire flock went silent, sharing Coco’s realization. They were all so fixated on getting home that they forgot there was no home to get back to! Coco looked around at the cages and then the house. They seemed out of place being in the side yard like this. It was almost as if this was another bird’s home he was looking at when he saw his cage from above. Red flew over next to him. In a rare display of , he walked up next to Coco and put a wing over his back. Coco took some comfort in the sympathy from his old friend. He knew Red had been through a similar situation years ago when they lost Helen. Now, it was his turn to face the same situation. His eyes were filled with confusion. Every member of the flock had questions racing through their heads; questions no one wanted to it to. What if Grandpa had ed away? What if they would never be able to go back in the house again? What if they all got separated? What if there was no more flock? What if they would never see each other or the rest of the family again? What would Tasha and Blaze do now after helping them get here and finding out there was no “here” to come back to? Coco stared blankly while pondering these things. His wings went limp and his

legs started to shake at the thought of what might be. “Coco,” Tasha called out in a low voice. “I hate to be the one to bring this up...but...” she looked back over her shoulder, down the street from where they had just come. Coco glanced back and saw the shape of Bart turn the corner, still coming after them! He froze. “I...I just can’t do this anymore,” he breathed in and resigned himself to whatever events would unfold in the next minute or two. “Coco! We have to keep moving!” Squeaker shouted out from the cage he and Pablo were sharing. Coco heard the flap of wings and saw that Squeaker was now standing on his cage as well. A moment later, he heard the sound of beaks grabbing cage bars and saw both Pablo and Kiku also standing on the cage. “Hey, brainiac!” Pablo said in a rather stern voice. “I haven’t come this far just to end up going back there with him!” Pablo gestured down the street toward Bart, who was now almost halfway to their doorstep. “We haven’t come back here just so you can feel sorry for yourself!” “We keep going! Keep running!” Kiku chirped out in an excited little voice. “You guys go. We’ll stay here and take care of him,” Blaze said, looking at Tasha for a sign of approval. Tasha looked at Blaze and then at Coco. “He’s right. You go and we’ll hold him off.” Coco looked at Pablo and Kiku, who were also frantically looking around. He stopped his thoughts for a moment to focus on their situation. He gave Pablo a sideways look and called down to his four-legged companions, “No. We need one of you to take care of these two. They can’t fly with the rest of us; they’ll also need to get around.” Tasha looked at Blaze, who said, “I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Kiku looked rather upset by this. “But...Blaze?” his voice quivered.

“It’ll be alright, little Feather-Ball. You go with the others and watch out for them now, got it?” He looked up while walking through the maze of boxes to the front of the yard, to stand his ground. “Come on, we have to go...now!” Tasha called up to the rest of them. “You first! Pablo said, giving Kiku a quick little shove over the side of the cage. Kiku landed feet-first on Tasha’s back. Even though it wasn’t quite as fluffy as Blaze’s back, he managed to find a foothold, with a little help from his beak. Pablo landed just next to him, face-first as usual. Without having his wing feathers to help with balance, Pablo started to slide off Tasha’s back. His feet spun frantically in every direction trying to find something to hold onto, but the momentum only served to flip him on his back, speeding up his fall. Gravity started winning the fight as Pablo found himself slide past Kiku, toward Tasha’s tail. Coming up fast was a freefall to the ground below, so he used the only tool he had left! “Yeowch!” Tasha let out in a high-pitched yelp. With his beak full of dog fur, Pablo called back “Ummf sforry!” as he hung off the tip of Tasha’s tail. While the others were getting ready to head out, Coco spotted something down the block. “Wait!” he called out to everyone. They all paused, watching as Coco titled his head to get a better view. “We need to head down the street!” Coco motioned in the direction they had been running, the direction that would also take them away from Bart. “What is it?” Red asked while trying to look in the same direction. “You see it?” Coco asked. “See what?” Red tilted his head and squinted his eyes a bit. The two briefly stared in the same direction and their faces lit up.

“Quick! Move those tail feathers, everyone!” Red shouted to the others “To the end of the block!” Coco and Red both took to the air, followed by Squeaker while Tasha and her engers followed on the ground. “Whoa! Wait! Not…” Pablo shouted out a moment too late before Tasha took off at a full sprint. Just having gotten a foothold on more secure fur, Pablo was thrown back down to Tasha’s tail once more. This time he didn’t hesitate to use his beak as a brake! Blaze turned around briefly to watch them after hearing another yelp come from Tasha. They continued on their way, while he prepared for his face-off with Bart. “Where are we going?” Squeaker asked. “Think, Squeaker. Look around, does any of this look familiar?” Coco responded. Squeaker looked around. Then, as it did with Coco and Red, a light shone in his eyes. “Yes!” he shouted excitedly. Sure enough, as they approached the end of the block, Coco saw a small car below them with luggage strapped to the roof and doors partially open. “Down there!” he pointed with his body as he started to dive. As the driver’s side door opened and a shape stepped out, Coco came in for a landing. Not being prepared, the man getting out of the car acted entirely on instinct and put his arm up in shock. Coco came to a perfect landing on the man’s arm, looking at him, eye to eye. “Coco?” the man asked. At that moment, other figures started to appear from the car. There was a bit of commotion and a jumble of words that all seemed to blend together.

Coco’s suspicion had been confirmed as he stared directly into Robert’s face! Squeaker didn’t pause at the chance to land squarely on Kyra’s little head while Red aimed for Anna, the only person who wasn’t claimed at that moment. “What...what is this?” Robert asked, in a state of shock. “Squeaker!” Kyra shouted in a delighted shriek. Tasha ed them a few moments later, panting heavily and taking a seat toward the rear of the car with her engers. Coco looked at Robert and knew he had to get him to understand what had been happening. He looked around and then back at the house. He saw Bart standing off with Blaze in their front yard farther down the street. Before Robert and his family could even process the last few seconds, Coco flew off once more down the street. This time, the entire family was in pursuit behind him. “Coco! No! Come back! It’s not safe out there!” Robert called out while running down the street after him. Kyra, Anna, and the others were all following behind him, trying to catch up. Red was content at the moment, standing on Anna’s arm while she briskly walked down the block after Coco. Squeaker was just happy to see Kyra and didn’t want to leave just yet, so he stayed on her head while they chased after Coco. When they arrived, Robert saw Coco land on the front porch while Bart was struggling to get Blaze under control. He already had the wire collar fit snugly around his neck, but Blaze wasn’t simply going to walk with him down the block. Coco shouted so that everyone could hear. “No! Get away! Friend!” Upon hearing this, it didn’t take Robert more than a second to realize what was happening, at least in part. This was a trait Coco was relying on in Robert, and was grateful he wasn’t too late. Anna arrived a few seconds later, followed by Kyra. She watched as Bart was struggling with the pole attached to the noose around Blaze’s neck and shouted at them.

“Get off my dog!” Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Anna. Even Robert seemed surprised by the sudden outburst. “How dare you! How dare you come onto my property and harass my best friend like this! You should be ashamed of yourself!” Anna was on a roll, as her face turned beet red and she raised her voice. This might have been a tone Kyra was used to hearing, but Coco was in shock! “Sorry...your dog, ma’am?” Bart asked in disbelief. “I’ve been chasing him and the others for blocks now. How can this be your dog? And what about the others?” “We live here! We went away for a couple weeks and had some neighbors get some things to move out. One of them left the side door open,” Anna complained without hesitation, as she made a gesture to some out-of-sight area of the house, implying the door was somewhere in the nether regions of the landscape down the side alley. “When we got back I saw they were gone, so we went out looking for them and here you are, strangling him with that wire of yours! Get that thing off my dog!” Anna may have been lying through her teeth, but her tone carried a sincerity and frustration that was awe-inspiring. Everyone there forgot for a moment that Anna had never seen either Blaze or Tasha before a couple of minutes ago! “But that one’s been with me for over two weeks now!” Bart pointed to Tasha. “So, you’ve had her?! She broke loose from her collar a few days before we left. We put flyers up around town and made phone calls for days! You should be ashamed of yourself for taking part of our family away from this little girl like that!” Anna pointed to Kyra who was playing her role quite well, letting her eyes fill up with tears! Looking at Robert, Anna continued, “Honey, do you have the number for Chief Daniels saved still? Never mind, I’ll just tell his wife when I see her next time…” “I’m sorry. I’ll just be heading back to...” Bart said in a low, sheepish tone, in shock from being yelled at so thoroughly. “You’d better just go,” Anna reprimanded him as he unfastened the noose, “or I’ll make sure the Chief hears about this!”

With a flip of his wrist, Bart released Blaze from the pole he had been dragging around for the past several blocks and started on his way down the street. Blaze quickly walked up to Anna and started to lick every available inch of her body in appreciation! Tasha slowly walked over to Blaze and gave him a quick nuzzle of affection. “Finally!” Blaze said to himself, “I got her attention!” He smiled, still licking Anna in appreciation but enjoying the touch of his newfound friend. Robert stopped to look around in horror at the cages laying against the side of the house and the broken porch. The house looked like it had been torn apart from the inside out. “What happened here?” he asked in a panic-stricken voice. He walked toward the cages as a freshly polished, silver car pulled up behind them along the curb. They all turned to see Cathy step out and start staring at them. “What is this?” Cathy shouted. “I’m getting this house ready to sell. What are you all doing here?” Robert walked over to her with determination in his stride. “Sell?” he asked in more of an aggravated tone than a questioning one. “Dad’s been in the hospital for over a week now. I came home as soon as he called me,” Robert argued. He sounded furious! “And I was already out here so I took action. What’s the problem?” Cathy seemed annoyed at having to explain herself to her big brother. “It was just a mild heart attack. He should be released any day now. What do you mean by selling his home?” Robert stood directly in Cathy’s face while confronting her with these details. “Mild or not,” Cathy returned, “he’s going to need more care than he can give himself living alone in this dilapidated wreck of a house. I already arranged for him to go to the home we talked about. So, I’m selling the house to help pay for it. I already have my lawyer working on the details,” which was only a half-

truth, since Robert also saw that same flyer and realized full well the house was worth much more, but Cathy didn’t falter in her stance. “Funny,” Robert commented, “It’s funny that you can sell a house you don’t own.” “I’m sure Dad would agree that it’s for his best...” Cathy started to comment but was interrupted by Robert. “So, that’s why Dad signed the house over to me years ago?” Robert asked, not expecting an answer. “He signed...what?!” Cathy couldn’t believe what she had just heard! “We were sitting down for dinner a couple years back and he asked me to take ownership of the house for him, in case something happened. You see, I own the house, not Dad–and especially not you!” Robert commented in a smug tone. “That lawyer of mine said I would be taking over the estate, he even had me sign a paper!” Cathy rummaged through her purse for a moment, whipping out a hefty stack of official-looking papers. “See, right there!” she pointed to a large blot of ink across the bottom of a long, slender page. Robert humored his sister and looked at the paper Cathy was waving across his face. “Say, that looks just like the one Dad and I signed a couple years back, in front of his lawyer. Of course, the names down there are a bit different,” Robert said in a dismissive tone. Even in his frustration, Robert hinted of sarcasm. “Maybe your lawyer should do some better homework instead of just taking your word next time.” Cathy’s words were barely audible, but “lawyers” and “rip off” came through clear enough! Trying a new approach, Cathy relaxed her body a bit and tried to take on a friendlier tone while putting the papers back in her purse. “Robert, I’m sure you realize how much this house can be worth, right? Look at it, it’s the largest house on the block and is nearly as old as this town itself. It would help pay for Dad’s care and then we can both split whatever is left. So, let’s be reasonable about

this!” Robert looked Cathy in the eye, and for a second his face relaxed. After all, this was his younger sister he was talking to. However, charity was the last thing Cathy would ever think about, so despite their family ties, Robert’s face grew sterner in appearance while his voice sank into a solemn tone. “Memories, Cathy. Memories,” Robert replied. “Mom and Dad got married in this house. They raised their children in this house. They rescued and cared for all the birds in this house. Mom even ed away in this very house. Like it or not, this house is a part of our family and a part of our past. I can’t put a price on my memories, or Dad’s. He spent every last second with her in that bedroom, until the very end.” Robert paused for a moment, backing away from Cathy a bit. “I feel sorry for anyone that has such a detachment for who they are and where they come from that they can easily put a price tag on part of themselves and their family. I feel sorry for you, Cathy, but even though I could use it, money is not enough of a reason for me to sell this house.” “Mm-memories?!” Cathy stuttered. “I’ve worked hard to get where I am and do what I do! I don’t need memories holding me back! Besides, the only memories I have in this house are of being told what to do, and how to do it! I hated it here!” Robert shook his head in sympathy for his younger sister. “We’re different people, Sis. Ever think the reason you’re so successful and have achieved so much is because of the way they raised you? That Mom and Dad realized you needed that type of structure and needed to be told what to do? They made you who you are. You owe them that credit.” The most Cathy could do at the bitter logic Robert confronted her with was muster up some grumbles and storm off to her car. The engine roared and tires squealed as she pulled out into the street, leaving the family standing outside Robert’s secretly acquired house. The flock exchanged glances with the family as Robert turned to Anna. “So, what’s this about your new dogs?” he asked as a huge grin developed across his face. Tasha and Blaze both took a seat next to Anna sharing a sigh of relief as they

were both able to relax after a harrowing day. “I...I don’t know. I mean, I don’t even know their names!” Anna seemed shocked by her own actions. With the two of them sitting next to each other, Kiku quickly jumped back to Blaze’s neck and settled in once more. Kyra approached the two dogs and was grinning from ear to ear. “Can we keep them, mommy?” she begged. I don’t know. I mean, I always wanted a dog, but we were always so busy,” Anna hesitated. “As I promised Dad, this was the last trip. I’m not going to be traveling anymore,” Robert reassured her with a wink. “Well, I don’t even know their names!” Anna exclaimed, in a tone that Kyra immediately recognized as meaning “yes.” Kiku looked up and squeaked, “Blaze! Blaze, Blaze, Blaze, Blaze!” Kyra laughed. “Looks like Kiku knows his new friend’s name, Mommy!” Coco looked down at Tasha and then back up to Anna and Robert. He called out loud, “Tasha” and Tasha, taking a hint, walked over to him. Robert laughed. “Looks like Coco has her well trained. So, I guess we know her name, too!” “Let’s get these cages back inside and get you settled back in,” Robert calmly stated. “We tried getting back earlier, you know, but the weather held us up. Don’t worry, Dad will be home tomorrow and we’ll get everyone settled back into your routines. I know he was on the phone with everyone he could call, trying to find you guys and figure out what would happen to all of you. You must have quite a story to tell!” Everyone was too content at the moment to even care about the reasons. They were all just happy to be home, especially the two who had almost forgotten what a home was!

Chapter Thirty-Six

A Real Family

“Good morning little ones!” Grandpa’s voice called out with a renewed energy they hadn’t heard in a long while. “Rise and shine, Coco! It’s a new day; time to wake up and start living our lives!” The patter of little feet could be heard running down the stairs as Kyra’s voice echoed throughout the room. “Grandpa, can I take Kiku and Blaze for their morning walk?” Grandpa laughed. “Just make sure you clean up after them...all of them, that is!” All it took was the mere mention of his name and Blaze hurried into the kitchen, sliding across the hard wooden floor with all four feet moving in opposite directions as he quickly tried to turn to follow Kyra. “Kiku!” Blaze shouted, “Come on, feather-buddy! You’re going to miss it if you sleep all day!” “Kiku, Kiku, Kiku, Blaze!” Kiku shouted out excitedly from the bottom of his cage, where he was already pacing in anticipation! Kyra paused by Pablo’s cage for a minute. She offered him a head rub and a kiss on the beak. “Bet your feathers are going to grow back in greener and brighter than before!” Kyra whispered to him. “Take care of her, Kiku, or else you’ll have to answer to me!” Pablo threatened from the top of his perch as he woke up with the others. A loud thud was heard from Red’s cage once again. “Great, this again,” Red complained as he stretched his wings out from a sheet of paper in preparation for the new day while picking himself up off the bottom of the cage. “Good morning, Dad,” Anna said as she entered the kitchen for their morning routine. “Ah, good morning my dear!” Grandpa was busy running around the kitchen

getting food prepared for the birds and the family. “You don’t have to do that by yourself. I can help, you know,” Anna said while pouring herself a cup of coffee. “Nonsense! You and Robert have already done so much for me. At least let me be in charge of breakfast!” he protested. Anna just smiled as she sat down at the table with her morning coffee in one hand and Tasha’s head resting in her lap, occupying her other hand with head rubs and ear scratches. Tasha deeply sighed as she thoroughly enjoyed the attention. “Robert sleeping in again?” Grandpa asked Anna. “No Dad, I’m awake!” Robert shouted out from down the hallway. “You know what I always say about early to rise...” Grandpa started to joke. “You know, Dad, I’ve always wanted to say this to you...my house, my rules,” Robert laughed as he entered the room, fully dressed for work. On his way through, he opened the cage doors to allow the birds to come out and stretch their wings for a while. When he came to Kiku’s empty cage he looked around and said, “I guess Kyra’s out walking her buddies again?” Anna nodded. Coco stepped up to the edge of his door and then jumped off his cage, catching a slight draft and floating over to the kitchen counter where Grandpa had an assortment of fruits and vegetables laid out for them. Before anyone could notice, Coco had tested a few of them out for himself and called back to the others. “Strawberries are in season again!” as he shook his head, spraying red strawberry juice all over the counter. Upon hearing this, Squeaker was about ready to take flight but got pulled back by something. Turning around, he saw Pablo holding one of his tail feathers. “Not so fast, Squeak” Pablo called out with a tail feather still in his foot. “Bring me back one of those apple slices, will ya?”

Squeaker looked at Pablo, whose stubby pin feathers were just starting to grow back on his wing. “Sure thing, Pabs!” With that, Pablo let go of the feather, and Squeaker took off. Grandpa approached Red with a small handful of fruit and vegetables. “Red, I have a surprise for you!” Grandpa walked off down the hall with the produce still in hand. “Wait! Where are you...” Red was a bit confused by the lack of food in his bowl. There was a small commotion in the hall as Grandpa pulled a large, wooden structure into the room. It was his old play stand! There were fresh pieces of wood screwed into it. The old rickety s were reinforced with fresh branches and feet that went down to the floor. What’s more, it now had wheels! Grandpa placed the handful of food in one of the top bowls, then looked at Red. “She always wanted me to build you a new one, but I suppose I just never made the time. She would have wanted this for you,” Grandpa said happily yet solemnly, as he wiped a tear away from his cheek. Red flew over to it without hesitation. This was everything a play stand should be! It had toys hanging from the branches, fresh twigs and rope forming a maze, and even treats hidden throughout the corners and edges. Red climbed a few branches and looked at Grandpa face-to-face. He opened his beak and gave Grandpa a little kiss on the nose in appreciation. “I love you too, old friend,” Grandpa whispered back to him. The family settled into their new routine. Each of them was happy with their newfound roles, or in other cases, revisiting their old ones. Every morning, they would wake up together. Some days Coco even woke up to Kyra already pouring herself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Of course, there would always be some set aside for the flock! Those new “flat flakes” she would eat were too good to turn down! Living in the house with Kyra for the past several days taught Coco some new tricks, as well as a few new words he’d often practice with her.

Several days later, the first night after Grandpa was feeling like his old self, he sat back in a chair with Red on one side and Coco on the other. “Your mom always loved when the family would get together in her later years. Seeing all her favorite ‘little guys’ interact with her favorite ‘big guys’ always put a smile on her face.” They watched as Blaze flew by, with Kiku firmly holding onto his tail, “Wheeee! Faster, faster!” the little green-and-yellow ball of feathers squealed. Grandpa looked back down at Red and Coco, who weren’t even alarmed by the sight anymore. “I can almost hear her laugh at that,” he smiled. “It is quite a flock we have now, isn’t it?” “Grandpa! It’s bedtime! Can you tuck me in and tell me that story about Grandma and Red again?” Kyra’s voice echoed from up the stairs. “Let me just say goodnight to the kids and I’ll be right there, sweetie!” Grandpa offered each hand to Coco and Red to step up on before making his way back to their cages. “Goodnight, little ones. I’ll see you when the sun comes up!” Red gave him a little nuzzle of his beak as he stepped off into his cage. Words he hadn’t spoken in years, soon found their way out of his mouth, “Goodnight, Dad”. Both he and Grandpa exchanged an entire dialogue with a single glance as the old man smiled. “Your turn, my friend. It’s time for bed. We have a new day ahead of us tomorrow!” Coco replied with his best newly found human-words, courtesy of Kyra, “Goodnight, Grandpa. I love you.” A single tear started to well up in the old man’s eye. Grandpa whispered back to him while setting him back down in his cage for the night, “Goodnight, old buddy. I love you, too.”

about the Author

Brian Meade has spent most of his adult life working with, for, and around animals of all shapes and sizes. He is especially noted for being one of the unique group of people who made a career of working with exotic birds. Spending so much time with “thankless, bi-polar toddlers who can live the same lifespan as a human” left Brian with a very profound respect for their natural instinctive abilities and an utter disregard for polite conversation.

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Birdie is a sweet and lonely caged bird who lives in the garden outside his owner’s cottage. As he sits in his cage day after day, he watches other birds fly the blue skies and wonders why he is not free to fly, too. What did he do wrong? Birdie really wants a friend and tries to find one, but it just isn’t happening for him. Then one day a beetle named Berty falls into his cage, and suddenly Birdie is so happy: he has his first friend! After tragedy strikes, Birdie becomes desperate to escape his confinement. When his cage door is finally opened, Birdie has to face his fears and find the courage to leave; after all, his cage was the only world he knew… Is Birdie brave enough to face his biggest fear? Follow Birdie’s beautiful story— perfect for ages 10 and up—as the little bird finds friendship and courage, confronts untold adversity, and finally explores a whole new world he never knew existed. With heart-touching illustrations from the author, Ann Florence Dodd.

Visit our site and read more about Birdie at whochainsyou.com.

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Who Chains You Books At Who Chains You, we publish books for those who believe people—and animals—deserve to be free

Who Chains You Publishing brings you books that educate, entertain, and share gripping plights of the animals we serve and those who rescue and stand in their stead. We offer all kinds of stories about all kinds of animals: dogs, cats, rats, cows, birds, horses, pigs, snails, crabs, and so many more to come!

Visit our site and read more at whochainsyou.com.