Parakeet Competition

It wasn't until I started reading aloud from The Lord God Made Them All, that the parakeet got upset. At the nursing home where my dad lives, there is a cage that contains two parakeets. The blue is the prettier of the two, in my opinion. Anyway, I had wheeled my dad to the community room so we could have a bigger space in which to visit and drink Diet Coke and eat dark chocolate, always a popular pastime. That also happens to be where the birds' cage is located.

I read Scripture to Gpa, and all was well. At least the bird has enough respect for Scripture that he kept quiet and listened. But when I started imitating the accent of a frantic, half-drunk Yorkshireman who was convinced that his dog was dying, the blue parakeet went crazy and started chattering very loudly. So loudly, in fact, that my dad and the others in the room began to laugh. Truly, that bird was trying to drown me out! I would stop and the bird would stop. I would read and the bird would scold. Either he didn't like me or he's a little bird bigot who has a problem with badly done Yorkshire accents.

I persevered, and toward the end the bird gave up and quieted down. I'm sure I had no right to burst into his territory and start squawking, but my dad and a few others enjoyed the humorous story, my very feeble attempt at the Yorkshire accent, and the competition between the two bird brains.

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