| The Great Lovebird Escape |
| Sunday seemed like a great day despite the six inches of snow and 30-something temperatures outside. I was preparing to buy a new parrot, a brown-headed poicephalus, and was in bird lovers� heaven. My friend Sue was going to ride with me to see the new baby we were picking up from another friend, Dean. When I arrived at Sue�s, Lovey the claustrophobic love bird, was out and about as usual. Sue got him as an older bird and he just refuses to go into his cage. Sue got tired of chasing him around at night to put him up, so she just made a feeding station for him on the outside of the finch flight. He is perfectly happy about the arrangement and so is Sue. Lovey is positively the friendliest and most affectionate bird I�ve ever come across. He likes everyone that comes in the house and flies over to roost happily on their shoulder and shrieks an ear-splitting hello in their ear. Of course most of Sue�s friends are now hard of hearing, but a visit from Lovey is so desirable that deafness seems a minor inconvenience. This happy little yellow ambassador of good will should have been named Sunshine for that�s what he has brought with him. The funniest thing about Lovey is he has fallen madly in love with Sue�s conure, Calypso who is twice his size. Calypso was thought to be a boy for several years only to surprise her owner recently by letting her know she was ready to get married in a very feminine way. (Enough said.) Lovey is intoxicated with the super sexy Calypso. Calypso, in return, accepts Lovey�s attentions graciously, having been won over by his experienced wooing. Calypso and Lovey often sit together preening and kernoodling the way that birdies in love do. This mega attraction is what saved Lovey�s life and my conscience this snowy Sunday afternoon. As I said earlier, Sue and I were preparing to go to Dean�s. I thought I would go out and warm the car. Lovey was on Calypso�s cage and seemed intent on her, so I thought I would just slip out the door. The door was open for seconds only, and only wide enough to let me out, but Lovey grabbed the opportunity and at light speed flew out through the few inches of open door! Sue screamed and I almost fainted. What could be more horrible than to think of your little birdie freezing to death, especially a little ray of sunshine like Lovey? We both streaked out the door yelling his name in these ridiculous high-pitched falsetto voices. We could hear him chirping, and looked up and spotted him up at least two stories high in a tall oak tree. Standing in our now soaked shoes in six inch deep snow, we called and called. Sue told me to go in and get the pine nuts. I got the jar of pine nuts and she offered those delectable, favored treats, crying, �Lovey! Lovey! Come here! Pine nuts!� Lovey scoffed. He was beginning to feel like a great bird of prey by this time and with an insolent flip of his tail in our faces, he took off for a four-story oak tree across the fence in the neighbor�s yard. By this time, Sue was a little more than frantic and I was melting into a puddle of guilt. Meanwhile, Lovey was happily chirping away from his airy perch, looking down and laughing at the puny humans standing in the calf-high snow in our wet, wet shoes. Bird-savvy Sue then ran into the house to get Lovey�s lady love, the glorious Calypso. Out she slogged through the snow with the girlfriend in a see-through plastic hamster carrier. Now we really made fools of ourselves with calls of, �Lovey! Lovey! Come see Calypso!� interspersed with pleading to Calypso to call to her handsome, though diminutive, knight. Finally after she felt we�d pleaded enough, she graced us with a very unladylike squawk. Lovey immediately chirped back in that high, ear-splitting love call. I took Calypso because she hates me and I thought she would scream more if I gave her the evil eye. I shook the box. Another scream. Sue called to Lovey. He called back to Calypso. The Lovers called to each other several more times when, all at once, like a trained falcon, the handsome Lovey swoops down from the snowy heights and lands on the Falconer�s glove (Sue�s now frost bitten hand) to claim his heart�s desire, Calypso. The next instant, the impressive effect of the golden knight�s glorious landing was ruined when Sue crammed him under her coat. We ran laughing and crying back into the warm house, Sue relieved to have her baby back, and me relieved I wouldn�t have to commit that Hara Kiri I had been considering. Lovey�s Guardian Angel was on duty that day. |
| by M. Pinegar |