This is me

Chapter 6: Someone different

I saw blurred images. I could make out a human soundbox, also some furniture.

More images, and worse, something was entering my throat. It was good for me, but it didn't ease the pain and sadness I felt.

***

I woke up. I felt better, my leg had a bandage, and I was able to stand up. I looked around; it was another human house. Damn, what a plague! How dare they be everywhere?

"You woke up," someone spoke behind me.

I turned around slowly and could see him, another human. Argh... They had killed Pikio, and he hadn't done anything to them. Well, not this human, but he was still guilty.

"Let me see that paw," he murmured as he reached his hand towards me.

"Do not touch me!" I threatened him with my beak.

He stopped when he heard my screech.

"I won't hurt you" he tried to calm me down. "Let me..." I took a slight warning bite. "Hey, take it easy."

He grabbed me, and I screeched and kicked. Unfortunately, I stained my honor by passing out again.

***

The murmur of a human speaking in the box that they liked to see woke me up. I curled up and, to my surprise, it was the human who had me. He looked at me, and I saw him in horror.

"All better?" he asked.

"Uh..."

He let out a slight laugh.

"I didn't know you could whistle." He went to the other box of images that humans walked with; they called them computers. "Let's see... Black-headed parrot," he gave me a quick look, "with a white chest, red eyes..." he finished putting all my characteristics and waited for the results. "Aha. Caique, Chirricles, or schooner... Pionites melanocephalus. It lives in forests and near woods in the north basin of the Amazon River and the Ucayali river's western basin, blah, blah, blah... In territories of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru... It is quite common and lives in various protected areas throughout its range. Blah, blah... One of your natural songs is the hiss... Interesting." He looked at me again. "You are quite exotic; how did you get to the coast?"

"If you only knew," I said, but obviously, he didn't understand me.

"Well, now let's see your friend..."

My friend? Could it be Pikio?

He offered me his hand, and I went up right away, he led me to the garden, and there was a cage. He put me in it and put me in front of another.

"Ready, get to know each other..."

He left, leaving me in front of that cage in which was a red-crowned parrot. I was a bit disappointed that I thought it was Pikio.

"Hello," I greeted him. He glanced at me and said nothing. "I'll go see you," I announced. He looked at me in surprise.

"Yes, of course. I'll wait for you here," he said with a mocking tone, "as if you could get out of there," he murmured at the end.

I lifted the cage door with my beak. Yes, I had learned to open cages, at least the ones with those kinds of doors. He looked at me in horror when I was inside his cage.

"Get out of here!" he Screamed. "By the way, how could you get in?"

"I know how to open cage doors..."

"Good..."

"If you like, I'll open it for you, and so you escape and leave at last," I suggested. The parrot looked at me in surprise.

"Are you crazy? I don't want to leave; this is my home."

That surprised me, didn't he want to leave? Impossible, all the birds wanted to go home.

"Don't you want to go back to the jungle and be free?" I asked.

"Of course not. I don't need that. I have the human taking care of me; I don't need anything here."

"Huh?!" I exclaimed. "You must be crazy..."

"Hey, you've already met," said the human who was already back. He stared at me in shock. "How...?" He turned to see the cage in which he had left me, and he saw me again. "You know how to open cages," he murmured, surprised. "Oh little friend, wait until I show you to my friend; she loves birds," he added with a smile.

"Neh, no thanks."

He left again, and when he came back, he brought with him a hideous snake-like thing. Panic, fear ran through me. I was scared and hit the bottom of the cage, trying to flee.

"Easy Cherchy, it's a hose; I'm going to water the garden." I stopped short. Cherchy?! Was that a name?! "Since your species is Chirricles, at least here in this country, I thought it would be good to call you Cherchy; it sounds like a diminutive of Chirricles..."

Now I had heard it all; these humans were the last straw. My name was and would always be Parrot Chick; I wouldn't lose an ounce of dignity paying attention to them as long as they didn't tell me Parrot Chick.

"Hey Cherchy, do you want to take a shower?" He asked as he opened something on the wall.

A stream of water came out of the hose—goodbye dignity.

"Oh yeah! I want to bathe; I want to bath!" I screeched as I flapped my wings. "It had been centuries since I had been able to bathe!"

The human laughed, seeing me all excited, flapping and jumping from side to side. He made the water in the hosing rain down on me, and I soaked in the fresh rain.

At last, I could be calm for a while; maybe I found the right home.