This is me

Chapter 7: A new life

"Hey, come on... Get on my shoulder," the human asked me.

"Peep," I replied.

This human had been good, so I was comfortable being next to him. He took me into the living room, and I could see his people gathered. The other parrot was there, called "Aurora," they almost ignored her because of me, and apparently, they believed that she was female because of the name they had given him. Maybe humans didn't know how to tell us apart.

"This is Cherchy," he said. "Some already know it."

"Keep your parrot away from me; I'm afraid of it," the cousin screeched.

Oh yeah, I had bitten the screamer. I wouldn't say I liked her voice, and she expelled some pheromones that made me sick. I didn't like her, plain and simple.

Everything else went well that afternoon, except that sometimes the 'creatures' human children came to want to use me as a toy. I had learned to threaten with the beak so that someone I did not wish would not approach.

I was small, but I hadn't known that a good bite would be enough for some obnoxious human to leave me alone. I stayed on my perch while they reached for me to try some random food. I received it with enthusiasm, although some were really horrible.

They gave me a strange liquid, which, when I tried it, immediately made me feel dizzy. Just the scent of it had crept up my nose and made me wince. They laughed at me when I shook my head to clear it. Traitorous humans, what had they given me?

"He likes wine," said the squeaky cousin as she teased me.

I took a few steps, and my perch swiveled under my legs.

"Hey," exclaimed the human while he practically held me in the air.

They put me on the table, and I walked around a bit as the surface went back and forth. Wow.

"Let's see, say: 'hi' Cherchy," said the mother.

"Cherchy, Cherchy, Cherchy," they all began to repeat in chorus.

They began to turn around me; I didn't know if they were really turning or me, but they were already making me dizzier. I was amused, and a feeling of happiness came over me out of nowhere.

I started jumping, and they laughed and clapped. I began to sing different whistles too, and they imitated me. Suddenly I had become their god or something.

"Chechi," I said with my high-pitched voice.

Everyone erupted in joy, celebrating the fact that I had managed to say that little word. I made a noise similar to their laughter, and the hubbub increased. I was quite a traveling circus.

"Aurora!" yelled my friend Aurora.

Humans also followed suit. I was amused every time he was treated like a female.

***

I was sleeping in my cage when I heard a strange noise outside.

"Peep," I whistled slightly; maybe it was the human.

There was no answer. The blanket that covered my cage was partially lifted in seconds, and a horrible animal, small but with two huge protruding teeth, appeared. It was one of those famous rodents. It was adapted to be anywhere. And I knew it could eat me too.

I panicked.

"Greetings," he told me.

"H... Hello..."

"Give me some of your seeds, come on."

"Uh... Sure, have some..."

I didn't know how, but he managed to slip through the bars and crawl into my cage. I panicked more. Now he could jump in to eat me too. He took several seeds with his paws and put them in his mouth.

"Bye..." he stammered with his mouth full and slipped out of my cage again.

Relief.

***

A new friend came home; he was a turkey, quite a big bird. He was in the garden, tied to one of the trees. They also put me there with my cage, and sometimes I would go out for a walk. The rat also came to see me every night to take a few seeds. I realized that it wouldn't hurt me either, at least not her.

"And do you fly a lot?" asked the turkey.

"Yes, we took to the skies accompanied by many of us," I told her.

"Wow, it must be great. Will I be able to find more like me and fly too?"

The turkey asked silly questions, he was huge, but he was younger than me. I had already realized that he was not going to be able to fly because of his weight.

"Maybe," I encouraged him.

"Well."

He walked and jumped, trying to fly. I sighed. I wondered, why had they brought it?

***

Every time they watered the garden, and it was sunny, they bathed us both.

"Juan," called the human's mother. "I think we have rats."

"Sure, because of Cherchy's food, Aurora's, and the turkey."

"I'll put poison..."

Poison. What did that mean? Was it exceptional food for rats? Maybe they didn't want her to be malnourished.

For that night, the rat no longer returned. I was awake for a long time, waiting for her.

"It's obvious, she died," Aurora said from his cage.

We couldn't see each other because of the blankets that covered us, but surely, he could hear me awake.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you know? If the human has given her poison, the rat must have already died."

Was that the poison, something that could kill you? I felt sad; the rat had done nothing wrong.

"That is the fate of many of the rats that come here. So stop being sad."

"Aren't you sorry? Why don't you tell humans that they don't hurt? You speak their language more than I do."

"Don't talk nonsense and sleep. Many bring diseases, and one attacked me once, so don't bother..."

"But that one didn't hurt!"

"Any animal that misbehaves will meet death in this world."

"She isn't the same one who misbehaved. Don't they differ?"

He didn't answer me. I climbed into the makeshift nest in my cage and fell asleep, sad.