This is me

Chapter 11: The good people

Sirens were heard very close by, and the men were alarmed. They went to the guy with the birds and helped him hide them. They rushed to put the cages in closets and doused them with a strange gas, making them sleepy.

"The caique also," one said. "We don't want it taken from us!"

"No way! If he is sedated now, he will no longer wake up."

Someone knocked on the door, and they were silent for a few seconds.

"Hide it," he whispered.

He took me and tossed me carelessly into a closet, but he didn't close it well because of his haste. I was stunned. They opened the door, and the uniformed humans entered.

"We come from PETA, with the information that you have exotic birds."

"Of course not, officer; if there were birds here, you would have already noticed."

I stood up and realized that the cage door had been opened, so I got out with a lot of effort.

"Are you not Jose's friend? It's my uncle, officer. That's enough for you not to go through my things, right?"

"Ah, then you're my friend." He shook his hand.

He was somewhat reluctant, but I still saw him smile. Humans forgave each other for breaches of their laws if it suited them. I was lost. Even if they found us, they weren't going to do anything with those men.

I walked over, approached one of the closets, and tried to pull the door open and free them away while they chatted without noticing the small lump that I was on the floor.

"Hey, Sanchez," another human entered, "let's go if everything is fine here."

They started saying goodbye, and I despaired. The door did "crack" but was too big and bulky for me. Those humans were going to let me die because I wasn't important in this world, but I wasn't going to give up even as long as I had some strength.

"See you later..."

No!

I spun around and screamed with all my might, making them jump in shock.

"What is that?!" He asked.

I squealed again, and they kicked me away. The closet door slammed open, and cages of sleeping birds fell against the men.

It was quite a roar; the birds woke up and began to scream in a daze. The officer who had just entered, seeing the loot, called for more, and they entered to confiscate the animals while the thieves tried to make them change their minds.

One ran and grabbed me, beckoned to his partner, and they fled.

"Stop! They take a specimen!"

A whole chase started. But I felt like I lacked oxygen; he squeezed me in his hand from running, apart from all the discomfort I felt and my weakness.

They took a sharp turn, almost stumbling, and continued. That sure made the pursuers skid and fall because they were going a little fast and were in terrible shape like most humans. They laughed at their near victory, but I bit my captor's hand.

He screamed and shook his hand hard, letting me fall.

I saw a kind of light.

***

I saw humans mistreating animals. They always gave them their love and trust in their innocence, but people ended up failing them. Thousands of babies like me were snatched from their homes; nine out of ten lost their lives on the trip and in the houses where they ended up.

I always wanted to know why it was so funny to them when they said things like: "Oh, you have a parrot. The parrot he had died, his grandfather stepped on it by chance because followed him nonstop, he was foolish." No, all that parrot did was follow him because he had an unconditional affection for him, which he thought was reciprocated like any child.

"I left the parakeet alone with the dog, and when I returned, he had killed him. But anyway, we bought another one. I adore my dog ​​as if he were my son." So I wondered if they were not going to love another living being, why did they have it?

***

"It is already more stable. He was dehydrated and hadn't eaten for days, but we took care of that."

"And how much is that going to cost the association?"

"We go to the office and agree..."

I found myself stunned. I could not move; I had a strange thing in the beak that released rare and cold air. The humans came back and took it from me. They also removed something embedded by the leg, and I was just noticing—a thin, sharp metal. I complained about the pain with a low squeak.

"Easy, it will be fine," the woman calmed me.

It surprised me that she spoke to me; humans did not usually do it; very few considered that animals deserved their words.

"Everything will be fine, little one." She stroked me.

"Have you already administered his vaccinations?" asked another dressed in white.

"Sure." She sighed. "The police guys said those guys were about to stomp him to death, can you believe it? What savages."

It surprised me the most. Was she calling her own species 'savages'?

"Once he recovers, we will take him to the reserve..."

I saw that not all humans were bad, but there were not many good ones either. These people looked after and supported me until I was able to fly again. I sang my songs to them also at sunrise and sunset. I was happy again in some way.