Three Means Coffee

105

Błażej fastened his seat belt and looked uncertainly at Makary, who was sitting behind the wheel. He gripped the seat belt tightly. The hazel-eyed man looked offended that someone dared to criticize his skills.

"Don't exaggerate, I don't drive very often, but I'm a good driver."

"Well, I don't know if I would agree with that after the last one," Błażej replied.

"It was just an unfortunate coincidence, there was no accident, I was distracted by a phone call that I didn't even intend to answer," the hazel-eyed man explained. "Besides, we're going out of town."

Makary had nothing to be ashamed of, he was an attentive and good driver. That day, when Błażej was with him, his phone rang unexpectedly. In addition, unfortunately, at a very busy intersection, the lights broke down, someone behind them was in a hurry and honked at them. Makary just wanted to make a left turn safely, especially since without lights some drivers forgot how to drive and believed that they would always be on time to whom they should give way according to the regulations.

The impatient one tried to overtake them, but he almost didn't hit the cyclist who suddenly hit the pedestrian crossing with headphones on. Even though he shouldn't have done it, he stopped and threatened Makary, who was trying to calm down, because he had to brake suddenly and pull to the side, reflexively, so as not to hit the moving two-wheeled means of transport. Fortunately, no one was hurt, it ended with a few screams and honking, and then the participants of the potential collision went their separate ways. Although Makary couldn't calm down until the end of the day and was struggling with the events, he managed to quickly recover.

They were on their way to a small parrot farm forty minutes outside the city. Its owner was a good friend of the brown-eyed man and they had known each other since high school. He had a great love for parrots and devoted as much time to each one as possible, and he also had enormous knowledge about these winged creatures. The ideas about him of potential people interested in adopting one of his charges had nothing to do with reality. The door was opened by a bald, bearded man in a Hawaiian shirt with colourful tattoos sticking out from under it. He was happy when Makary called him to ask if he could take another parrot. The man smiled broadly when he saw that he wasn't alone but with an extra person.

"Have you convinced anyone that parrots are the best pets?" he laughed, shaking hands with them in greeting.

"I wouldn't sign it yet," Błażej replied. "But I think I'm on the right track."

"I thought that Nemo could use some company," Makary explained and tried to avoid the telling look of his friend, who guessed that the young man brought by the hazel-eyed man was special to him.

The breeder took them to the aviary and proudly showed them his animals. The parrots were interested in new people, some of them wanted to say hello directly and the others assessed them from a safe height. Błażej's attention, delighted with the friendly behaviour of the birds, was caught by one sitting in the corner as if it wanted the world to forget about its existence. It wasn't as brightly coloured as other members of its species and looked exceptionally small compared to the rest.

"I have a special problem with this one," the worried owner sighed heavily after noticing that someone had noticed the parrot. "There is nothing wrong with him physically, he is healthy. He is neither aggressive towards the rest nor anything, and yet every time he tries to approach another parrot, they chase him away, bite him and so on. I cannot compensate him in any way for the loneliness he must face. I also didn't want to isolate him, because it would have had an even worse effect."

The parrot in question looked at Błażej and timidly took a few steps towards him. But he stopped and went back to his corner. Makary watched this situation with a smile on his face, knowing that no other situation was possible and that it would be with this little boy that they would return to his apartment that day.