The Cockatoo Prince

Janice's Discovery

Ever since she was a child, Janice Falkwin was always fascinated by birds, which was mainly thanks to the fact that she was raised by traveling ornithologists. For a few months of the year, the family would tour around both their home state of Ohio and neighboring states, showing off a collection of birds that either they caught or borrowed from local shelters. About a week after she turned twenty-two, her parents told her to retrieve a cockatoo for their next exhibition tour, and she immediately set off to find one in their native habitat. After spending a day inside a forest in New South Wales, she finished putting up a hammock beside her bird trap and left it open for any birds to find. Since she was used to moving around to different places with her family's show, it didn't take long to fall asleep in the hammock, only to be awakened by a strange yelp.

"'Ey! Che diavolo!"

Even though she could sleep through the sound of her trap closing, the yelp was enough to wake her up immediately, especially since it was in Italian. With that, she quickly sat up before dismounting from her hammock and approaching the trap, which she carefully opened before gasping with widening eyes when she saw the most beautiful sulfur-crested cockatoo she had ever beheld, who was ruffling its feathers as it complained about being caught in the trap. She could tell by the bird's eye color that she had caught a male cockatoo, so even though she was surprised at the fact that he could talk, she addressed him as Sir when she apologized to him. After being snapped at when asked why she was in Australia, Janice explained that she was hoping to catch a cockatoo for her family's bird show before the cockatoo confronted her about her actions. The bird was making a good point since her family's job was cruel towards the fowl they caught, and Janice apologized on her family's behalf for what she was doing.

"Also, quick question: how are you not freaking out over a talking cockatoo?"

With a bit of a giggle, Janice shrugged before explaining how she sometimes dreamt of birds talking to her, so this was like a dream come true. When he asked where she was going to take him, Janice told him that she was planning to take him home to Ohio with her, but she was unsure if she should after he confronted her. Unlike how he reacted to being caged, the cockatoo admitted that he wouldn't mind seeing Ohio, since he had visited the US a couple of times in the past. After finding out that he was originally from Italy, Janice nodded and pulled out her birdcage before opening it and doing some last-minute cleaning, making sure it was ready for the bird before letting him in. While the cockatoo was getting used to being in the cage, Janice – who was wide awake despite it being the middle of the night – packed her hammock and trap before attaching them to the bottom of her bag.

When asked if he was ready to go, the bird playfully and flamboyantly pointed one of his wings out and cheered "onward," causing Janice to giggle before they headed to the local airport for a flight home. Janice was thankful that they made it past security, and since there weren't a lot of people on their flight, she was able to keep the cockatoo in his cage beside her seat. With a blanket draped over the cage in case the bird wanted to sleep, she peeked under the blanket every so often to see how and what he was doing, giggling whenever she saw him shake his tail feathers. It was at one of those moments when the bird asked Janice for her name, and she introduced herself before gasping when she found out that the cockatoo's name was Prince Vincenzo of Piedmont.

"You're...  you're a prince? Oh, gee... now, I feel really bad about taking you away to Ohio, Your Majesty."

"Bah! If I really didn't want to go, I would have flown out the moment you opened the trap. I must say, I'm excited to see your home, after being in the forest for so many years... and please, call me Vincenzo."

After agreeing to call him by his first name, Janice giggled when she saw Vincenzo bouncing around in the cage, and she smiled at him as she closed the curtain. She was so happy to have found a cockatoo so soon after arriving in Australia, and she could tell from how much Vincenzo wiggled his tail feathers that he was excited to see somewhere new.