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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781496968692 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 03/10/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 46 |
| File size: | 5 MB |
| Age Range: | 3 Months to 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Parrots are People Too!
Gentle Books for Gentle People
By Anne E. Martin
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2015 Anne E. MartinAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4969-6749-7
CHAPTER 1
HERE THEY COME AGAIN!
San Diego is a city noted for hosting the U.S. Navy and Marines. In short, it is a military city. There is however, a small group which also resides here. While it is not quite as visible, it can easily be heard throughout the area. I am referring specifically to the Parrots of Ocean Beach. These spring visitors are quite comfortable as they descend upon us in small groups, of between two and twenty. I will stop teasing you and identify these characters as migrating Mexican Parrots. No one is quite sure how they first got here. Some say they escaped from a pet store during a fire, but good authorities say this is untrue. I do not care how they got here. I am simply delighted to see them each year. According to those who study these parrots, they have remained here all year due to the pleasant climate, which suits them quite well.
They are most visible here during the spring. I always hear them before I see them. They have bright green feathers with a touch of red and yellow. They are amusingly loud squawkers which fly overhead, announcing their arrival with an apparent large measure of parrot pride. Of course it is not possible to determine if they have such emotions as pride, but I am going to share them with you in this story as if they have the same traits and speech as the rest of us, who remain earthbound. Using your imagination always makes a better story, I suspect. Did you know that the Spanish word for parrots is loros? I saw some in a tree outside my window one afternoon. It is true that they are loud, but they are also playful and very entertaining.
Some people don't like them because they wake them up early in the morning and can be very noisy. I don't care. I love them. I wonder what mischief these rascals can get into. Let's see.
I will begin by giving them names and personalities. As the story develops, you will see how they get along in our special neighborhood. The first character is Marisol, a female parrot, who is the leader because she is the smartest. There is Burro, who is as stubborn as a teenager and must be convinced to follow directions. He's young. He'll learn. There is also the very aged and wise Carlos, who though old, is very capable of giving excellent advice. He arrived a little later this year because he needs to rest more, along the way. There will also be other characters as time goes on, to whom you will be introduced. I hope you will enjoy this temporary escape from reality, for a while and enjoy the adventures that are about to happen.
CHAPTER 2NOISY NEWPORT
My friends and I were walking down Newport Avenue one morning, when we heard this loud squawking noise. Suddenly a group of four or five green, Mexican Parrots flew overhead. It was as if they were in the middle of a noisy argument during which they all squawked at once. They didn't appear angry, but excited as they flew by, flapping their little green wings rapidly. We had to laugh at this site. They appeared to flap their wings at an accelerated speed as if their round, fat, short bodies required more than the average effort of other birds. Maybe that's why they were squawking so much. They may have been thinking,
"I hate this! We're birds aren't we? Why is it so hard to fly?"
We wondered where they were headed because the street ended at the beach, where they would encounter large, hungry seagulls, which will eat anything. They surprised us and flew off to the left heading in a direction which left us wondering where they were headed.
CHAPTER 3HUNGRY PARROTS VS. BARKING DOG
Now we are ready to approach the subject from the point of view of the parrots. Let's see what they were thinking. Marisol, the leader, had to talk loudly because they were all making so much noise. She had to shout to the others, "Follow me, so we can find a fruit tree. I'm starving and I just love those Kumquats we had last year. They were delicious!" They all did as directed and followed Marisol up the hill. "There it is!" yelled Burro. He decided to head right for the Kumquats without even waiting. Marisol knew he was headstrong and yelled, "Stop, you little Burrito!" There is a dog in that yard!" Burro paid just enough attention to swoop up over the dog's head as it leaped into the air, just inches from Burro's little legs. He almost got caught by the jaws of the barking beast. Then they circled the tree and landed on the top, to avoid being caught by the dog. Carlos said, "Burro, you have got to listen to Marisol, when she gives us directions. You were almost a snack for that puppy!" Burro responded with, "Hey, I'm fine, no problema." He appeared to be quite full of himself.
Later, one of the younger parrots started moaning. "Oh, I ate too much.... I have a tummy ache." This parrot had a tendency to complain and Marisol once told Carlos that she believed that Leticia seemed to enjoy poor health. They laughed at that time, but now Marisol advised her to eat slowly and relax. That seemed to help, for the time being. So they all settled down to eat and relax. After all, it's a long trip coming from Mexico.
Meanwhile, the frustrated dog shouted to the birds in the tree, "Hey, who said you could eat my fruit?" Burro replied, "We don't need to ask, we just eat what we want. It's free for us." The dog answered, "We'll see about that. I'll just bark and my master will come out and scare you off with the hose!" Burro was feeling very brave, since he was at the top of the tree and well out of reach. He replied, very sarcastically, "Oh, I'm so scared", he said weakly. Marisol had enough of Burro's annoying behavior and shushed him.
Suddenly a man came out of the house and spoke to his dog. "What's the matter, boy?" The dog barked and looked up at the tree. "Oh, I guess they're back, huh?" The man patted the dog on the head and the dog wagged his tail, signaling appreciation. Next, the man got the hose and started spraying as high as the hose would go. Naturally, the parrots were way out of range.
Marisol announced that it was time to go Leticia squawked at Burro saying, "Thanks a lot, bigbeak! I was just eating a delicious Kumquat." Marisol said, "I thought you had a stomach ache, Leticia." "It went away," Leticia responded softly. They flew away to look for another fruit tree, which would be no problem since there is an abundance of fruit trees in Ocean Beach. The man put the hose away and went back into the house with his watchdog.
CHAPTER 4WHAT'S THAT SOUND?
After soaring and squawking for half an hour, the family of parrots found a suitable tree in which to rest, for the remainder of the evening. The following morning as the sun came up, Marisol heard a mournful sound coming from another part of the enormous tree, in which they had settled for the night. She began to wonder, "What is that pitiful sound? I hope Leticia didn't overdo the eating and has developed another stomach ache." she continued listening and flew over to the section of the tree from which the sound was coming. She spotted a pair of doves. One of them was making the mournful sound. "What's wrong?" she asked. The two doves looked up and on said, "Nothing's wrong. We're just singing." Marisol told them she thought they were sad because of the mourning sounds. "Yes, we get that a lot" replied the other dove. "We are Mourning Doves and that is the sound we make upon getting up in the morning." "Actually, we're on our way to make our new nest and settle down to raise a family." Then both the doves asked, "What on earth are you?" "Are you kidding me?" piped in Burro, who was listening from another limb. "We are the famous Mexican Parrots, who come here every spring for some tasty fruit." "This lovely lady is Marisol, our leader." "She is the brains of this operation." Marisol was so polite she said, "We come here every year because the warm climate is so wonderful. I thought you were sad, so I flew over to help." The doves responded with a sincere thanks and told the parrots they had another surprise for them. "Listen to this", they said as they flew away. Suddenly Marisol heard what sounded like squeaking. "It's our squeaky wings. Aren't they wild?" "Amazing", thought Marisol,
"Why don't you get some WD-40 for those wings?" squawked Burro as they flew away to make their new nest.
CHAPTER 5A STINKY OUCH
Under the direction of their capable leader, the parrots decided to look for another fruit tree. They had so many to choose from, it took a while to determine where to roost next. As they were flying over the park, Burro let out a louder than usual squawk.
"What's wrong now?" asked Marisol. "Something wet and stinky just hit me on the head!" Carlos responded in his usual calm and wise manner by saying, "My boy, wet and stinky things don't fly. It must have been something else." All of a sudden a huge bird with claws and a white head joined them and asked, "Have you seen my fish? I think I dropped it over here somewhere and the kids are hungry." Carlos answered with his calm, polite manner, "Yes, I believe it hit my little green friend on the head." They continued their flight while talking. The large bird looked very serious and also had some serious talons as well. She began, "No offense, but I noticed that you folks are green. What's up with that? I had no idea that there were green birds like you." "Wait, are you large horseflies or what?" "Very amusing", replied Marisol. "We are Mexican Parrots which fly here every spring to feast on your lovely fruit trees." The bird was unimpressed and wondered why any bird would eat fruit when there were so many fish available in the region. Of course, Burro had to chime in with his question, "What kind of bird are you, big mamma? We have seen Pelicans in Mexico, but you are quite different." "Haven't you ever seen an Osprey?" asked the large bird with talons. "I am really into fish. Eat 'em every day." Marisol whispered to Burro, "Watch your beak, (instead of watch your mouth) this bird has claws, bigger than ours." Carlos just mumbled something in a parrot mumbling way. The Osprey suddenly stopped listening to the parrots and spotted a fish on the ground. "There's our lunch!" she yelled happily. Then she dived, snatched the fish right from the ground without landing, and off she went. The amazed parrots followed the flight of the Osprey as she flew to the top of one of the lights at the tennis court, and gracefully landed gently, on the huge nest. "Wow, look at the size of that nest!" squawked Burro.
"Big bird, big nest", said Carlos, softly. "Can we leave now?" pleaded Leticia. She was, as you know, the youngest and most easily frightened. The parrots complied and flew off to resume their search for a tasty fruit tree. As the flock flew over some residents while squawking quite loudly, as is their custom, Some of the children in the park were looking up and pointing to them. "Look, they're back!" cried one youngster. One older gentleman who was walking his dog replied, "There go the fruit trees."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Parrots are People Too! by Anne E. Martin. Copyright © 2015 Anne E. Martin. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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