she's 57, she's grey. she was neglected for two decades and stopped talking. she has a good home now, but still does not speak. now she just whistles.
she's a parrot named peter.
i've worked here for a year and a half, here where peter lives. as an animal lover, i was suprised when we didn't become friends for the first year of that time. truth is, she made me nervous. other birds don't make me nervous. this was weird. whenever i put my hand in her cage to pet her, as is the protocol, she would move quickly towards me and i would feel myself on the whitehot edge of panic, the same panic i get around german shepherds and other very smart dogs. smart=panic. hmmm.
then i started talking to her and everything changed. i get close and talk softly. i say "hey girl. hey, what are you doing? how are you, beautiful?" she looks at me. she whistles. i talk to her. quietly, very quietly. we communicate. i can feel her and there is no panic. suddenly, i can pet her with no withdrawing. suddenly, we're buds.
when i think about how i won't be around her anymore, i am filled with a sense of dread and sadness like my presence somehow keeps her out of danger or...like now i won't know if she is depressed and then be able to fix it by talking to her. we won't have any more communication. next tuesday, that'll be it.
i don't know. this part of leaving my job really sucks. she's so smart. smart animals...you have to be careful. a bad life, or an abused life...much more likely. if she wasn't so smart, i wouldn't be worried.
is it like that with people too?
1 comment:
It's not like that for me with people. But animals? Yes! I feel a sense of responsibility...like they will be neglected if I'm not there. Rough feeling...I know you'll miss her! I currently feed ALL (yes, all) the mammals at my kid's school, every day...because I know they don't get the fresh food they deserve and need! Michelle...saving one animal at a time...
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