Lives and Pets
Tweet, tweet, tweet...-where is the bird?-. I was on the beach, I looked for it in the sand, on the shore, in the water, in the sky ... where did it come from?. Again and louder: Tweet, tweet, tweet.. but no trace of the bird, till my companion said to me: look straight ahead, at your height! : then I saw him on the bather's shoulder. It was a beautiful little parrot. It would measure about 10 cm plus a long tail feathers. Gray plumage body but with prominent white flashes on the outer edges of each wing and also in part of the face. On each cheek, red spots as a rouge and the most spectacular: a stylish and yellow erectil crest. Without realizing it, I said out loud the first thing I thought: “Wow, a little pirate's parrot”.
From that moment on, the proud owner of the bird non-stop talking about his faithful companion.
- He is Carlitos, is a nymph cockatoo also knowed as Carolina. I took him since he was a newborn.
- Isn't it tied up?
- No, he doesn't escape. On the contrary, I cannot separate myself from him, he immediately becomes uneasy. He wakes me up every morning calling me by name, we go shopping together and he goes with me on the bike. Right Carlitos?.
- Tweet -this time whith a sharper sound and also a quick change in the crest, now dramatically vertical.
- Amazing!-. I don't know if I answered Carlitos or his owner.
- Yes, it is my best company and it conquers everyone. That is why I have made him an instragram profile, you can follow him. We took a photo with the special couple and said goodbye to both of them.
On my way home, a question came to me: Will there be times when they are separated?. I want to imagine that in intimate moments, scatological or romantic ones, Carlitos fly away for a while. On the other hand, the bond seemed as strong as that of a tree and a branch, always together except for something strange that separates them.
I still haven’t introduced myself, oh my dog!. A clarification: the latter is my expression. I have always believed more in dogs than in gods. I am simply one of those who to believe in something I have to see it, or at least to feel and love it. Since I was born I have had a dog at home, for me he is the most faithful and sensible companion in my family. Sometimes I feel he is the one who understands me the best, even when I don’t even explain myself, hence my pun.
So, I AM SARA, I am 17 years old and I am lost. Well, that is what my parent tell me. My friends laugh, the say I’m the most focused of all. I don’t really think like my parents or my friends. I am Sara, I am in the process of taking off. Deep down I identify with the parakeet that we met this morning but with the difference that I do want to separate but I need to define the course.
Adults say it is typical at my age to be like this, I have discovered that it is not just typycal of my age. Every time something interrupts or changes emptiness appears, there is that vertigo that shakes the whole body….and then, blessed pets!: you have accompained me in that sea of doubts since your unconditional acceptance.
Today is my first day in the rental room that I have chosen in this big city, Barna. In fact, today is the first time that I am going to live in a house without a pet. Well, also the first time I go to share a flat with people who are not my parents.
Nerves invade me, I do not know if they are the good ones or the bad ones, but I do know that if my dear Trasto, my dog, were here he would look at me from below with a knowing look, and would find out before me what to do to get relief. I miss that when entering the house someone greets me by jumping and wagging his tail!. Maybe my roommates will accept that I can adopt a parakeet.
Be that as it may, I have something clear: I still need to have an animal nearby.
By MA, June 2020
Photo by Allison Cochrane on Unsplash