Parrot fashion

There's an aviary in the local garden centre, and the happy twittering puts us in a good frame of mind for spending lots of money. But when we get round to the cash desk we meet Ruby. Ruby is an African Grey parrot who eyes the proceedings from the top of her cage. A notice tells us that she likes to be talked to. She never answers back, just casts a scornful eye as we make fools of ourselves, trying to get a reaction .

We used to own a parrot when we lived in Venezuela, back in the 1960s. She was a beautiful Amazon Green and spoke Spanish. She had obviously escaped from somewhere and we advertised widely to try and find her owners with no result. Maybe they didn't want her back because of her horrendous screeching at dawn! So we kept her and became fond of her. We didn't manage to teach her any English but she learnt to imitate baby Anna's crying so accurately that she often fooled me into rushing to the pram, only to find a sleeping baby and, I swear it, a grinning parrot!