Coco Calling No.292 - Spooky Spectres in the Night!

Parrots like me enjoy a regular routine. We don’t like change or variation in what we get used to. So, at night, when I’m quietly roosting, I like to hear the old family sounds both in and around my kitchen area. For example, the hum of the fridge. The quiet snores of our labrador stretched out in her comfy bed. And maybe the whooshing of water in the dishwasher as it gets towards the end of its cycle. Yes, when I hear these sounds, I know everything is right. I can tuck my beak in under my wing and doze to my heart’s content.

So, you can imagine how unsettling it was for me to be woken up by a dreadful moaning noise. I knew that I’d definitely heard it; I hadn’t been dreaming. Was it the wind in the gutters outside? No, it was perfectly still out there. Was it an airlock in the pipes? No, nobody had flushed a toilet. And when I heard that dreadful sound come back for a second and a third time, the realisation dawned on me that there was some horrible spooky spectre at large the house! Help! I just wanted to cover my head up under my wing, but the sound got louder and wouldn’t let me do that. And before very long, I came to the even more fearful conclusion that there was not only a spooky spectre in the house, but one that was trying to play the bagpipes, - (and doing it very badly!) It made all of my quills stand up on end!

Just as I thought my days were numbered, I heard a loud rasping cough in the bedroom overhead and then the reassuring sound of human voices. It was then that I realised that it hadn’t been a spooky spectre at all. No, it had been my human owner succumbing to a chest infection and starting to wheeze for England. And all this meant that he had to stay in bed for several days. Sadly, for me, this put a temporary halt to our daily routine. I couldn’t sit on his shoulder at breakfast time, nor ride around as he did his household chores. Nor did I get my usual tickles and strokes that I usually take for granted. No, while he was in bed, my life wasn’t quite the same. And I suppose I learnt the lesson of never taking anything for granted, and of always being grateful for what I have on a daily basis.

Now things are back to normal again and everybody’s happy. No more spooky spectres, no more wheezing, but lots of love and tickles. What more could a parrot want?

“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”

(G.K. Chesterton: [1874 – 1936]: Prominent English writer).

“Don’t take the people that love you for granted…. being loved is a beautiful gift from God.”

(Joyce Meyer: [1943 – present]: American charismatic Christian author and speaker).

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”                                                              

(Proverbs 17: 17)