R.I.P. Pepsi
This is the story of a little green parakeet named Pepsi. She belonged to my step daughter Tonya and I begged her to let me have her. I saw her in her little cage every day answering the outside birds and thought she seemed lonely with her owners gone to work. Tonya relented and Pepsi became mine. Or so I thought. In all actuality, Pepsi may have belonged to me, but I never really belonged to her. Her little bird heart belonged to my husband Darrel. When I approached her, she would bite me and chatter like crazy. Darrel walked into the room, and she began preening and warbling. She stepped onto his finger like a princess and peppered him with tiny beak kisses. Oh, so I was on to her! She liked the men! It was at this point I decided to get another bird, a baby that could possibly like me and also be company for Pepsi. Wrong. Oh, Cola liked me well enough, but Pepsi abhorred him. How could I invade her peaceful little world with this annoying baby? Eventually, they made their piece and Cola did like me best! So, it was with a heavy heart that I returned home from having surgery yesterday to find Pepsi at the bottom of the cage looking very ill. Touching her, {yes, she still bit me} I could detect only a faint heartbeat. Cola was beside himself, flying around chattering. I tried to remove her from the cage but she would not have it. So I let it be her way. With one last attempt to bite me, she laid down on the bottom of her cage and looked at me. I petted her and cradled her in my hand. All the things she would never let me do before. I told her she had been the best little bird anyone ever had and that I forgave her for not liking me best. She quietly passed away there in my hand and I like to think she forgave me for not being quite the caretaker she had expected.
Cola is now inconsolable. Fortunately, he still has me and the birds outside. Perhaps it will be best to leave it that way.
No comments:
Post a Comment