A favor for a friend of a friend
A real bird story
Your life can change with a phone call. This was mine. I received the call early in the evening. It was my friend and she sounded desperate on the phone. “Linda I need a favor a very big favor. “
“What’s the matter Judy?” I asked.
You know that I have a small house, 3 full grown Shiatsu dogs, one of the dogs is having puppies in a couple of weeks plus I have the three puppies from the last batch.”
“Yes I know all that Judy, but what’s the favor?”
“Well this friend of mine, Johnnie, came over to my house with a Cockatoo. It’s not his bird. It’s a friend of his and he is taking care of it. It’s a beautiful bird. It’s about 2 feet tall, it’s very tame and cuddly. It also came with a huge cage which takes up most of my living room.”
“Yes what s the problem.”
“The problem is the bird. My dogs are going nuts barking and trying to get to the bird, plus it makes a mess with its food all over the place. I have to constantly clean up after it. Can you take the bird?”
“Why did your friend Johnnie bring you the Cockatoo?” It’s not his bird.
“Yes it’s not his bird but his friend was living with his mother and she died and somehow he lost the house. He is now trying to get the house back. It’s a real legal mess. It shouldn’t be long only about 30 days. In the meantime this man that actually owns the Cockatoo is homeless and is living in his car. I really like the bird but if it’s between my dogs and the bird the bird goes.
“If I don’t take the bird where will she go? What will happen to her?”
“She was living in a barn. She was shut in her cage all day and night and Johnny went and fed her every 2 or 3 days. That is what she just came from. But it was so hot I couldn’t let the bird suffocate in this horrible heat we have been having.”
Now I had to make a decision. I don’t have any animals and I live in a small single wide mobile home. My daughter, Wendy, lives with me and was already attached to this cockatoo. “Please Mom, I’ll take care of her.”
“What is the bird’s name?”
“Nobody knows what her name is so I’m calling her Girlie Girl.” The next day Judy’s friend Johnnie came over to my house with the huge cage, the cockatoo named Girlie Girl, and a large can of food and left. I wasn’t even home when all this transpired.
When I arrived home later in the evening, there sat in front of the window in my small living room a large cage. In it was a large white cockatoo staring at me. I have had many parakeets in my lifetime, but I had never seen such a large bird. I was even a little afraid of it.
The next day I started to get to know Girlie Girl. She was very snuggly and cuddly and I loved her. She was trained to do her pooping in the cage or right outside on paper. This made it easy for her to walk around the house, and she loved to sit on the top of the couch and look out.
She also loved to walk around on the fence surrounding my porch. She would walk up and down faster and faster. Sometimes she walked so fast she felt off and landed in the street.
She was a real woman and loved men. When a man friend would come over she would be instantly on his shoulder. She could say only one word, “hello” but she could whistle. When she was in her cage with the door shut she would whistle to let me know she was locked in her cage.
I decided since I had this exotic bird in my home I wanted to learn as much about Cockatoos as I could. I searched the Internet and learned about their eating habits, their diseases and the fact that they could be very vicious and could even gouge out a person’s eyes. Thankfully Girlie Girl was gentle but I didn’t let her get close to a small child.
On a Friday morning, this is the morning the trash trucks come banging around and picking up the cans, she became scared. I could tell by the way she didn’t want to leave her cage. She was all hunched over by the incredible noise the garbage trucks were making. To make matters worse it was raining cats and dogs and we can add into this mix thunder and lightning. It really wasn’t a good day for Girlie Girl. I wanted to go to my bedroom, I tried every way I could to get her out of the cage but she wouldn’t let go of her perch. To add to the mixture of the accumulated noise there was a group of trucks dispatched around the park in the middle of this storm cutting down trees.
There was a palm tree in my front yard and they cut that down. Poor Girlie Girl, I tried to talk to her but she wouldn’t leave the cage she was that terrified.
I left the room and went into my bedroom to use the printer. Another strange sound came through my walls and windows. Some man was using a dirt blower in the middle of the street.
From my bedroom I heard a loud crash as Girlie Girl came out of her cage and climbed down as fast as she could landing on the floor with a big thud. I next heard the patter of her small feet running down the hallway as fast as she could. She ran right into my outstretched hand and went right up on my shoulder and stayed there for a long time. I ended up petting her and petting her and petting her.
Girlie Girl was suppose to stay for 30 days but in fact she stayed a good 2/1/2 months. She would have stayed longer but I am afraid my allergies flared up so bad the doctor said, “Get rid of the bird.”
I called Johnny and he said, She’ll have to go back into the barn. I was heartsick, my daughter, several of my friends and myself included were very attached to this very gentle Cockatoo. When Johnny picked up Girlie Girl were all happy to hear he had found her another temporary home. That friends is how I got involved with doing a favor for a friend of a friend.
I did two youtube videos with Girlie Girl on my shoulder. In both videos I talked about Cockatoos in general and about how gentle Girlie Girl was. I received many comments from people who had viewed my videos and they all loved Girlie Girl.
