The Parrot Next Door

A green bird, a chipper chatter, and perhaps my noisiest neighbor – this is Buddy the Parrot:

The first time I met Buddy, I was sitting at my desk reading when a boy walked by with the good fellow atop his shoulder.  Now that I’ve been here some time, this image doesn’t seem the slightest bit unusual.  Buddy goes to Market at least once a week, comes to our local sports tournaments, and even shows up at the school from time to time.  For a parrot, I imagine this is a pretty good life.

And when he’s not out and about, he rests on his branch in his cage, looking for someone – anyone – to talk to.  As far as I can tell, this is usually me.  Since his porch is on the way to Amanda’s house, we talk quite a bit.  I used to think I was getting him to make new sounds by saying things over and over again every time I passed by – then I started making new noises at him every time I passed.

But after a while, I realized something quite distressing:  he wasn’t imitating me, I was imitating him.