She Was Not Quite What You Would Call Refined

I kept reassuring myself that it is perfectly normal to debate coffee preferences with a parrot. Especially a parrot with a coffee addiction. I lounged on a metal chair outside my favorite Seattle coffee shop, Caffe Umbria, in the quaint old village of Ballard, my neighborhood in north Seattle. My back leaned against the shop window. Princess Tara sat on my lap. She studied a cup of coffee, an iced americano in a plastic cup, I held in my hand. I fixed my eyes on the old Ballard City Hall bell tower across the street to purposely avoid the stares of customers scurrying into or out of the coffee shop. I tried to pretend there was nothing out of the ordinary about a gigantic gorgeously blue feathered hyacinth macaw parrot sitting on my lap carrying on a conversation with me about my coffee.

Princess Tara pinned one of her big black eyes directly at my face. Because her eyes are set on opposite sides of her head she could only pin one big black eye at me at a time. This made...