The first thing the girls do when they get to Ava’s house is get some snacks. Mervin yells, “IDIOT MONKEY!” a few times from Ava’s room and afterward is quiet. Ava makes popcorn and then decides they need smoothies too. “We have to prepare ourselves for dealing with Mervin.”
“Your house is beautiful,” Melinda says. She sits on a stool by the breakfast bar.
“Yeah, my mom is an interior designer.”
“It’s so clean and tidy. There’s so much space.”
“Yeah. But I feel like she’s tidied us out of her life.”
Melinda looks at her, curious.
“I mean,” Ava continues, “it’s just that when my dad left, Mom got obsessed with decluttering, and she’s just throwing everything away. Like, everything.” Ava sighs. “Sorry. I have no idea why I’m telling you all this.”
“When did your dad leave?”
“At the start of the summer. It was the worst. It’s not like him and Mom were happy before that, but that was just our family, you know? Now Mom is working and stressed and still decluttering. I can’t put anything down anywhere without her throwing it out. Gregg is acting like nothing ever happened—most of the time anyway. And now he’s making all these videos. Ugh.”
“He’s your brother, right?”
“Yeah. You’ll probably fall in love with him. To be honest, I think that’s the only reason the two Kims stayed friends with me for as long as they did. They were crushing on my brother.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I guess they think he’s good-looking.”
Melinda frowns. “I’ve seen him at school. Sure, he’s handsome, but he’s being so mean to you right now.”
Ava shrugs. “Brothers. What can you do?” She pushes the button on the blender full of frozen berries and yogurt. When she turns it off, Mervin makes exactly the same whirr sound as the blender. Both girls laugh. They take their smoothies and popcorn and head to Ava’s room.
“PRETTY, PRETTY, PRETTY!” Mervin yells.
“He sounds very excited,” Melinda says.
Ava opens the door. Her room is trashed! Books have been shredded, and there is parrot poop on her bed and straw all over the floor. The curtains have claw marks in the fabric. “Oh my god!” Ava yells. “How did you get out of your cage?”
Mervin flaps over and lands on her head.
“PRETTY IDIOT MONKEY!” he screeches.
“What have you done, Mervin?” Ava asks. “Get off my head!”
“Did you leave the cage open?” Melinda asks.
“I don’t know! Maybe?” Did she? She might have. She was rushing this morning.
“Hey, pretty boy,” Melinda says softly. “You want to step up?”
“STEP UP!”
Ava watches in the mirror as Mervin raises a foot from her hair. “How does he know how to lift his foot like that?”
“It’s a simple parrot trick. Lots of owners teach the words step up to their parrots. I wondered if Mervin had learned some basics. He seems pretty smart.” Melinda holds out her arm, and Mervin steps neatly onto her hand. Melinda rewards him with a peanut. He immediately gets to work opening the shell.
“Wow. That’s amazing, Melinda. You make it look so easy.”
Mervin cocks his head and stares with his beady eye at Ava. “SO EASY!”
Ava laughs. “But that doesn’t stop my room from being a total mess.”
When Mervin finishes the peanut, he turns his gaze on Melinda. She says, “How about turn around?”
Mervin looks like he’s thinking hard.
Melinda holds a peanut next to Mervin’s beak. As he turns to reach for it, she moves the peanut around his head. Mervin turns a full circle to get the peanut. “Good bird, Mervin,” Melinda says.
Mervin’s neck feathers fluff, and he makes a quiet cooing noise. Is he saying thank you? Ava wonders.
“Melinda, he’s loving this!”
Ava pulls off the poop-covered comforter. She sits on her bed, no longer caring that her room is a mess. Mervin is awesome! With Melinda’s help, he practices turning around a few more times. Then they work on waving. Mervin lifts a claw as they say hello. He is rewarded with peanuts.
After a while they take him into the bathroom and give him a bath. Mervin splashes water and flaps around the sink, as happy as a pig in mud. “Good bird,” Ava cries, delighted. “He’s so funny!”
“We can teach him to poop in his cage instead of on the floor,” Melinda says when they finally get Mervin, stuffed with peanuts, back into his cage.
“Seriously?”
“There’s a bunch of ways to do it. I’ve seen them online—we can try them, at least. He probably had a routine in his old home.”
“Home,” Mervin says.
Ava thinks he sounds a bit sad. She wonders if he misses Bertie.
“With the stress of this new environment,” Melinda continues, “he hasn’t learned what to do in your house. He’ll probably get the hang of the rules soon. He is pretty smart.”
“PRETTY SMART!” Mervin agrees.
“African gray parrots are actually the best mimics. And Mervin is obviously very good at it. Like, outstanding. Good bird,” Melinda says and reaches through the bars to give Mervin a scratch under his feathers. Then she comes to sit next to Ava.
“He is a good bird,” Ava agrees. “Although he wakes me up at night. Chatting!”
“You need to cover his cage at night—parrots need dark to sleep. You could use a sheet. If it’s totally dark, he won’t wake you up at night.”
“Really?”
“Try it.”
“I totally will!”
Just then Gregg appears at the doorway. He has his phone out. “Come on then, Ava, give us some of that parrot fun we all love!”
Ava sticks her tongue out at him.
“Hey, big guy,” he says to Mervin. “You’re a rock star.”
“ROCK STAR,” Mervin agrees. But he doesn’t flap around. He sits quietly in his cage.
Gregg sighs. “Well, this isn’t going to go viral. Mervin, where’s the drama?” He puts his phone in his pocket. He looks at Melinda and says, “Who are you?”
“This is Melinda,” Ava says. “My friend from school.”
Melinda beams at Ava. “Hi,” she says to Gregg. “By the way, I don’t think it’s very nice of you to keep posting about Ava when she doesn’t want you to.”
“Whoa.” Gregg laughs.
“I just think it’s mean,” Melinda says softly.
Gregg clears his throat. For once he seems speechless. He makes a face at Ava. “What happened to the Kims? I haven’t seen them here for a while.”
Ava shrugs. “Melinda knows a lot about parrots.”
“Right,” Gregg says. “Well, uh, yeah, good to meet you, Melinda.” He backs out of the room. Ava looks at Melinda, who gives her a little smile.
“I can’t believe you said that to him,” Ava says. “All my friends are always trying to impress Gregg. Because, you know, they all think he’s so hot.”
It’s Melinda’s turn to shrug. She says, “I like guys who are nice.”
Ava bursts out laughing. “Well, I don’t know that Gregg knew what to do with himself. He’s used to girls falling all over him.”
Melinda falls back onto the bed, laughing. “Not. My. Type,” she says.
After Melinda goes home, Ava sits down in the living room. She poses on the couch, trying to get a good shot. She lifts her arm to change the angle, wishing for the millionth time that she had a selfie stick. Finally, after a few attempts, she is happy with the photo and posts.
Relaxing at #home. Lucky to have a new friend @melindaflor. I want to build my following here—like if you want to help me. #lifegoals
After a few minutes her phone pings.
@musicloves Where’s the parrot?
Ava rolls her eyes. She gets up and goes to the kitchen to make herself a bowl of noodles for supper. Gregg comes out of his room. “Food! Where’s mom?” he asks, rubbing his tummy.
“You sound like Mervin. Make your own food. Mom isn’t home from work yet.”
“Is your prissy friend gone?”
“She’s not prissy. She just doesn’t like you.”
“Yeah. Well, I don’t like her either.”
Gregg leans over the counter and picks up Ava’s phone. He reads:
@futurefantasy WE WANT TO SEE THE BIRD! That would grow your list.
Gregg bursts out laughing. “I told you! They love it. They want Mervin.”
“Don’t touch my phone!”
“I was just telling you what your fans say. You only have one like, Ava.”
“I only just posted!” she said.
Gregg laughs again. “It’s your prissy friend who likes your post. Everyone else wants the parrot.”
Ava tries to grab her phone. She knocks over the bowl of noodles. Hot water spills over the counter and onto Gregg, who leaps up. “Watch it, Ava!”
The front door opens. It’s their mom. “You two are always shouting at each other. Can’t you both just grow up?” She closes her eyes for a long moment. When she opens them, she says, “It would be nice to come home to a bit of peace and quiet.”
She walks down the hallway toward her room. She passes Ava’s open doorway. “Oh, Ava. What is going on here?”
“I’m going to clean up. I just haven’t got around to it.”
“That bird needs to be out of my house,” she says. “Now.”
“He’s doing way better, Mom. We can train him.”
Ava is shocked to see that her mom is nearly in tears. “Please, Ava. Not now. I’ve had a really long day.”
Ava looks at her mom’s face. She can tell she’s exhausted. “Mervin will be gone soon, Mom,” she says. “The zoo person is coming over to assess him. It’s just until the end of this week. I’m really sorry.”
Her mom wipes her eyes. “It’s just been a very busy day, honey. I need to change. I have to go back out. You two can figure out supper, right?”
Gregg nods. “Sure, Mom. We’re good. Sorry.”
As their mom disappears into her room, Gregg slides Ava’s phone back over to her. “Sorry, Ava.”
“I’m sorry too,” she says. But Ava is distracted. She is thinking about Mervin and the zoo coming to take him away. She is surprised that the idea of the noisy, messy bird leaving makes her feel sad. “I better go clean my room.”