“What did you do?” Gregg yells. He bursts into her room and lands on her bed.
“Get off!” Ava screams.
“Take it down now.” He pats around her pillows, looking for her phone.
“I’m not taking that down. EVER!” Ava yells.
Their mom runs into the room. “What is going on here?”
“Ava posted a clip of me. With that bird. It’s been watched thousands of times!”
Their mom laughs.
Gregg and Ava stop fighting.
“Are you laughing, Mom?” Gregg asks. “You think this is a joke?”
Ava watches their mom lean against Ava’s desk, laughing so hard that tears form in her eyes. “Oh, Gregg, honey. I’m sorry. It’s just…you’ve been posting all kinds of pictures of Ava and the parrot. What did you expect?”
Gregg rubs his hand through his hair. He sighs and shakes his head, but Ava can see the beginning of a smile on his lips. “I guess it is kind of funny.”
“I am sorry, Gregg,” their mom says. But she’s still laughing. “Can I see the video?”
“Seriously, Mom?” Gregg asks, but Ava can tell he’s not mad anymore. He’s probably as happy as she is to see their mom laughing.
The three of them sit on the bed and watch the video together. Their mom howls with laughter again. Which sets off Ava and Gregg. Soon all three of them are laughing. Then Mervin, from under his cover, starts to make his laughing sound too.
Ava pulls off the cover so Mervin can watch with them. They watch the video again and again. During the third replay a text message comes in for Ava.
This is Peter from the zoo. I can actually come by around 4 p.m. today to assess your parrot. Would that work?
Today! He was supposed to come on Friday. Today is way too early!
All three of them see the text.
“Good,” Gregg says.
But Ava wonders if he really means it. His voice seems a bit flat.
“Perfect,” their mom says. “Once that bird is gone, we’ll all get back to normal around here. Now, we all need to get going. I’ll make us pancakes while you two get ready for school.” She gets up and heads out of the room.
Gregg ruffles Ava’s hair. “Good one, little sister. Pancakes on a school day!”
“Don’t touch my hair,” Ava replies. But she smiles.
“IDIOT MONKEY,” Mervin squawks as Gregg leaves the room.
Ava checks her phone. There is still no like or comment from Melinda. And now Mervin will be leaving this afternoon. How did the day start so well but turn so terrible? At least she’ll get pancakes with her family.
At school Ava sees Melinda by her locker. She forces herself to go and say hello.
Melinda chews on a strand of her hair. Her cheeks are red, and she avoids Ava’s gaze.
“Look, Melinda,” Ava says, “I’m really sorry about yesterday. I thought Kim B. was trying to be friends with me. I didn’t know how to deal with both of you together. I’m sorry.”
“I get that being friends with me is too embarrassing for you,” says Melinda.
“No,” says Ava. “I mean, yeah, that might have been what I used to think. But that was before I…I really enjoy hanging out with you and with Mervin. And I’m sorry.”
Melinda pulls her hair from her mouth. “Thanks. I like hanging out with you too.”
“Although Mervin is going to the zoo today.”
“Really? You’re not keeping him?” Melinda says. “Wow, Ava, for a moment there I thought you were actually turning into a nice person. I mean, I know you have a reputation for being someone who just wants to be famous and who only cares about yourself. But I can’t believe you’d just get rid of a living creature like that.”
“What do you mean, a reputation?” Ava asks, stung. “I’m not like that.”
“You are! At least, you seemed like that online, but as I got to know you in real life you seemed way kinder. Mervin is an amazing creature. I thought you knew how lucky you were to have him. I saw that video you posted last night with your brother. You seemed to be having a great time. Then you posted a photo this morning of your family and Mervin having pancakes. It seemed like you were finally being real online. But none of it is true with you.” Melinda shakes her head. “I’m so dumb. I thought we’d be great friends.”
Ava is shocked. How did her apology go so wrong? “We will be. We are!”
Melinda slams her locker shut. “I’ve got to go. You’re welcome to the Kims of this school. You guys suit each other. You’re all fakes.”
Ava watches Melinda storm away.
In social studies Ava sits alone. Melinda has moved back to her old seat, and the two Kims are whispering behind Ava. The others are working on their personal projects. Suddenly Ava knows what she is going to research. Parrots! African grays! She’ll do a project on Mervin.
She opens up a search engine on her phone and begins to make notes. On a whim, she texts her mom and gets Great-Uncle Bertie’s full name. She looks him up. Her mouth drops open. She’s found a Wikipedia page all about him. She learns that someone wrote a book about him. She texts her mom to ask if they can buy the book. She learns that Great-Uncle Bertie fought in North Africa during World War II. After that he traveled and worked as a naturalist throughout Africa. He even discovered various species of birds and plants!
And then, right there online, she finds the story of Mervin! There’s even a picture of Mervin and Bertie. He found Mervin as a baby parrot, sick and with no feathers. He figured that Mervin’s mother had been killed or captured. But he waited to see if she would return. When the parrot’s mother never came back, Bertie nurtured baby Mervin to health. Mervin ended up traveling all over the world with Bertie. Ava learns that in those days it was easier to travel with animals. And Bertie did a lot of traveling.
The bell rings. Class has passed so quickly. Everyone packs up and starts heading out of the room.
Mr. Patel comes over. “I was happy to see you working so hard on your project, Ava. You sure made a lot of notes.”
She looks at the pages in front of her. She has written loads. “Yes,” she says. “I thought I was going to do a project about African gray parrots, but I think I’m going to do a more personal project. All about my Great-Uncle Bertie and his travels. And his parrot. Mervin is a great bird. Great-Uncle Bertie left him to me in his will.”
“That’s so interesting, Ava,” says Mr. Patel. “I look forward to your presentation. Maybe you could even bring Mervin to class with you when it’s your day.”
“Sure!” says Ava. And then she remembers. The zoo is coming to take Mervin away this very afternoon.