When Amelia got home from Dairy Queen, Simon’s van was parked out front. Duke came around the corner of the house. “Hey, Amelia. Want to come? We’re going to pick up a bird.”
“Okay!” Amelia dashed inside to tell her mom and then scrambled into the backseat.
“How far are we going?” she said.
“Just across the bridge to North Vancouver. It’s a house at the top of Lonsdale Avenue. Simon knows where it is.”
Amelia was full of questions about the bird, but Duke tilted his seat back and said, “I didn’t get home from the gas station until six this morning. I’m gonna get some sleep.”
Simon didn’t want to talk either. He grunted a greeting to Amelia, yelled at the driver in the car ahead of him to learn how to drive, and then said, “It’s time for Quirks & Quarks ” and turned on the radio.
“This is Upside-Down Mango,” said the man, who introduced himself as Perry. “He used to like hanging upside down from the bars in his cage. But he doesn’t want to do anything now. He just sits there.”
Perry had brought Amelia and Duke into a large, very clean kitchen with copper pots hanging from the ceiling, and an enormous island with a marble top. A birdcage sat on the island, and on the bottom of the cage, in the corner, a little bird huddled. He was a bright mossy green, with a red head, a red-and-peach bib and brilliant blue tail feathers.
“He’s gorgeous!” Amelia said.
“He’s a lovebird,” Perry said. “He’s pretty, I’ll give you that. He was my wife’s, and she passed away and now I’m stuck with him.”
He sighed. “Is it possible for a bird to go into shock?”
“Definitely,” Duke said. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
“It’s going to sound pretty funny, but here’s the story. My wife spoiled Mango like crazy and let him ride around on her shoulder all day long, so now, if I leave him in his cage, he has temper tantrums and rattles the bars. When I can’t stand it any longer, I let him out. And I let him out yesterday morning and he flew into a chocolate pudding!”
“What?” Duke said.
“A hot chocolate pudding. I like to cook, and I had just taken the pudding off the stove. It was boiling hot and still bubbling, and I admit, I had kind of forgotten about Mango. He landed with this splash right in the middle of it.” Perry grinned. “I told you it would sound kind of funny.”
“Actually, it doesn’t sound funny at all,” Duke said. “So what did you do?”
“Well, I stuck him under the tap to cool him down and washed all the pudding off and put him back in his cage. He hasn’t moved since, but he’s alive. You can see him breathing.”
Duke opened the cage and gently picked up the little bird. Amelia held her breath while he examined him. “He’s in shock for sure,” he said finally. “Most of his toenails have fallen off, but I think he’ll get better.”
“His toenails? Really? Well, he did land feet first.” Perry chuckled, and Amelia felt a flash of anger.
“He never bit Sandra, but I can’t stop him from biting me, and I’d been meaning to call you even before this happened. Someone gave me your website name, and I know you mostly take reptiles and probably don’t want him—”
“I want him,” Duke said.
Diane and Marguerite were sitting on lawn chairs in the front yard, with glasses of iced tea and a plate of brownies, when the van pulled up. Duke had tucked Mango under his T-shirt, and the little bird had ridden home resting on Duke’s chest. Duke said he could feel Mango’s tiny heart, which was beating way too fast, start to slow down.
Duke put Mango back in his cage and lifted it out of the van, and Amelia carried a bag of birdseed. “Thanks, Si,” Duke said, and Simon sped away, waving one arm out the window.
Diane called out, “What have you got now?”
“It’s a lovebird,” Amelia said. “Come and see.”
Diane and Marguerite walked over and peered into the cage.
“Oh my, he’s beautiful,” Marguerite said. “He looks like a miniature parrot.”
“He is a parrot,” Duke said.
“He doesn’t look very happy,” Diane said.
“His name is Upside-Down Mango,” Amelia said. “He fell into a pot of boiling chocolate pudding, and his toenails got burned off.”
Diane looked horrified. “That’s terrible!”
“Can he live without his toenails?” Marguerite asked.
“They’ll probably mostly grow back,” Duke said. “But he won’t be able to cling to any of his perches for a while.”
“I haven’t even introduced you,” Diane said. “This is my daughter, Amelia, and Duke, who lives downstairs and has all the animals I told you about. This is our neighbor, Marguerite.”
“Hi,” Duke and Amelia said at the same time.
“Hello,” Marguerite said. “I’ve seen you go by, Amelia, but you always seem in a rush.”
“What are you going to do with that poor little thing?” Diane said.
“Keep him warm. And unstressed. He’s been traumatized. And I think he’s been neglected for a long time. He needs some pampering. Lovebirds are social and bond with people pretty easily. He’ll come around. Right now, I better take him inside and get him settled.”
“I’ve got a much more sensible idea,” Diane said. “Mango, how would you like to come and live with me?”