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Christmas

-         Today is the 20th of December – I  reminded  my husband , and it makes exactly

 a month since we just   moved from a big city .

-         Having a Christmas party in  the countryside  is going to be fun – my husband John said, looking for “ the twelve days of Christmas”  vinyl disc  to play on his old Philips disc player with diamond ring. ?

And we both started to dance, moved by the rhythm .

-         I think I have a good idea now that we warmed  up .

-         You do ? So, tell me dear.

-         Why not having a gift exchange  for the night of  24th of December ?

-         That is a good idea ! - we both  happily sealed the deal with a kiss.

-         I am sending the messages for my sister and her family , your brother and your parents, aunt Mary. I think it is enough – I told John,

-         So, for four days , we started to get the things ready.

John went to the local market to buy fireworks..

I went to the local mall to buy gifts, like a sweater for my husband, toys for the kids, pajamas for my sister and little Christmas favors for everybody.

That same night, my sister sent a .message in the cell phone:

-         How about the food ? 

-         you bring potatoes . Each person will bring something to eat.

The next four days simply run away.

And when I realized, It was the morning of the 24th , Christmas Eve.

My six- year- old  daughter,  Melissa, picked flowers from the garden, to decorate the table

And we also decorated the Christmas tree with pine cones, red ribbons and a huge Bethlehem star on top of it.

So the guests started to come.

One by one, bringing potatoes, salad, fruits, cookies ,  roasted chickpeas,  candies for the kids, rice, besides the turkey that aunt Sophie brought – as she insisted.

Men were in charge of the beverages .

Everything was on the table, ready.

At that night, my sister arrived at about ten,  bringing the gifts that were supposed to be exchanged – that, according to her was so difficult to find in the country.

She also had brought a special gift for Jonathan, my eight year old son, afraid of birds.

It was   a box wrapped in red paper  and tied up with  green bows .

-          It must be a Christmas gift  - I thought,  due to the occasion.

After greetings, my sister decided to talk :

Because  this year  we   thought about and took into consideration  your new  life  here in the countryside,  something that I consider amazing .   So, that is why I thought about something different and special for this occasion.

And  my sister  handed the green box to Jonathan, my son - whom was desperately waiting for the best moment of the night and maybe the best moment of all his life , receiving  a  gift, like almost every single child would do : taking the gift to just tear the lovely pinkish wrapping.

Of course, mom would  look at them so fiercely that even without wanting , they should stop, in order to thank them.

-         Thank you auntie! – he grasped.

Without missing any minute,  he immediately unwrapped the box, not before shaking  it and smelling  it.

-         It is not  a toy  – she explained  in the same exactly moment he ď, and it seems to be moving.

Then, he realized that it has some holes on it, from where he could see something moving inside it.

-         Is it an animal ? – he asked with some normal curiosity in his words.

-         Kind of.

And so a bluish ringneck  parrot  came out, in the middle of  that holes, tearing the box with his beak.

-         You son of a bitch ! – the bird  yelled, in his first time that he put his head outside the box.

 were just astonished for seeing such a talkative bird.

-         Help me some soda, as I am still  trembling for staying in this degrading situation –  the parrot demanded, walking on the table that the box was left by my son.

All of us  were sat   sitting around  the table, and all of us run to help it some soda.

In the rush of taking the bottle, we hit our heads, bumping.

The parrot, laughed  and laughed and laughed .

So and so much that he pooped  in his feathers, singing “ the twelve days of Christmas “   , dancing on my husband shoulder ..

He got surprised jumping and yelling :

-          go away ! Go away before I cook you ! – aamazed.

-         Do you really think you can cook a rebel parrot like me ? – he asked , with a sarcastic look in his eyes – you better give me some soda before I laugh.

That was a  no  answer question.

-           We all laughed together with him.

After that, we gave it some soda – as it asked , while my husband looked at his badge,

-          Its name is  Tippy – he said without any objection.

-         Nice to meet you , nice to meet you – it repeated for more than five times, jumping from a plate to another, something that my husband wanted to stop it from doing it, but the bird would never stop.

-         What am I going to do with you ? – he a

kept asking, totally out of control.

The parrot laughed.8

Its eyes were wide opened, trying to understand the fuss all around him,  as  my dog was barking as crazy , and the kids running after the dog, all over the birthday party.

My son, the happiest boy in the whole world, tapped the head of the parrot, that was singing  the national hymn with its wings wide opened.

And it flew away, for some ten minutes, making kids jump to catch it.

-         Come back ! !  -  we all  screamed, thinking he would never come back – as we were already affectionate with it.

But  Tippy got tired of flying , and landed on the table, near the salad.

We all closed our eyes for a moment.

However, zi was the only one to run and take the food away from the table, putting it over the stove,  behind the chair.

 Suddenly, the  bird asked me in a violent voice :

What the hell do you think you are doing, crazy bitch?

Crazy bitch, crazy bitch, - repeating until he could fly to the stove and steal a lettuce leaf from the salad, jumping from it.

We all saw it walking back to  the direction of the cage, with the lettuce leaf in his beak..

-         As a fact, it is a cage – my sister commented, nodding her head to ask :

-         What are we supposed to do with such a naughty bird ?

It listened to what she said.

And this time it really  got angry, asking :

-         Don’t you think you need to get divorced from this fat and bold man beside you?

I knew it was just a bird.

But too daring.

-         What are you talking about ? – I asked, while it was hiding its lettuce in the cage, like a dog.

-         Nothing. Do nothing. This is the best way to forget such a fag and bold man like your useless husband.

-         Stop! You have to stop right now- I said to it, looking angrily  to  it.

-         I cannot stop . I am a robot ! – and the parrot turned on a dim  light inside the package   closing the narrow entrance between the lettuce and the cardboard.

you have to keep the bird inside the cage, he is not used to parrot stands.

-         Ok. I will do it –  blocking the entrance of the cage.

Jonathan, my son, took the cage back  to the package.

And stayed inside the cage for the rest of the night.

I  went to see the parrot  , from time to time, with a leaf of lettuce in my hand.

-         C’mon, boy ! The dramatization is enough !  - clapping.

-         But I think it is not . So you better bring more lettuce and some soda to me….

-         What ??!!   I  asked, furious and taking the bottle of soda to pour it into his beak thirsty and dried.

-         Thank you madam

But I think I am drunk – showing me a bottle of gel of alcohol my sister  had  bought for the pandemic.

-         I think it is a bad idea to give you any sort of animal.

-         Yeap ! I agree with you.

-         

December 20, 2020 00:51

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