Perfect Lady......To me.

by Cheyan
(Craig, Colorado)

My mother and I run a pet store in a small town of about eleven thousand, and out of the four pet stores in our small town, we have the widest variety of snakes, lizards, small animals, and of course, birds. We carry over 19 different kinds, but my story today is of our newest family addition, Zebbie.
Zebbie is a 5 year old Blue Front Amazon, and came in with some troubles. She was strongly bonded to an African Grey, who died a month or two before we received Zebbie. She was absolutely devastated, and her owners felt that they couldn't take care of her anymore, for she took her friend's death very unwell. When she came in, she would not touch her food, or let anyone near her. Yet I sat persistently next to her cage, talking to her soothingly. She finally opened up just a little, and would take my finger or thumb into her mouth and play with it. It took me about another week before I could touch her at all.
We have formed a very loving bond, and she shows me in many ways. When she does not want my mom to play with her, she bites at her, and gets very aggressive with it. However, when I play with her when she's not quite in the mood, she'll push her beak against my hand, and gently push my away several times before growling at me and snapping her beak at me. She has not used her beak to push anyone else away. When I sit down and talk to her, she walks all the way around her cage to come to me, and makes others chase her down. She whispers soft words at me, but not to anyone else. When I scratch her beak, she'll turn her head so my fingers are against her cheek, indicating that she would like me to scratch and rub her cheek and as well as her neck. Since she has been in our pet store, she had been a perfect lady to me, ever so gentle and sweet. But not so much to other people. I'm really trying to convince my mother to let me Keep Zebbie, as a Christmas present since my birthday has already past, because my heart hsa just melted away since I've bonded with Zebbie.