The Parrot and the Cat

27 awoke with a start. He didn’t know how long he had been asleep but The Shop was alive with the chatter of the other animals, and outside the sun was beginning to set. He guessed that The Shop must have shut for the night- he must have been asleep for hours. From the cage next to him, he could hear the sound of a muffled voice. He rolled his eyes. Salvador had arrived three days ago, and 27 hoped he would be gone before long. Salvador was self- important and sly- a typical cat. Salvador talked to himself about The Outside. 27 had met many animals who had been to The Outside and all of them were odd, but none of them were quite as peculiar as Salvador. Salvador talked about The Outside like it was paradise and this frustrated 27, who had never had much interest in what happened there. What really annoyed him, however, was how Salvador spoke about The Shop as if it were a prison. He could not stand animals who did not appreciate what The Humans did for them.
He heard Salvador use the word “escape”. He shook his head.
“Escape!” he cried, trying to stifle his laughter “So you can return to The Outside? Where nobody’s there to look after you when you’re sick? Why in the world would anyone want to escape!?!”
“You might want to spend the rest of your life in a cage but I do not!” Salvador said bluntly.
27 felt sorry for the naïve cat. “Salvador, you must learn to appreciate everything The Humans do for us. We really are so lucky.”
Salvador exploded. “Lucky!?! There’s a world of excitement and surprises on the other side of that door and I’m sat in a cage talking to a parrot without a name!”
“A world of danger, more like,” 27 said. “Learn to be grateful for what you have. You’re much safer in here.”
“Perhaps I’m safer, but you don’t understand. Don’t you ever wish you could feel the breeze on your feathers? Don’t you ever wish you could stretch your wings and fly?”
“Sometimes,” admitted 27. He didn’t tell Salvador just how often he dreamt of flying high in the sky with all the other birds “but then I remember what it’s really like,” he said sombrely.
27 hadn’t always been known as 27. He had been born on The Outside and known as Sundara. He was a very beautiful bird. Unfortunately, Sundara had spent most of his time on The Outside in a constant state of fear. Everything about The Outside terrified him: The noise, the crowds and the bright lights. This was why he was grateful when he was finally captured by a Human. At first he was worried about where the Human would take him and what he would do to him, but his fears were soon eased. He was taken to The Shop and put in a cage marked “NOT FOR SALE”, and around his leg was tied a tag with the number "27" on it. The Shop proudly boasted the most beautiful bird in the entire world, and he was going nowhere. At The Shop he felt safe and secure for the first time in his life, and before long he had completely forgotten about The Outside; in fact, he got very angry when the other animals mentioned it or asked him what his ‘real’ name was. He had been reborn in The Shop, he would say, and his name was 27.
“The Outside is a dangerous place, Salvador,” 27 said in a hushed voice. “Besides, you couldn’t escape from one of these cages in a million years!”
“Just you wait and see,” the cat said thoughtfully.
To be honest, 27 had known how to escape from the cages for years now. The locks didn’t look difficult to pick, but 27 was happy in The Shop, and he had no time for ungrateful cats like Salvador.
If it was up to 27, all animals would live in cages where The Humans could keep them safe.
At midday the following day Salvador suddenly announced that he was leaving. 27 rushed to the bars of his cage. He had hoped the cat had been bluffing when he said he knew how to escape. 27 frantically looked around The Shop for any Humans, but it was no use- there was nobody around. The Shop entrance was wide open.
“It’s dangerous Outside,” said Salvador “and perhaps I won’t live long there, but if I stay here then I’ll never live at all!” And in one fluid motion he swiped his cage lock with his claw and the door swung open. 27’s heart was pounding. He had to stop Salvador! It was too dangerous Outside!
“Salvador wait!” he called. But it was too late- the cat was gone.


It was 2 O’Clock. 27 couldn’t stop thinking about what Salvador had said. 27 had spent almost his entire life in a cage. He couldn’t remember what a breeze felt like. He hadn’t stretched his wings in years. He was a bird! He was born to fly! Was the cat right? 27 eyed the lock.


Salvador lay asleep in the park. He heard something in the sky above him and suddenly woke up. He opened his eyes just in time to see a brilliant rainbow of colour disappearing into the distance in front of him. “Strange,” he thought, and he went back to sleep.


Ten minutes later, about a mile away, a dove watched as an unfamiliar parrot landed on the branch next to her. He was the most beautiful bird she had ever seen. Eventually, she plucked up the courage to talk to him.
“I’m Nada,” she said “what’s your name?”
The parrot paused for a moment, thinking.
“Nice to meet you,” he said as the warm breeze ruffled his feathers, “I’m Sundara”.