An acquaintance has a little daughter who recently turned eight. For her birthday, the parents gave the girl a little budgie parrot because it was her dream pet.
Sadly, nine days later the budgie died. The child was grief-stricken.
“Oh, how terrible!” I said to the mother. “I’m so sorry!”
“No, it’s fine,” the mother reassured me. “They had a 14-day return policy, so we got our money back.”
Clarissa's Blog 
My girlfriend had a parakeet who would ruffle his feathers and try to bite me whenever I came near her. He was jealous. My gf thought it was hilarious I was scared of a parakeet but it was no joke. Birds hate people. Alfred Hitchcock tried to warn us.
On a totally unrelated note, Muratov’s Images of Italy has finally been translated into English. This was one of Clive James’s favorite books, he called it one of the world’s greatest works of scholarship and criticism. I’m enjoying it so far. It reads less like criticism and more like a travel book.
I’m a bit annoyed that the title has been translated as “Evocations” of Italy but I don’t know any Russian. Do you think that’s more accurate than “Images”? Is there a better English word than either?
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“nine days later the budgie died”
Little birds, fish and turtles are how lots of US kids used to learn about death… the turnover tends to be high.
Dogs and cats have much longer shelf lives.
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My levels of anxiety over Misty have been through the roof since this happened.
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“levels of anxiety over Misty have been through the roof”
A reasonably healthy cat of her age *6-7 ish?) who receives reasonably good care should have at least 7 or more years left (barring freak accidents). Cats don’t just up and die the way non-mammal pets are prone to.
Still, be aware that when pets die it’s a real grieving process, distinct from grieving a person but still real and painful and unavoidable.
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Reminds me of the dead parrot sketch in Monty Python
Raymond R
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Some people are really good at missing the point.
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