Braun, Lilian Jackson - The Cat... Who 25 - The Cat Who Brought Down the House by Braun Lilian Jackson

Author:Braun, Lilian Jackson [Braun, Lilian Jackson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Qwilleran; Jim (Fictitious Character), Moose County (Imaginary Place), Mystery & Detective, Political, Fiction, Millionaires, Cat Owners, Cats, Country Life, Yum Yum (Fictitious Character : Braun), Koko (Fictitious Character), General
ISBN: 9780515136555
Google: 20Ws5ed46KkC
Amazon: 0515136557
Publisher: Jove
Published: 2003-12-30T08:00:00+00:00

All the houses on Pleasant Street had been designed with a front parlor and a back parlor, the latter being the family room in contemporary parlance. At Number Five it was called the aviary, however. Half of the space was behind chain-link fencing reaching to the ceiling. The other half was comfortably furnished with wicker tables and chairs and indoor trees in brass-bound tubs.

Inside the giant cage all was aflutter with color and life as parrots teetered on perches, showed off on trapezes, or climbed the chain-link, using their feet and strong beaks. One powerful beak was chewing on a tree branch. At the same time there was chattering, whooping, conversing in two languages, and noisy flapping of wings.

In the background were six single-occupancy cages, five of them with doors open and night-covers rolled back. A cover with the embroidered name CHICO stood alone.

“Who’s Chico?” Qwilleran asked. “Is he in the doghouse?”

“Our dear Chico died three years ago,” Thelma said. “We keep his cage as a memorial to a very remarkable bird.”

Qwilleran said, “I must say they’re an engaging crew!” He could imagine how tormented Thelma must have been when they were stolen.

They sat in the wicker chairs with their coffee, and Qwilleran said, “In Friday’s paper you were quoted as saying that Amazons are unusually intelligent and talkative, and that yours hold conversations in English and Portuguese. How do birds, no matter how intelligent, learn human speech?”

“They mimic the people they live with, including babies, cats, dogs, and voices on television,” Thelma said. “Pedro used to live with a professor in Ohio and has a working vocabulary of two hundred words. He also likes to talk politics. That’s Pedro, chewing on a tree branch.”

“Powerful beak,” Qwilleran said. “I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley.”

“He’s called a Blue Front. Others are: Yellow Nape and Red Lore—all are wonderfully colorful when they fan their tails and fluff their nape feathers.”

Qwilleran said, “The one with a white circle around the eye seems especially alert and listening to everything we say.”

“That’s Esmeralda. She lived with a musical family and has a large repertory of patriotic songs, popular tunes, and operatic arias. Unfortunately she doesn’t know anything all the way through. Carlotta can recite the Greek alphabet but only as far as kappa... Navarro does a perfect wolf-whistle... They pick up whatever they hear... The two sitting with beaks together like a couple of gossips are Lolita and Carlotta. They keep looking at your moustache, Qwill—trying to figure out how to steal it. Amazons are very mischievous, you know.”

Qwilleran stood up. “The situation is getting dangerous! In the interests of sartorial safety, I must leave.”

She responded with her soft little laugh—a musical “hmmm hmmm hmmm.”

Then soberly he said as they walked to the door, “Have you ever seen the grave of your father, Thelma?”

“I don’t even know its location!”

“I do. It’s a beautiful site. I'd like to drive you there Sunday afternoon. And we could have dinner at the Boulder House Inn overlooking the lake.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.