The Desperate Adventures of Zeno and Alya by Jane Kelley

Author:Jane Kelley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

17

Parker stood in front of his house. He stuck his hands in his pockets like he always did when he didn’t know what else to do. It had been two days since he promised Alya he would look for that parrot Zeno. Parker couldn’t put it off any longer. He tried to keep all his promises—even ones he made to people who weren’t sick. Only he had no idea where or even how he was supposed to look. A bunch of pigeons fluttered down and strutted along the sidewalk. They were gray, but Alya wouldn’t want them.

Parker sighed. If he walked around the block, could he go back to Alya and say that he had looked? How about if he walked around it twice? Wouldn’t that be enough searching? He kicked a little rock down the sidewalk. Of course that wouldn’t. How could he expect her to try if he didn’t?

Then he remembered one Halloween, a bunch of his friends went looking for ghosts in Green-Wood Cemetery. They hadn’t found anything spooky—just a lot of wild parrots. Maybe Zeno was hanging out there.

Parker hitched up his jeans and started walking. He hadn’t gone ten steps before his brain was blasting how lame his idea was. Did he know where to find the cemetery? Would the parrot be with those other parrots? Could the African grey really help his sister? No, no, and no. But finding the parrot was the only thing Alya had asked him to do for her. So he was going to do it no matter what.

After he crossed the avenue, he had another depressing thought. Even if there were a miracle, and he found the parrot, then what? Was he supposed to say, “Hey, Zeno, dude, follow me. My sister wants to see you.” The whole thing was beyond dumb. Hopeless. The only thing worse would be if he ran into anybody he knew.

Then he saw the store. Actually he had passed it before he realized what it was. The neighborhood had lots of shops tucked into the ground floor of the brownstone buildings. Most of the shops sold designer shoes or baby clothes. This one had a pair of love birds cooing in the front window. The sign said: VINCENT’S FEATHERED FRIENDS.

Parker peered through the window. He thought he saw a gray parrot way in the back. It was too much to hope that it was the one Alya wanted. Maybe she wouldn’t know the difference. Didn’t all gray parrots kind of look alike? He opened the door and went in.

The bell jangled.

An old man sitting behind the front counter frowned, as if to say, what do you want?

Parker stood up straight and looked the man in the eye, as if Parker’s pocket were full of credit cards and none of them were maxed out.

Before the old man could say anything, a huge woman pushed past Parker. She wore a multicolored jacket. Little plastic parrots dangled from her ears.

“I need a new bird,” she said loudly. “Something green.

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.