Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘parrots’

Cap’n Crunch

Parrots came up yesterday, bringing to mind Cap’n Crunch, who plays a supporting role in Dog On It:

“He said, ‘Madison rocks.’ She taught him. He can say other things, too.”

Whoa. Cynthia was claiming that he – this beady-eyed inmate – could talk? I didn’t buy it.

“His name’s Cap’n Crunch.”

Cap’n Crunch bobbed his head back and forth, an ugly, lizard-like motion, and made the horrible croaking noise again. It ended in a high-pitched squeak that hurt my ears. One glance at Bernie and I knew he wasn’t hearing that squeak. Bernie missed some things, true, but you had to admire him: he never let his handicaps get him down.

“What else can he say?”

Oh, Bernie, please.

Cynthia approached the cage. “Come on, baby.”

Squawk squawk.

“Hear that?”

“What?”

“’Light my fire.’ He said, ‘Light my fire’ when I said ‘Come on baby.’”

Right.

Honky Tonk Parrot

Cap’n Crunch, the parrot who says, “Make it a double,” plays a role in Dog On It, the first Chet and Bernie novel. That’s the remote connection to today’s post – with many thanks to my friend Bob.

 

 

Parrot News

“Here’s something that relates to To Fetch A Thief,” Spence says. “The Philippine coastguard raided an animal-smuggling boat and seized a critically-endangered parrot, the red-vented cockatoo.”

“Remember that parrot scene in Dog On It?” Admin says.

“This one?” says Spence:

She opened the door, we went in and there was the bird, perched in a cage that dangled from the ceiling.

“Che-et.” Bernie spoke my name in a stretched out way he used when he had a concern about what might be coming next. And sure, because of my leaping ability – I’d been the best leaper in K-9 class, which had led to all the trouble in a way I couldn’t remember exactly, although blood was involved – how could I not wonder a bit about certain possibilities? But I wasn’t about to find out now, was I? We were on the job. Thump thump. “Good boy.”

The bird – green with scaly yellow legs and feet and a weird spiky comb on the top of its head – made a horrible croaking noise.

“Hear that?” said Cynthia.

“What?”

“He said, ‘Madison rocks.’ She taught him. He can say other things, too.”

Whoa. Cynthia was claiming that he – this beady-eyed inmate – could talk? I didn’t buy it.

“His name’s Cap’n Crunch.”

Cap’n Crunch bobbed his head back and forth, an ugly, lizard-like motion, and made the horrible croaking noise again. It ended in a high-pitched squeak that hurt my ears. One glance at Bernie and I knew he wasn’t hearing that squeak. Bernie missed some things, true, but you had to admire him: he never let his handicaps get him down.

“What else can he say?”

Oh, Bernie, please.

Welcome Abbey.