What would have happened if Linda hadn't taken Blu into her confidence?

Author's notes: the chapter begins at the beginning of the film Rio 1.

A van with exotic animals had just pulled into a small town called "Minnesota". It was literally a small town, 1 intersection and a few houses, a shop, a local library. A modest place, but at least everyone knew everyone.

When the van entered the town it entered at a fairly high speed because the driver was listening to a song that was currently flying on the radio. At the last moment the man noticed a bright red light, causing him to press hard on the brake pedal. On the slippery road, the driver momentarily lost control of the vehicle and accidentally hit a lamppost which was next to the asphalt. On impact, the poorly secured tailgate opened and one box fell out. The driver, delighted to have avoided more consequences, did not even notice that something had fallen out. When the light changed from red to green, the van moved forward, to an unknown destination.

Meanwhile, inside a small wooden box was a small blue parrot. The box had holes on the sides so that the chick could breathe. A little while later, after the whole incident, a little girl came out of the house, her name was Linda. She had seen the whole incident from her window, so when she came out of the house, putting on her jacket quickly, she went to the box lying on the pavement and uncovered the top to see what was inside.

"Wow!" whispered the girl as she saw the little parrot inside the crate. It was shaking all over and hiding in a corner from the girl.

"What did you find in there?" a grown woman's voice emerged from the threshold of the house door, it was the girl's mother.

"Come and see!" replied the girl. The woman put some winter boots on her feet and with a sweatshirt on she went out into the yard, it was so cold that almost immediately she started shivering from the cold. It was winter, the wind was quite strong and the snow was falling. The woman leaned over her daughter to see a small parrot in a cage.

"Don't touch him," the woman commanded.

"But he's so cute" replied the girl.

"We don't know if he is vaccinated, maybe he has some disease" insisted the woman.

"Or at least can we bring him home?" asked Linda.

"OH... Okay" the woman accepted with a sigh. She covered the box and picked it up,then went into the house with her daughter. Once they headed into the house, the woman placed the box on the table, in the living room.

"Strange...no sticker" thought the woman looking at the box.

"It needs to be fed!" said Linda.

"What do birds like that eat?" asked the woman.

"Ah yes... The internet," she thought, then reached for her mobile phone. After a quick check, it turned out to be Macaw spix and that they mainly eat Brazil nuts and mangoes.

"Hm... Well, I'll walk over and get one mango," the woman said.

"Linda, make sure he doesn't run away, I'll go for the mangoes" said the woman dressing to leave. She put on her shoes, jacket and a shawl. A moment later she left the flat. Linda, meanwhile, disobeying her mother's command, tried to pet the bird, but it was still afraid.

"Don't be afraid, it doesn't want to do anything to you," whispered the girl. Finally, she managed to touch the bird.

"Awww, you are so cute, why were you sitting in a box" wondered the girl.

"Unfortunately, but I probably won't be able to keep you" thought the little girl sadly. Linda knew how difficult it was to look after a parrot and even more difficult to keep it. You could say it was downright challenging. She expected her mother to disagree, but decided it was worth a try. She sat down on the sofa and, looking through the holes of the box, watched the chick. After a quarter of an hour, Linda's mum came home. They lived near the fruit shop, so the journey didn't take too long.

"I hope you didn't touch it."

"Of course not."

"It's okay, I bought a mango, he should eat it," the woman said. She headed to the kitchen to wash and dice the fruit. She took a handful of small pieces and then threw them into the box where little Blu was.

"Eat little one, don't be afraid," the woman said. The chick slowly at first, looking at the woman and child approached the fruit. It took one piece and began to continue eating.

"Let's leave it, let it eat." suggested the woman. She and Linda headed to the kitchen.

"Mom, can we keep him with us?" asked Linda suddenly. The woman looked at her with open eyes.

"You're joking right?" asked the woman surprised.

"Well no... Please, he's so cute..."

"No, no, no. I'm sorry honey, but we can't keep him. We don't know if he's had any tests, we don't know where he comes from. I read in an add on the internet that he is a rare specimen, he should be in the care of some professionals" the woman explained.

"Well... Then why don't we sell it?" replied Linda. When the woman heard this, she looked at little Linde as if she was about to kill her. It was a strongly stern look, so stern, the girl realized she had said a complete parrot.

"We are decent people Linda. Remember: You can never, ever sell something alive. Animals are not to be traded. I'll call some parrottery later, maybe they'll take it in" the woman replied.

"Yes...sorry".

"In the meantime you can take care of him" Linda's mother ended the conversation.

A few hours later

It was already dusk when Linda's mother was preparing dinner for Blu, who was no longer afraid of both her and Linda. Even so, he was still in his crate because the woman was worried that he might have some kind of plague. She slipped the small pieces of manga into the crate and at that time a knock sounded on the door. The woman opened the door. In their threshold stood a thin man, tall with brown hair.

"Good morning, I'm about that parrot. Where is she?" the man asked.

"Please wait," replied the woman, then went to fetch the crates.

"Say goodbye to Blu" said the woman to Linda.

"Howto..."

"They'll take care of him in the parrot house."

"You didn't even tell me"

"Honey you know there is no other way" the woman explained. She took the crate in her hands and then handed it to the man who was waiting in the doorway.

"Spix Macaw? Wow, noble of you not to sell it!" said the surprised man holding the box.

"Please deliver him to the parrot house and take care of him" said the woman. She said goodbye to the man and then closed the door. The man meanwhile got into the car along with the box.

"Don't worry little one, we'll take care of you" said the man driving away.

Epilogue

Blu was brought to the parrot house, where every staff member watched Blu with delight. They decided that it would be necessary to assign him to a separate room to acclimatise. Everyone came to him to gaze at what was probably the last specimen of spix Macaw.

"We need to look after him," the pspugarium staff decided.

A few years later

Blu had grown from a chick to a robustly built adult male. From a young age, the staff made sure he had everything he needed. He also had private training so that he would not get sick. Due to the fact that Blu had been raised by humans since he was a chick he did not know how to fly, but it was also the workers who helped him achieve this through a mass of long and tedious trials. It might seem that Blu had a perfect life, but there was another side to it. The president of the parrot shop, realising what a rare specimen he had, made him a star, earning him a lot of money. So much love for Blu that he believed that people loved him and he could be safe. Unfortunately, he didn't know that everything was driven by money...

Thanks for reading the chapter! See you