Chapter 3 'The Eccentric Ornithologist'
3rd chapter already? Wow, good job me! This is the first double upload in months, so maybe I'm going back to April me when I pumped out chapters like a factory.
This will be a bit close to the original, but with some changes. This is probably where the story gets more interesting, so yay for that.
Anyways, Bluey's dialogue will be made in a somewhat unique way. Blu is portrayed to be a nervous bird, and occasionally stutters. But Bluey suffers from a stutter, so his dialogue will have stutters. In order to do this, I'll write his dialogue, and then read it out loud and write down each stutter. If I didn't stutter, then Bluey's dialogue will contain none. There are exceptions, for example if I get what I call a 'stutter attack', which is when I stutter excessively and can't seem to say a word, then I won't put that down. If Bluey is whispering or singing, then he won't stutter as much, if at all. This is because I don't stutter when I sing or whisper, and that is the case with many people who have a stutter. Basically, the way Bluey stutters is the same way I do.
I apologise if the stuttering becomes annoying, but that's a trait I gave Bluey for no reason.
Anyways, enough talking, lets get on with it! Enjoy or suffer.
25/07/2020
The day went by as usual, and Martin had just served a customer. Their operating hours were drawing to a close, and less customers came to the store. As per usual, Martin had made his companion a delicious hot chocolate, with special home-made chocolate chip cookies. He always used home made cookies for Bluey, as he used a special chocolate that was safe for parrots. Like dogs, chocolate made parrots sick, and could even prove fatal. Parrot friendly chocolate is like what soy milk is for lactose intolerant people.
An angry-playful squawking could be heard, as was the chiming of a bell. Martin knew Bluey was playing with his favourite toy by far: his little golden bell.
Bluey attacked it with his beak in a variety of ways to produce that wonderful sound. He'd knock it forward with his beak, bite it and thrash it, bite it and thrust it back and hit it back, etc. He loved his bell, and it's a wonder he doesn't break it.
''Haha, that will teach you… for being a bell!'', Bluey said in an angry and playful manner, as he laughed in joy. Playing with his bell was so much fun, and for him, it would probably top the best toy you ever got.
His brutal assault was disturbed by his owner, who had a plate with his favourite beverage.
''Bluey, your hot chocolate is ready!'', Martin called out as Bluey stopped, let out a joyful squawk, and got out of his cage, ''And I made it just the way you like it.'', he smiled. Bluey rushed over and inspected it.
The mug was placed in the centre, with 6 chocolate chip cookies surrounding it. Bluey took a deep breath, and sighed.
''This is the life… A cup of the chocolatey elixir of the gods with the perfect marshmallow to cocoa ratio…'', Bluey said happily, ''1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and… 6! Excellent!'', he counted the marshmallows, as a 6th surfaced. Confirming it was indeed perfect he held the handle with his talons and took a sip of his delicious beverage. However, a loud thump startled him slightly, but he didn't spill his drink, choke on it or have it go down his windpipe, instead his expression dropped as he knew exactly who it was from.
The snowball slid down to confirm Bluey's suspicions.
''Yep, its them.'', Bluey mumbled as he looked at his tormentors, two Canadian geese sisters named Alice and Chloe. They seemingly existed solely to harass Bluey for no reason, and they took great pleasure in doing so.
''Well if it isn't my favourite nerd bird!'', Alice taunted.
''V-very funny, real mature.'', Bluey responded sarcastically.
''Hey pet, where you migrating to this year, huh? The breakfast nook?'', Chloe added, and they burst out laughing at her terrible joke, before throwing another snowball at the window. Bluey rolled his eyes,
''Throw all the snowballs you want, it won't matter. I'm protected by this magical forcefield called GLASS, its what keeps me nice and warm in here while you're out there freezing your-'', Bluey responded, but was cut off by the geese shaking their rumps at him. Bluey gazed in mild shock and disgust. Despite them doing this frequently, he could not help but be shocked by them doing so still.
''Classy.'', Bluey muttered. He decided to just ignore them for now, taking a bite out of his cookie, but a sound caught his attention. He looked outside and saw a rather tan woman slipping and stumbling about on the sidewalk. She didn't fall flat on her ass, but she did stumble onto the bench that the geese sat on. Speaking of which, after they had recovered from them laughing at their own jokes, they had been scared off by the woman. After she brushed herself off, she saw Bluey and lit up.
She grew very excited and rushed over, but from her now apparent trait of being clumsy, she stumbled on her way, smacking against the glass. This left Bluey dumbfounded and grabbed the attention of Martin, who rushed to the door. He saw her lying on the ground,
''Are you alright, ma'am?'', he asked politely and with concern. She groaned and got up, with the help of Martin, who invited her inside.
The woman had straight, nice black hair which extended down to her shoulders. It was nicely cut, and looked fine. Her eyes were dark brown, and she wore glasses. Her skin was smooth, and she was quite beautiful. Bluey couldn't be a judge in her attractiveness, as although he knew what features humans found attractive, as he was a bird, he didn't feel any sexual attraction to humans. However, if she were a bird, he could be a judge on her attractiveness. Bluey was, after all, the arbiter on whether a woman was attractive or not.
She also stood a bit shorter than Martin, who was slightly above average in height, standing 6 feet tall. (183cm) If Bluey could guess her height, it would be about 5 foot 8, (173m) which was still slightly above average height for a woman.
''Yeah, I'm not really built for this weather.'', she dryly joked while rubbing her hands together to warm them up via friction, ''So, you must be Martin Gunderson.'', she said to Martin, who nodded.
''So, are you looking for some books?'', Martin redundantly asked. It was a stupid question, as most people go to bookstores to buy, you know, books. But as it turns out, his question may have not been so stupid after all.
''Books? I didn't come 6,000 miles for some books. I came 6,000 miles looking for him.'', she answered, pointing at Bluey who lowered his cookie as he noticed he was suddenly the centre of attention.
Martin got Bluey in case he, for whatever reason, decided to run off and placed him on the counter as the lady handed Martin her business card, which he read.
''Luana Monteiro, doctor of ornithology.'', Martin read out her business card, noticing that it was Brazilian, hence her tan skin, slight accent and sensitivity to the cold. Martin was curious about why she was here but did know it was related to Bluey.
''Oh, he's magnificent!'', Luana exclaimed as she looked at Bluey, who felt quite shy. However, much to Bluey and Martin's shock, Luana began squawking like a bird.
Bluey just stared at her, dumbfounded. Luana soon stopped squawking, awkwardly looking at him before dropping her sheepish smile, as Bluey slowly backed away.
''Well, I'm working on the whole bird talk thing.'', she quickly added, whilst blushing from embarrassment.
''O-kay, well so Dr. Monteiro, what are you here for?'', Martin changed the subject, as the atmosphere was painful.
''Oh no, you can call me Luana. You see, your macaw is a very special bird. In fact, as far as we know, he is the last male of his species. But, luckily for us,'', Luana explained, ''and him'', she suggestively added and winked, ''we have recently found a female Spix's macaw, and our hopes is to bring them together to save their species!'', Luana finished. Bluey was conflicted in his feelings about this, but his primary feeling was nervousness and anxiety.
''Oh, so when is she coming over?'', Martin questioned, with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
''No, no, she isn't coming over. Instead, you must travel to her, all the way in Rio de Janeiro!'', she exclaimed. The expressions of both Martin and Bluey dropped, and Bluey made his way over to a globe and found Rio de Janeiro. He swallowed saliva as he truly came to terms how far away Rio was from Moose Lake.
''Rio… Well, first of all Rio is very far away. Secondly, wouldn't their offspring inbreed? I'd be happy for Bluey to have a mate, but I'm not too keen on his descendants being Alabamian.'', Martin pointed out. Luana paused, as she knew the problem with inbreeding was a major flaw, but as of now, it was their only hope to let the Spix's macaw species survive another generation.
''Look, I'm aware of that issue. Our hope is to put their species essentially on life support, until fresh genes can be added to their gene pool, or until a wild population is discovered. Please, if we don't do this then their species won't survive another 10 or 15 years!'', Luana addressed his concerns, and seemed very adamant about this.
''Well, look, me and Bluey aren't too big on travel, and honestly, I'm very worried about going there. Hell, Bluey can't even fly!'', Luana nodded, and understood his concerns, but was surprised to learn Bluey couldn't fly.
''Of course, he can fly, he's a perfect specimen!'', she inspected him, much to Bluey's discomfort and Martin's concern.
''Uh, what are you doing?'', Martin questioned with concern.
''Don't worry, their natural instincts always kick in.'', Luana said as she threw Bluey. He flapped a bit and the cruel force of gravity took him down. Luana's expression dropped, as Martin rushed over to Bluey, ''Well, almost always…'', she said sheepishly.
''What kind of doctor are you?!'', Bluey spat out as Martin held him towards his face,
''Are you alright?'', he said lovingly and with concern.
''Look, I'm sorry…'', Luana apologised, and normally Martin would've booted her out of the shop and flat onto her arse, but as she seemed to be doing something important Martin let her off the hook. Bluey was still pissed at her and gazed angrily at her.
''I know that going to Rio is scary, but I can assure you, that you and your bird are safe. All flight expenses will be paid for, and so will hotel fees. And when Bluey is done, and we have confirmed the female is gravid, Bluey can return back to Moose Lake.'', Luana comforted Martins concerns, who still seemed unsure.
''I don't know…'', he mumbled unsurely.
''Martin, we have to do this, otherwise Bluey's species will be gone, forever! There will never be any of these beautiful birds, please, for the good of this world, come to Rio…'', Luana seemed desperate, and Martin was leaning more to going. Bluey was still incredibly anxious about the ordeal.
''I guess I'll think about it,'', Martin sighed as he double checked her business card to see if it had her phone number, ''and I'll ring you when I've made the decision.'', he said as he read her phone number.
''Okay, well, I guess I'll go, but be sure to think well about it.'', Luana said her goodbyes as she left. Martin couldn't help but look at her, and noticed she was actually quite attractive, and found himself quickly looking at her behind, before looking upward just as quickly. She exited the shop, leaving Martin silent for a moment.
''Whew, she's hot…'', he muttered, as Bluey looked over at him with a slightly shocked face.
Well, that wraps up this chapter, hope you enjoyed it. Sorry that it's a somewhat dialogue heavy chapter, and its also relatively short compared to the chapter length I have been doing lately.
I surprisingly don't have much to talk about, so this A/N won't be 300-400 words long, like my usual long-ass author's notes. So, I guess next chapter should be out shortly.
Until next time, goodbye.
Extended on 18/10/2020 to add more detail explaining how Luana looked.
