Iago had managed to fall asleep rather late. He was awoken the next morning with water being splashed in his face. He screamed in surprise. "Wake up, Bird!" Bahshir shouted. Then he hit the cage, causing it to swing back and forth.

The swinging motion did give Iago a little motion sickness feeling. "Oh, please don't do that."

"Why not? Upset your tummy, does it?" Bahshir teased him. "Or did I just scare you?"

"Scared me."

"Good! Well, got to go to work." Bahshir said as he was dressed and ready, and walked out the door.

"Hey! You can't leave me like this!" Iago cried out.

Now that he was awake, Iago realized just how hungry and thirsty he was. Unless the man came home at lunchtime, it would be that evening before he got anything at all. That was going to be one long day ahead of doing nothing.

Iago barely had room to walk around in the cage. There wasn't much he could do. He regretfully went back to sleep since there was nothing to do. His wings felt so cramped inside that shackle.

...

There was more searching for Iago around the marketplace that day and at Aladdin's hovel. Nothing turned up. Wherever he was, he was hiding good. Or someone had hidden him good.

Aladdin tried to get Iago's name cleared of what had been complained about the best that he could.

"We are better off without that treacherous bird around here." Razoul declared.

"Perhaps you are right, Razoul." the Sultan said.

"He's done much for us too. After all, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him. We wouldn't either." Aladdin declared. "Jafar would have killed us all if it weren't for Iago."

"Yeah, and we're grateful for that, but we're way past that now, Aladdin. He can't go on stealing if we ever find him again. If he wants something, he should just ask for it." Jasmine said.

"Maybe we are being too hard on him. He just needs to control himself better when it comes to food and treasure." the boy said.

"We'll talk to him when he gets back." the Sultan said.

Razoul knew that the bird might never return, and that was fine by him. He had no idea how they even liked that feathered menace anyway.

...

Iago woke up in the afternoon, desperately thirsty and hungry once again. He was still alone in the house in the tiny cage.

"Help! Can anyone hear me?!" he called out. "Let me out of here!" Then he started coughing as he choked on some saliva. His mouth was so dry. He wanted some water, badly. Hopefully, he wasn't going to be left here to die of dehydration, or starvation for that matter.

He shouted desperately for hours, but no one came to his aid. His voice was hoarse by the time Bahshir came home that evening.

Bahshir saw the bird was awake. He just sat on the backside of his cage, watching him warily.

"I see you are awake. Now it's time for dinner again." the man said.

Iago hoped it wasn't going to be him.

Bahshir knew that even animals couldn't go long without at least drinking something here in the desert. "Here Bird, have some water." Bahshir offered his wineskin.

Iago perked up and came to the front of his cage. The man let the bird take the drinking part to his beak and helped tip it up so the cool fluid could run into his parched throat and into his empty stomach.

The man pulled the wineskin away before Iago was finished. "Hey, I'm still thirsty." Iago whined.

"Too bad. Don't waste it all." Bahshir said.

Bahshir also had an idea of what he was going to do first with the bird other than keep him trapped in the cage.

He walked over to his saddle bag and got out some grapes. He made sure to keep himself blocked of what he was pouring over those grapes. It was a good sized portion of them. Just to keep Iago from complaining tonight, at least from being hungry.

"And here, here's some grapes for you tonight." Bahshir declared as he slipped the grapes through the bars. Iago had to hold the stem with his feet, but managed to reach his beak down to pluck them off, one at a time. Iago gladly ate all the grapes up, he was so famished.

"Is there anymore?" Iago asked, wearily.

"That's that, Bird." Bahshir said.

Iago still didn't feel completely satisfied, but at least he had some food in his system again. And some water. He wanted more water, but the man wasn't budging on that. "Please, more water."

"No. That's all the water I have until tomorrow."

"And what? You aim to keep me hungry?" Iago demanded.

"You need to lose some weight anyway, Bird."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"Yes, I am. And now for something else." the man said and unlocked the cage, reaching inside. Iago was scared. Bahshir held him still as he unlocked the shackle on him and then put him back inside the cage. "Now you're really not getting out of there, you fat bird." Bahshir insulted him.

Iago hated to be called fat. But in truth, he was a little bit pudgy. It felt good to stretch his wings again, but then, he began to feel something else inside him. He began to feel some discomfort in his stomach.

Bahshir watched him for any reactions.

Iago began wincing. He began to put his wings in front of his stomach. It was working!

The pain got stronger. Shortly after, it had the parrot moaning in deep pain, and he laid down with a wing over his belly. "Oh, what's wrong with me?" he moaned.

"Got a little bellyache, do ya?"

Iago noticed that the man was asking in a sarcastic tone again. He did this to him! "What... are you... trying to do... to me?!" he demanded angrily.

"Teach you a lesson, of course. You ever steal anything in the marketplace again, the consequences will be much worse. If you want food, you ask for it from your master only. You got that?! Because I will be watching for you and your monkey friend." Bahshir warned him.

Iago nodded, trying to breathe through the pain. "Did you... poison me?"

"Just a little something to give you a little bellyache for a while. It'll wear off on its own."

"How long?"

"I don't know. Just deal with it. Stop being a baby and just take it." Bahshir sneered.

Iago didn't take pain very well. It hurt to even breathe at this point. He winced. He whined. Iago could only lay there fuming, with a wing cupped over his aching belly.

Bahshir went to bed without so much as a second glance at the poor parrot.

Iago wondered if the Genie could help him, that is if he found him? He just wanted out of here and the pain to go away.

...

Bahshir was ticked the next morning because of Iago's constant moaning and crying last night. He hadn't slept at all.

"You shut up right now, Bird, or else!" the man yelled at the nauseated parrot.

"How?... oh... you did this... to me..." Iago winced painfully.

"If you don't stop complaining, I'll really give you something to complain about!"

Bahshir was beginning to think buying this bird had been a mistake, but it felt right to him to have him long enough to teach him a lesson or two. Or more. He still wasn't done with Iago yet. There was still one more part he would do to drive home his point about consequences for actions.

"Have fun suffering today, Bird!" the man laughed as he left the house.

Iago was grateful he was gone, but he was still suffering with a bad stomachache. He tried standing up, moving about if he could, resting on his sides. Nothing worked. His organs were totally irritated by whatever was in his system. Hopefully, emptying his guts would help some. He didn't feel good at all.

Most of the day, Iago battled the poison. He began to feel super warm and felt like he had a fever. He had jitters and chills at times too, even though the desert was so hot during the day.

Some of the discomfort started to go away toward evening, but Iago was still in horrible pain.

When Bahshir got home that evening, he saw the bird seemed worse. Now was a good time to finish up his punishment for him.