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I opened my mouth, and then closed it, searching for something to say that wasn’t ‘what the fuck are you doing with all these random ass animals?’
“It’s okay,” she snickered at the look on my face. “I know it’s weird. You should leave the madhouse while you still can.”
I shut the door behind me and followed her into the house.
I would not be leaving, no matter how weird I thought it was for her to have a massive pig in her house.
“Do you want to build a snowman?”
I paused and scanned the area, not seeing who’d just said that.
She had a cute little house. It was nearly identical to Bayou’s.
Large open kitchen that flowed into the dining and living room. A hallway off the living room that likely led to the bedrooms. And a door off the kitchen that led to her garage.
“Come on, let’s go and play!”
I paused in the middle of the kitchen while still scanning the area.
“You have a radio on or something?” I wondered.
Then a flash of red caught my eye, made my heart start to pound, and a beautiful macaw landed on the counter next to where Pru was washing her hands.
A blue flash came from the other direction and landed on the opposite side of the counter, flanking her.
“I never see you anymore!” the blue bird called.
“Come out the door!” the red replied.
“Guys,” Pru interjected. “No more Frozen. We have company.”
Both birds, as if they understood each and every word out of Pru’s mouth, turned to survey me.
I blinked.
“Assssss….” the blue bird said.
“Hooooole,” the red replied.
I burst out laughing.
Big guffaws left my chest in a rush, and it took everything I had not to cry.
“Oh, God,” I wheezed. “That’s the best ever. What else do they know?”
“A lot,” she admitted. “I got them a year and a half ago from someone my father knew. They were young and just learning everything. I left the television on for them during the day on HBO, and they started learning. They watched a lot of movies.”
“Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!” the red bird said.
“This one is Redbird.” Pru pointed to the blue bird. “And this one is Bluebird.”
I blinked.
“Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” I questioned.
Pru grinned. “You would think, but they were named before I got them, and it’s not easy changing their names once they can already speak them.”
No, I would imagine that it wasn’t.
“So you think you can dance?” the blue bird named Redbird asked.
Then he started a really cute head bob that caused the feathers on the top of his head to bounce with his movements.
“You’re fired!” Bluebird screeched.
The smile on my face was causing the muscles in my jaw to hurt.
“They’re showing off,” she said, reaching for the towel beside the still dancing Redbird. “They like you.”
I liked them, so the feeling was mutual.
“That’s so cool,” I admitted. “I always wanted a bird…and an iguana.”
“I used to have an iguana,” she confessed. “It was six feet long and loved to ride on your neck when you walked. It’s still alive and lives in the trees around my dad’s place. Every once in a while, he’ll come back and eat treats, but he prefers to stay outside. During the winter he moves into the shop.”
“Wow,” I stated. “That’s actually really cool.”
“Are you ready to have your point proven?” she asked teasingly.
I offered her my elbow. “Sure thing.”
We headed for the door and walked outside, only to come to a stop when a large white Labrador Retriever blocked our way.
He was laying on the front mat, sprawled out, asleep.
“That’s Doohickey,” she said as she stepped over him, letting go of my arm in the process. “He’s sweet but lazy. In between him and Bacon, I have massive lumps on logs that I have to navigate around because they don’t move.”
I stepped over the dog, too, and then reached back to close the door behind me.
“You wanna lock it?” I questioned.
She shook her head. “I won’t be there that long.”
I didn’t lock it, and I also didn’t correct her. She would be there for a while.
We made it to the front door, and I walked in without knocking.
Since I bounced between Bayou’s couch and his sister’s couch, they were both quite familiar with me making myself at home. Then again, there were six bikes parked outside and Rome’s truck, so I was highly doubtful that anybody would be surprised that someone was entering without knocking.
They’d be more surprised if I knocked.
Walking into the main part of the house, I came to a stop in the middle of the living room where Bayou was on the couch, legs extended, staring at Rome who was talking about Longview’s professional football team making it all the way next year.
Castiel was on the recliner, staring at me with an amused expression on his face.
