Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Opal “Grandma” Habisch Column 1/4/99



I am a bird called a parrot. My name is Jim.

Birds come into this world from an egg. When my egg hatched,
I looked all around in the nest. I saw that I had a sister and her name
was Jane.

I learned how to talk by watching television and then I
taught my sister, Jane how to talk, too.

Jane and I lived in a pet store where they sold many birds.
One day, two children, a boy and a girl, came into the store with their
mother. The girl child came over and said hello to my sister.

My sister answered her, “Hello, my name is Jane.”

The little girl child went wild. She said to her mother,
“I want that bird, she talked to me.”

The little boy child laughed and said, “So, the bird
said hello – that is probably the only thing it can say.”

This made me very angry.

“You big dumbbell,” I said. “She can talk
better than you can. I taught her to talk, so I know.”

The boy said to me, “You can talk?”

“You bet your pants I can,” I answered him.

“Oh, I like you. We could have lots of fun together.
Do you want to come home with me?” the boy asked.

“Yes, I surely do,” I said. “But your mother
has already promised your sister that she will buy the other bird. I don’t
think she will buy both of us.”

“Sure she will,” the boy answered. “Just
watch.”

So the boy went over to his mother and asked her to buy
me. The mother told him no because she was already buying one bird and one
was enough. But the little boy started to cry and carry on.

“It’s not fair. You are buying a bird for my sister
and you won’t buy one for me. You love my sister more than me,” he
cried.

“Oh no, I love you both very much,” his mother
said. “All right, we will buy both birds.”

So Jane and I got a new home together. What a house! We
had the run of the place and the children were very good to us.

When winter came, it turned very cold. I heard the mother
tell the children to get the birds ready to leave for Florida.

“Jane, we are going to Florida,” I said. I was
so happy to be able to go somewhere where it was warm.

When we got to Florida, the weather was perfect. The family
even let us birds out of our cage to fly around outside.

While flying, I met a nice bird family and I decided to
go and live with them. Someday, I am going to have a family of my own here
in Florida.

So, now, I live in Florida year-round. I see Jane every
winter when she comes here to visit.

Jane is very happy living with her human family, and I
am very happy, too, living with my bird family.

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