by Joline Lieck

Preface

Budgies are small parrots.  You can really see that big parrot attitude, but without all the bite.  They can nip hard, but I’ve never heard of a budgie taking off a finger, though they might try.

I knew budgies had an intelligent street-rep, but no one told me they were manipulative.

Part I
Fate

My mom and I went to the pet shop “just too look”, but I fell in love with one little budgie who perched near me and flitted off again!  He was very tiny for a budgie, and with unique colours!  He wasn’t like the others, or any other budgie I’ve ever seen for that matter, so I easily picked him out the next day.

Part II
The Beginning

The name Tine was to commemorate his Valentine’s Day adoption, and in reference to his freakishly “Tiny” size, which is one of many nicknames.

His intelligence showed very early on.  He listens fairly well when he wants and learned that he can get his way by using his own methods of communication.  That’s when he began getting spoiled.

It was then that I should have put an end to the madness and said, “NO!”  But by then, he knew not the meaning of the word.

Part III
All Hell Breaks Loose

It would be fitting if you now play Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King.”

I got Tine to keep me company while my boyfriend Jason was in college.  They were meeting for the first time, and Tine rejected Jason.

That soon changed.  And it all went down at the vet’s office.

Tine didn’t bite and the wing-trim went smoothly.  Until we were about to leave.  The vet asked if he only ate seeds.  I tried other foods, without luck, and asked how to get him to eat new things.  And the vet let me in on the secret.

Tine didn’t bite and the wing-trim went smoothly.  Until we were about to leave.  The vet asked if he only ate seeds.  I tried other foods, without luck, and asked how to get him to eat new things.  And then the vet let me in on the secret.

“Make him,” he said.  He didn’t say it mean, but for the sake of the story picture it like in a Steven Seagal movie.  He told me give him seeds morning and night and other foods during the day.  And then he gave us some reading on “seed junkies” and how to get them eating table food.

From 8 pm to 8 am, he had a full seed cup, but during the day he would have people food with the exception of dangerous foods.  He liked crunchy foods like cookies and crackers, but it had to be crunched up for his convenience.

Within the first day of seed weaning, his disposition changed.  He was suddenly sweeter, more cuddly.  He would climb his cage doors to let us know he wanted out, and then would hop around innocently.  But he had a secret motive…something so sinister, one would have to have seen the depths of Hell to even imagine it….

Tine would readily jump down a low-cut shirt or into a cupped hand.  We were even able to remove him from his cage-home by presenting a cupped hand instead of prying him out against his will.  He even hopped out of his home, following me to my room, and once stood and chirped in the hallway until I followed him!

He was still on his diet and began enjoying his fruit pellets much more, so I knew he was not starving.  But somehow, seeds kept finding their way into his home.

“What’s this?” I asked Jason as I carried a dish holding a millet spray and Tine.

Jason feared Tine was starving.  I assured him he was not but if we did not persist, he would never eat people food!

After our arguments, I swear Tine had a look that mocked innocence.  A child caught in a parental dispute usually has a look of guilt, but not Tine.  You could see it in his eyes, and the smirk on his beak.  He wanted us to fight, and he didn’t want me to lose—he wanted me to go down.  I could tell it in his black, black eyes that he was up to something.  FYI: Baby budgies have black eyes.

Part IV
The Con

He used his cuteness to manipulate us, especially Jason, for seeds.  We’ve put off weaning him for a short time.  Now that he has seeds, he wants nothing to d with us.  ‘Tis the sad life of the seed junkie who isolates himself from his friends.