Pedro has been living with us for 43 years. I will let Pedro tell you his story himself. Hi, my name is Pedro. I'm a Yellow-fronted Amazon and this is the story about how I came to live with my family. It was a work day for the person who would become my new daddy and he and one of his work flock had gone to lunch together. When daddy and his friend came out of a eating place after lunching there, he saw me out in middle of the street. I had flown a long way and I was so tired. There with me in the street was a kindly elderly man who was trying to help me up, but he didn't know about birds like my daddy. This man kept pushing me with his foot and I kept trying to step up on his foot, but he kept moving his foot and I couldn't climb up. Just then I saw daddy watching me with his friend. He must have thought it was funny - I could tell because he and his friend were smiling a lot. Finally daddy came out to us in the street and put his hand out for me to step up - at last, some one that knew how to step up. When daddy put his hand down for me I just hopped up and climbed up on his shoulder. The elderly said "Oh, that is how you do it." and started to walk away. Daddy had a very strange look on his face - he looked surprised and shocked at the same time - If I hadn't been so tired I would have laughed out loud. Finally daddy asked the man.......... "What about your parrot?" The gentleman answered "He isn't my bird, I was just trying to get him out of the street." So there daddy was with me on his shoulder, with his mouth hanging open and sporting a very strange expression. He walked back to his friend with me on his shoulder and asked "What do I do now, I can't take him back to the office?" Well, daddy knew what to do. On the way back to his office, he stopped at a pet store and purchased some parrot food and two crocks . He covered all of the upholstery with newspaper. The way he acted you would think he thought I would poop on his car or something. Well, geeze - I guess I couldn't blame him. After all he didn't know how civilized I was. Daddy also put out the two crocks - one with water and one with food. He then left me in the car with the windows cracked - it was fall and car was parked in a shady spot. I got worried when he left me alone, but he did come out to check on me about once each hour - I could tell he cared about me already. I didn't move around much, as I was so tired from all that flying. Meanwhile daddy called mommy to tell her about the me. The first thing she said to daddy was "DON'T BRING THAT BIRD HOME!" It seems that mommy had some kind of problem with a canary when she was little and was afraid of birds. Can you believe that - afraid of a little canary? There daddy was with me needing help and a wife that told him not to bring me home. Well, daddy took me home with him anyway. On the entire way home I rode on daddy's shoulder - wow, did we get a lot of strange looks - you would think those people had never seen a parrot before. Or maybe they just thought daddy was a pirate. It took about 1-1/2 hours to get to daddy's home and I rode on my daddy's shoulder all the way, just enjoying the ride. I could tell that daddy liked me on his shoulder. He didn't even worry about me biting him - I guess he knew I was a gentleman. Just as we turned into the driveway, I could tell we were home and I got so excited I said "hello." From the strange reaction from daddy, I realized that was the first that he knew I could talk. Just as we were getting out of the car with me on daddy's shoulder, my new mommy came out onto the porch. She had a very worried look on her face and she said "YOU DIDN'T BRING THE BIRD HOME DID YOU?" I took one look at mommy and got so excited that I took off for her - after all I could fly quite well. So there I was flying directly to mommy and screaming "HI. HI. HI. HI." Oh, I was so excited I just couldn't contain my self. I felt like a little kid again, I just loved mommy the instant I saw her and I wanted to show her how sweet I could be - It was instant love. Apparently mommy misunderstood and thought I was attacking her and she took off running down the hall in the house with me hot on her tail and daddy running as fast as he could to catch me. Oh, I was so excited and wanted to cuddle with mommy and didn't think about her being afraid of me. Mommy ran all the way to the end of the hall, turned around and ducked under me and took off again - she really surprised me that time, and I completely missed her. So now there we are - mommy, me and daddy going down the hall the other way as fast as we can. Mommy managed to get all the way into the family room and was finally cornered there. Mommy sat down on the floor, and I landed on her chest, and started rubbing my head on her chin and cooing softly. So there was mommy having gone through a near death experience sitting on the floor with me pouring out my love. I could tell that she was grateful to just be alive and amazed that a bird could be loving. Daddy tried unsuccessfully to find my first mommy. I did miss her so, but I was adopted into the family with mommy, daddy and their three small children. Heck those kids were so small that they couldn't talk as good as I. I loved them all so much in a few days that I have stayed with them ever since. CLICK ON A PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT AND TO READ THE DESCRIPTION (NARATIVE)