' Well, you'd a dide to see that woman look
at me. The parrot cage was partly behind the window curtin, and they
couldn't see it, and she thought it was me. She looked at Ma as though she
was wondering why she didn't hit me with a poker, but she went on, and
Polly said 'wipe off your chin,' and then the lady got through
and got up, and told Ma it must be a great trial to have an idiotic child,
and then Ma she was mad, and said it wasn't half so bad as it was to be a
kleptomaniac, and then the woman got up and said she wouldn't stay no
longer, and Pa said to me to take that parrot outdoors, and that seemed to
make them all good natured again. Ma said to take the parrot and give it
to the poor. I took the cage and pointed my finger at the parrot and it
looked at the woman and said 'old catamaran,' and the woman tried to look
pious and resigned, but she couldn't. As I was going out the door the
parrot ruffed up his feathers and said 'Dammit, set 'em up,' and I hurried
out with the cage for fear he would say something bad, and the folks all
held up their hands and said it was scandalous. Say, I wonder if a parrot
can go to hell with the rest of the community. Well, I put the parrot in
the woodshed, and after they all had their innings, except Pa, who acted
as umpire, the meeting broke up, and Ma says it is the last time she will
have that gang at her house.
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