Oh, wow! He’s incredible. “Hi, pretty bird,” I say softly.
The bird cocks his head at me. “Don’t talk to him,” he says, mimicking Lukas. Exactly. Somehow, the bird has impersonated Lukas’ raspy voice perfectly, which is creepy and cool and pretty wild.
“I see you met Ray.” Lukas crosses the room and stands next to me. “You have to be careful around him. He repeats everything.”
I turn to him in awe. “Lukas, he’s amazing! Why didn’t you tell me about him?”
“He’s amazing,” the bird says, impersonating my own voice almost exactly now.
“Oh my God!” I exclaim. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Lukas runs his hand through his hair. “Yeah, he’s cool, but he’s a fucking pain in the ass. When he gets in a mood, he talks non-stop and repeats everything I say. It’s only cool sometimes. Trust me.”
I stare at the bird, waiting for him to say something, and I think he’s doing the same to me. He raises his little wings a bit and skitters across his perch to come closer to me.
“I love him! I had no idea they could talk. Is he a raven?” I poke my finger through the cage bars and gently stroke his wing.
“He is. I found him when he was a baby, years ago. He had a broken wing, so I brought him home to take care of him, and when he started repeating everything I said, I couldn’t let him go. I got attached to him. He’s kind of a runt, I think. He hasn’t grown much at all. And, yeah, some can learn to talk, and as you can see, they have an uncanny ability to mimic voices and sounds. For a while there, he could mimic my ring tone.”
“Amazing,” Ray squawks, clearly excited.
Lukas grabs my hand and pulls me away from the bird. “Okay, that’s enough of him. If we give him too much attention, he won’t shut up. I’d like to be able to talk to you without him babbling in the background.”
I can’t help but laugh. “He’s hard to ignore. Your house is gorgeous. I can’t stop looking at everything. It’s such a unique place.” I smile at him. “Just like you.”
He grins. “I hope that’s a compliment?”
“It is, and something smells great. What are you making?”
He leans down and whispers into my ear. “Chicken a la king.”
“Why are you whispering,” I whisper back.
“We don’t want the bird to know we’re eating one of his kind.”
“Lukas!” I cover my mouth and try to suppress my laugh. “That’s not funny.”
“I know. That’s why I whispered. Let’s go eat. It’s ready.”