I woke up with an Amazon in my bed this morning. A parrot. My son's. Actually, I think the parrot is mine now. The son is planning to move away soon, and he asked if he could leave Veda with me. I am happy to keep the bird -- Veda and I have bonded. It took a long time, but it happened. Veda is so beautiful, and he talks too. He screams my younger son's name frequently, or sits and mutters all kinds of things, or puts together words to form new meanings. I think he is intelligent. He likes to kiss me. Birds kiss by nibbling at or touching their tongues to your lips. After a recent session of bird-kissing, I found my lips to be burning fiercely. I nearly freaked out, wondering what kind of bird-enzyme I'd been poisoned with. Then it came to me -- parrot food has dried hot peppers in it. Parrots love hot peppers. Apparently, Veda had been nibbling one before nibbling at my lips... and the burning faded away after a short time...