Animal Kind. Emma Lock

      On the table, she had set out their best dinner plates and silverware, hoping for a quick, somewhat romantic dinner before she’d have to set off for work. Shereena and Chris had both been so busy with their respective jobs that they rarely had time to enjoy a meal together. Dinner plans had become brief back-and-forth text messages about which frozen dinners to buy, and the longest interactions they had with one another were only to relieve each other of parenting duties so that one of them could make it to work on time.

      Shereena checked her phone again to see if Chris had replied to her worried messages; nothing.

      Shereena extended her arms up above her head and twisted her back slightly. Her elbows and the middle of her spine both clicked as she stretched. From the corner of the room came a muffled grumbling sound. Buddy, a young Pineapple Green Cheeked Conure eyed Shereena in a suspicious fashion, the way a cat might peer from behind a curtain at strangers in their home.

      Despite being a small species of parrot, Buddy was remarkably beautiful. From her pale peach-coloured beak to the tip of her red tail feathers, she was scarcely larger than a banana and weighed about as much as a rose. The feathers on her head were also peach in colour, and her wings were a beautiful shade of jungle green. Her orange heart-shaped breast was the most vibrant part of her body, outlined in bright yellow. The yellow feathers extended down Buddy’s legs, giving her the appearance of wearing neon-yellow pantaloons, one of Shereena’s favourite features on Buddy.

      Buddy had only been in Shereena’s life for a few short weeks, but, already, it was clear that she was not going to be staying for long in the house. Shereena had lost track of how many times Buddy had bitten her fingers through the bars or escaped from her cage and caused some destruction. Shereena’s mother, Lenise, had presented Buddy to Shereena as a gift at her twenty-ninth birthday celebration earlier that summer in the hopes that she would be good company for her on the days that Chris worked extra-long hours.

      Chris, who wasn’t much of an animal fan, had not hidden his dislike for Buddy, and Buddy in turn had an aversion to Chris. Whenever he would cross in front of the enclosure to sit on the couch, Buddy would lunge at him and try to bite him through the bars. Their mutual disgust for one another further soured one afternoon when Chris had reached for the TV remote which he had left face-down on top of Buddy’s cage, only to find that all of the rubber buttons had been chewed off.

      Although Shereena loved animals, she hadn’t been seeking a feathery companion, and certainly not such an intelligent species of bird which could inflict such a painful bite. Between her daytime work as a virtual assistant, her night job several times per week as a bartender, and being a full-time mother to a bright and energetic three-year-old child, Shereena felt that she had enough on her plate already. However, her mother had given Buddy to her with good intentions, so Shereena was planning to keep the little parrot a while longer before finding her a new home.

      The familiar jangling of Chris’s keys caught Shereena’s attention, followed by the turning of the brass deadlock on the door. Shereena listened intently as the floorboards creaked under Chris’s weight, followed by the usual sound of his toolbox being placed on the floor. Her heart fluttered with relief as she rushed toward the entrance hall to greet her fiancé.

      Shereena still felt butterflies in her stomach every time Chris came home. He was tall and fair haired with broad shoulders and just the right amount of stubble which made him look rugged, but not unkempt. His work as a construction supervisor meant that he was often a little dishevelled in a way which she felt was masculine, flattering, and appealing.

      “Are you okay?” she asked breathlessly. “I was so worried; I thought you had been in an accident,” she added as she instinctively scanned Chris’s face and tall frame for any sign of trauma.