Strange Encounters

Have you ever seen a movie or a t.v. show about strange encounters? You know what I'm talking about...people who experience odd, strange or unexplainable things? Well, sometimes I feel like I'm living in one of those t.v. shows. I don't know what it is, but I think I am a magnet for strange situations.

The most recent experience happened a few weeks ago while at my weekly stop at our local Deseret Industries. I'm kind of a addict to shopping thrift stores because, A) I've found some pretty awesome stuff that who knows why people decided to get rid of. And, B) I love to decorate, but I'm kind of a cheapskate so thrift stores are a great place to find fun decor projects.

Anyway, back to my strange encounter. As I walk into the D.I. that day, I notice a lady not far behind me pulling what looked like some sort of roller luggage. I enter the store and make my rounds through the furniture and books. On my way back through the household items I noticed this lady again pulling her "piece of luggage", although it turned out to not be a piece of luggage but a large parrot-type like bird in a cage on wheels. I thought, "Hmmm, that's odd that you would bring your bird to D.I. But whatever!". I had a pet bird growing up and I wouldn't have ever taken him to the store. But to each their own!

This lady then proceeds to walk away from the cage to look at an item on the shelf. Suddenly, I hear this bird say (yes, say!) "Don't leave me!". Uhhh, what the heck! I was completely taken back by this talking bird. I had heard of talking birds before, but had never seen or heard one in person.

Ok, so I'm in D.I. There is lady pulling her bird around in a cage like you would pull a baby around in a stroller. And further more, the bird talks. Yes this situation is weird, but I'm not the first person to hear a talking bird. But then it gets worse...

Bird: "Don't leave me!"
Lady: "I'm not leaving you."
Bird: "You're leaving me. Don't leave me!"
Lady: "I am not leaving you, I'm right here!"
Bird: "I can't see you anymore, come back!"
Lady: "I am right here, I am not leaving you. Now be quiet."
Bird: "I'm afraid, please don't leave me."
Lady: "Ugh, I'm right here."

Yes...this lady, in D.I., pulling a bird in a cage on rollers, is now arguing with her pet bird. A bird with a brain roughly the size of a golf ball is having an argument with a human being in public. At this point, I look around D.I. to see if anyone else is seeing what I'm seeing and there is no one even paying attention to what is going on. PEOPLE! Am I the only one that finds this whole situation very odd. The arguing continued until the lady returned to her clearly upset and anxiety stricken bird.

I don't know if the whole situation was staged. Maybe this lady had trained this bird to recite this script so that when she took the bird into public she could get a good laugh out of all the innocent bystanders who were completely flabbergasted at the situation. Heck, maybe someone else was there video taping the whole thing and somewhere out there, there is a video of me watching this whole thing go down with my jaw hanging on the floor and staring in complete disbelief. Whether it was fraudulent or genuinely a real argument, the situation has been added to my list of several other strange encounters. It wasn't the first and I'm sure it won't be the last.