Parrot Tales : 9781682193136 : 22 Sep 2022 : Charlie Parker is an African Gray Parrot. He entered the life of Debby and Michael Smith three decades ago when, at the insistence of their young son, Eli, they brought him home from a downtown Manhattan bird shop. He has been an integral, and voluble, member of the family ever since. Charlie's vocabulary is astonishingly diverse and colorful. He can be demanding, squawking imperiously ?Clean my cage? or ?Want some water.? He can be brutally direct, warning an aggressive business associate who had been yelling at Debby ?I'm going to kick your ass, you sonofabitch.? He can be mischievous, making meowing noises to a neighbor's confused dog in the elevator. Charlie is a survivor. He ended up recovering on an IV after the collapse of the World Trade Center filled the Smiths' apartment with toxic dust. He is often an entertainer, with a songbook that extends across ?Home on the Range? to ?The Yellow Rose of Texas.? And most of the time he is af