I hear dead budgies

When I was 12, I got Marcus the parakeet. He was every bit as regal as the name. He was blue and black and white and was the best budgie one could ask for. He sat on my shoulder whenever I played games on the Commodore 64. He sort of talked; I can remember "pretty bird" being scattered in his chatter. Layla came a few years later. She was quicker to nip at me, but she was handfed as a baby so she wasn't scared of being scratched by my finger. She loved it almost as much as Claren. The last two, named either Ann and Nancy or Lilly and Roxanne came a few years after that. Someone asked the pet store I worked at to take them. I did, even though they weren't the tamest of gals. But that's OK. They were pretty. Even if they didn't talk in English, you knew they were around.

They are all long dead, but when I take a nap in the family room after work, I hear them chattering away. Really!

It doesn't matter what is actually going on: computer games, Law & Order on a TV in the other room, water dripping, food sizzling.

Whatever is happening combines with the hearing loss and ringing in my ears and voila: Budgie chatter!

If I strain, I can tell the real sound, but I want to nap, not strain.

Even today, when I was thinking about it and my niece and nephew were playing a loud computer game ... you know what I heard? Dead budgie chatter.