Pretty Miss Lorna had a dozen parrots as pets. Whenever anyone visited her, they would begin to screech. There was such a din that nobody could talk or hear anything! Her hair was always filthy and untidy; the hem of her dress often ripped and hanging loose. She wore socks of different colours! She always smiled, so no one minded her odd appearance.
It happened that Miss Lorna had a cranky man, Mr Jonas, as her neighbour. Mr Jonas disliked parrots and so he disliked Miss Lorna too. He would shake his fist when he went past her house and he told everyone he met, “Miss Lorna is crazy!”
Mr Jonas spent most of the day thinking of ways in which he could get rid of the parrots or get Miss Lorna to go away somewhere else to live. He decided that he would send her off on a holiday and then she would have to take her parrots too with her!
So, he bought a ticket for a seaside hotel and sent it to her by post. Then he rang her up and told her that she had won a holiday for a month at a seaside hotel. He did not say who he was.
Miss Lorna recognized Mr Jonas’ voice on the telephone and decided to play a trick on him.
She called a taxi to take her to the station and when it arrived, she put her suitcase and a bag into it. Then she picked up two large bird cages with her parrots and walked across to Mr Jonas’ house. Mr Jonas had been watching her gleefully from his window, and he thought the parrots would go with her. But he was shocked when he saw her walking to his house with two large bird cages!
Then the bell rang, and it rang again, and again! He had to come out and open the door. There stood Miss Lorna with her parrots.
“Mr Jonas,” she said brightly, “would you look after my parrots till I return?”
Mr Jonas looked sheepishly at Miss Lorna, “Er… Um…. I….” he stammered, unable to find words to get out of this fix! Miss Lorna planted the large cages on his doorstep and got into the taxi. He watched her waving happily from the car window.
When Miss Lorna returned, she found Mr Jonas had really taken good care of her parrots after all! She was so happy that she gave him a hug. And Mr Jonas married crazy Miss Lorna after all.
