Moe

1997 to 26th June 2002

From Celine

Moe was a young, healthy bird when we fell in love with him at a breeder's place. He had the most beautiful voice and sang every day for us. We would take him out and flip him over and he would stay on his back until we picked him up again. we could do anything with him and he never resisted. He would guard his territory ferociously and it was the cutest thing. he would sit in the tree in the kitchen for hours, and we forgot he was there sometimes, he was so quiet, just a little yellow ball of fluff surveying the kitchen. We spent over $500 to bring him to the states when we moved from England. He was healthy, but developed cists on one shoulder. We concluded that they weren't hurting him.

Then one day, he sat on the same perch all day, and didn't sing. he didn't defend the vicinity of his cage, but sat still, with heaving breaths, panting, looking very gaunt. we called the vet and she said to put him in a cool environment. We put him in the basement. I was twelve at the time. my family left for summer school and my mom went to tennis at the club. I sat at home with my dog and watched TV. after a few shows, i realized that I should check on Moe. I crept halfway down the stairs, holding my breath, praying to God that he was OK. I didn't have to look closely.

I screamed and ran upstairs. I couldn't believe it. I ran to the phone and dialed my mother. she answered and I said "it's Moe!" and hung up on her I sobbed until she got home. We took him out of his cage and I held him for what felt like forever. I didn't want to let him go. he felt so lifeless in my hands, and i felt like he would hop up any second, but he didn't. my baby was gone. we never knew what killed him, and it wasn't the cists, but he was so delicate, anything would have brought him down before we could do anything.

we buried him in the backyard wrapped in Christmas tissue paper in a gift box. I will always miss him and cherish the memory of his sweet song during breakfast.