The wooden floors creaked as Gilbert crossed the hall. He heard a flutter of feathers, knowing he wouldn't pass Asher without the usual morning greeting. He wondered if today would be different. Era. Asher missed his sister, Anna, more and more. Gilbert heard a commotion down the hall in the kitchen. His heart was pounding. His parents' voices quibbled over who would wake him up, but he couldn't smell the usual breakfast smells. It was a muffled sound imitated by Asher, the yellow-naped Amazon parrot. Asher tried again, playing his parents' voices. “Chicken,” said Asher, as the parrot swung step by step on the hard branch that supported him, on his way to Gilbert. Asher's cage was in the hallway near the kitchen door. Asher's coat looked disheveled, almost as disheveled as Gilbert felt. “Good morning,” Gilbert replied, to Asher's greeting. Chicken was a strange greeting. He had only heard it once before. That was over two years ago, when his sister was still around. He taught him the word. How he missed her toxic happiness and the way she always screamed at wonderful things... "This is crazy!" His pronunciation of magic was pronounced with a 'd', no matter how much he tried to convince her. “Turkey,” Asher chirped before Gilbert made it through the kitchen door. Another word he learned from Anna. Gilbert turned to visually inspect the distraught parrot clinging to the side of the cage. As if things weren't strange enough, Asher let out a soft purring sound as a claw extended as far as it could, through the metal bars. He longed for contact. Gilbert winked at him and turned to leave. Asher would have to wait for attention. “Your mother was getting ready to come…middle of paper…fight. Stephanie, with her books propped against her chest across the room, watched too. Pamela was too busy with the paper to pay attention to Gilbert. She had forgotten about it the night before and was impatiently finishing her notes. It wasn't like her not to do her homework, it was more like him and David to forget it. The task was to prepare for the test that was given to them by Jimmy, the teacher's pet. Gilbert felt guilty for tagging them in the dreams. The three looked tired. Gilbert was never smart enough to handle more than he was given. This may be due to the limited time he spent in school when he was younger. Today it was worse. He sat at the back of the room in his usual chair, comforted by knowing that no one cared about the back of his neck. Not only was there a good view of everyone, but there was also a quick exit out the door when the time came.