Different Rules For Our Species

Come with me, says Patrick Honan.

Where to? asks the Elegant Parrot.

Live Exhibits, says Patrick Honan. I have been observing you over the last fifteen minutes, and I think we can safely say you are not a Top Design, but a live Elegant Parrot.

Live Exhibits! says Terence. Woo-ee! Any dinosaurs?

No, of course not, says Patrick Honan. But we have a great collection of bugs.

Let's go, says Terence.

I can't take you, says Patrick. That would be an abduction.

Listen to yourself, says the Elegant Parrot. Why is taking me not an abduction?

Because........begins Patrick Honan.

He is about to say something that the Elegant Parrot might find hurtful. ( "There are different rules for our species" ).

But he is interrupted by Gaius who has come over to see what's going on.

What's going on? enquires Gaius. Is the Parrot proselytising again?

I was, says the Elegant Parrot. I had just gained three converts to the Green Grocer Cicada.

Excellent, says Patrick Honan. Are you keen on cicadas? We have a few in our collection. We also have a tarantula, some native cockroaches, and a Pobblebonk,

You don't by any chance have a Baw Baw? asks Gaius.

Sorry no, says Patrick Honan. They only live in extreme cold conditions. And at the moment they would all be inactive, so not of much interest.

That is a pity, says Gaius. I am off to the Baw Baw Plateau this afternoon in search of them. I fear I may have left it too late.

Yes, they are critically endangered, says Patrick Honan. But do come and look at our Bugs Alive Exhibition. And this boy, is he with you?

He could be, says Gaius. Yes he is, I suppose.

Will this be good enough for Patrick Honan?

No, not really. He sees Katherine and Grizel, talking to Sir Frederick. They were the ladies that were in charge of the boy when he first saw them.

He walks over to ask.

Katherine doesn't love bugs, and is only too glad to get rid of Terence.

Fine. Tell Gaius and Terence and the Parrot we'll meet them in the cafe, in half an hour, says Katherine.

Not the Parrot, thinks the manager of Live Exhibits.

Here they are now in Live Exhibits. A Green Grocer Cicada sings merrily. Tweeeeee!

He thinks it is summer.

Gaius is interested in the Green Grocer Cicada.

Will it speak? What might it tell him?

Terence is looking at the Pobblebonk.

Euw! It's got WARTS.

The Parrot has disappeared behind a curtain.

Patrick Honan is pocketing a key.

( Who ever thought that would happen? Not the Parrot ).

Gaius has found out something interesting.

The cicada does talk, although not as loud as it twees.

Apparently, normally, the juvenile Green Grocer Cicada lives underground for seven years, only to emerge for just two weeks.

I know! It hardly seems worth it.