We came back from Rocky Point to the absence of Jo. I noticed it immediately, but it didn’t really bother me. I realized I was walking and moving gingerly, every second waiting to fend off the shrieking. It was like climbing Javalina and Mormon on the Blur again cause the Heckler’s fork is in the shop: waiting for the suspension to unjack, insead of being kind. Or the trailing edge of a sparkler over 4th of July, the awful scream of the parrot in reaction to anything i do. And it was not there.

It was quite nice.

The first day or two, every time I woke up I looked at the cage to see if I had to go shoo Jo out from under the sinks. where was she, where was she, where was she like I’d been doing forever. G asked about Jo, and I told her straight-up “Jo’s gone away. Jo’s gone to another home. Jo’s gone to another family.” She seemed upset about this at first, and I thought I saw her about to get all weepy, but it passed very quickly. She’s asked me about Jo maybe 3 times in 2+ weeks. She asked about Slim 20 times at least. G was intrigued by Jo, but more scared and annoyed than anything else. She’s taken lately to saying things like “this is my friend Kila” and “here’s my friend Turtle” and going and petting them with the greatest of care and respect. But about Jo, she only asked a handful of times. She has been fascinated lately with her 2 stuffed red parrots, and after I took Jo’s cage apart she started playing with the red stuffed parrot we kept in there – not sure if this is just having 3 similar toys, or a reaction to missing Jo.   They have gotten little play in the past week.

Andrea sent me an email about 2 weeks ago, but I have not heard from her since. Its only been 2.5 weeks, and its not like I can go pestering this woman, but I sent her a brief note today asking how it was going. If Jo’s new home is good for her, then this will have been for the best. I certainly feel more comfortable and less tension in my own house.

We moved the dog pillow into the corner where the cage was. Its a good spot for a pillow. Turtle was on it last night. It looked weird seeing nothing in that corner; it still looks weird. Every time I come into the bedroom my eyes go to that corner and scan for the bright green blob and I want to say “Hi Jo.” But I’m getting over it.