Sublime

The cry of this bird was audible only to certain special people, who were guided by it toward inescapable ruin. The will of human beings meant nothing, then, as the veterinarian always seemed to feel. People were no more than dolls set on tabletops, the springs in their backs wound up tight, dolls set to move in ways they could not choose, moving i

and a semi-insane African grey parrot for a pet who uttered Swine at intervals, and who otherwise spoke only in profanities.