The Normal Initiative

Chapter 1

"What's that one do?" Rachel pointed at one of a collection of levers, color coded in a collection of oranges, reds, and greens.

She didn't actually touch the machine, but came close enough that the woman sitting in the chair near the machine jumped up to swat her hand away.

"It lets out the cockatiels into their play area," Tatiana told the girl, who nodded and shrugged. "But they are a hassle to get back into their pens without bribing them with treats, so don't touch that!"

Again, Rachel shrugged and continued to walk around the room. Her Counterpart, Tatiana Elyssa, sighed in relief as her younger charge abandoned the control panel for the birds' cages. Instead, Rachel walked slowly past the rows of pens made into the wall.

The majority of the room was concrete with several wide windows, but one wall was covered in cages. Inside of each cage was a collection of birds somewhere between one and about ten.

A grey parrot with a bright red tail was sitting on a perch in the first cage. It studied Rachel through the mesh in front of it, before apparently getting bored and facing its back to her. A collection of multicolored parakeets were in the next section, chirping fervently. Rachel glared at them, but they continued to be incessantly loud and obnoxious. So, she just moved to the next cage.

There were two multicolored parrots that looked straight from a pirate's shoulder, a crow (or was it a raven? Rachel wasn't sure), and a cockatiel that was far more interested in its food than in Rachel. A few minutes passed of Rachel trying to gain the attention of a bird with no desire to play with her. Finally, Tatiana put away her bag which she had told Rachel the birds loved to chew at. Then she grabbed her ring of keys and stepped over to where Rachel was standing.

"I'll bring Sunshine out for you, if you want. Contrary to his name, he's not our nicest bird, but he'll talk to you," Tatiana told Rachel.The younger girl leaned against the cage excitedly. Her Counterpart unlatched the door and reached in to bring out one of the parrots. "Hello, Sunshine! How are you today?"

"Treat," the bird croaked. Tatiana frowned at the parrot, who simply held one claw out expectantly.

"If I give you a treat, will you talk to us?" Tatiana asked.

The bird only answered, "Treat."

The bird trainer got out a small cookie and gave it to Sunshine after she convinced the parrot to give a small "please". Rachel was glad that her Counterpart gave in to Sunshine's demands, because he soon after began speaking more, even if only in hope of another treat.

After almost two months with her Counterpart, Tatiana had only brought Rachel with to the birds once. They visited the monkeys and apes almost every day. And that was great, Rachel decided. It had been a blast for the first week or so.

Now, however, Rachel was far more interested in the birds. Well, she had been all along. Birds were the most interesting thing to Rachel. Teaching apes basic sign language was neat, but crows were super smart, too. And they could fly!

Rachel knew that the trip was almost over if she couldn't get the time expanded. It was probably a bit overdue that she headed back home, actually. She was looking forward to seeing her mom and dad. Video calls were great, but Rachel missed her parents (and even her older sister).

"Knock knock," Tatiana said to Sunshine. The bird ignored her and continued to preen its tail feathers.

"Knock knock, Sunshine." The parrot didn't so much as pause what it was doing as Tatiana spoke to it. "Rachel, I'm going to put Sunshine back in his cage for a minute and grab something from the storage room. I'll be right back."