'No one else really talks to me like you do,' she says as she sips her drink. She looks at him with scratchy, red-rimmed eyes.
        They are sitting at the breakfast table. All lights are off except for the one above them, which occasionally flickered on and off anyway.
        'My sister, you know, Karen...you've seen her picture I think. Well. She and I used to talk like this a lot. But I can't now because of the bird.'
        She pauses and laughs a little. Her laugh is like a mouse's squeak.
        'I've just realized how insane that must sound. Saying that I can't talk to my own sister about some bird. It's the truth though, sadly....I should mention that we were never allowed to have birds as children because of Mother's cat. And Karen had seen all these exotic birds, parrots and toucans and the like, on this special on television. She must have been about nine. Mother said no to getting a bird, of course. Karen never really got over it.'
        She shrugs and raises her eyebrows as she takes yet another drink.
        'So Karen calls me up after she graduates. I ask her all about her new job and the place she was renting, but all she wants to talk about is what birds are affordable. I tell her, Karen, I want to hear about you, not birdseed. There was this long pause. And she tells me she has to go. Didn't see her or hear from her or anything for the longest time. So I finally see her....I finally see her at a pet shop.'
        She shakes her head laughs while brushing her hair back from her face with her fingers.
        'It turned out my little sister was working there. Got a degree in political science to clean hampster cages or whatever it is they do. I told her, you know, the whole bit, how worried I've been, how I've missed her. Karen had this weird grin on her face and said she'd been busy. Obviously, I say. I mention this job with a campaign that would be perfect for for her, but she's occupied with the rabbits' water bottles.
        Her eyes grow wider as she speaks and then drop to the tabletop when she pauses. She fiddles with her ring in between sentences.
        'Do you know what happened to Karen?' she says suddenly, leaning in, almost whispering.
        'She worked her arse off at that pet store until she had enough money to buy this exotic bird. Karen, she bought this fancy cage and the works. Spared no expense. Finally, she takes home her beloved bunch of feathers. And the bird never shuts up. It caws and cackles and screeches all night long.
        'Karen hardly sleeps. This goes on for quite some time. She loses her pet store job for falling asleep in the middle of feeding the mice. But - here's the crazy part - she keeps that damned bird! The thing that ruined her life. My poor sister went to sleep clinics, visited therapists - she was a mess. Literally falling apart, you know? So I call her. I say, Karen, the answer to your problems is to just get rid of that awful bird! And she gives me another one of her long pauses. She tells me, no, she has to keep Sydney. Named it and everything. She continues, saying that I just don't understand him. What?'
        She blurts out a sickly laugh and darts her eyes around, squirming in her chair. She begins to take a drink but sees that her glass is empty.
        'Karen. She's...she's an odd girl.'
        Then he finally speaks: 'Have you seen Karen recently?'
        'Oh. Well. Seen her, no. But she told me that the bird must have flown out the window; she came home from the herbalist one day and Sydney had disappeared. And she was evicted from her flat for keeping an exotic animal without notifying the landlord or something complicated like that.'
        'So that's why you can't talk to your sister anymore?' he asks quietly.
        'Yes. No. I mean, that and I don't want Karen to ever come over here again.'
        He stops and looks at her straight in the eye, the first time all night.
        'Why?'
        A screech comes from the living room.