Boston Meets Egg

I gave Boston an egg.

It just seems like he has invested so much energy into his courtship - with all the dances, and nourishment from his very crop.  I thought he deserved something for his efforts.

After warming up a quail egg in a cup of steaming water, I crawled in bed with Boss surrounded by pillows, and with the covers just right like the way we sometimes nap together.

Then, bringing my closed hand up in front of him, I opened my palm to reveal the little brown-spotted egg.

He stared at it for 3 seconds with his head pulled back - was that astonishment? delight? disgust? hmm.

He scooted backward under the covers.  I peeked at him, and there he was, head down, tail up. I thought I had seen that stance before.  Just to be sure, I lifted the covers just a bit so he could see and turned the egg this way and that for his inspection.  He scooted farther back. 

At least he didn't crunch it apart as he would a chicken egg to lap up the insides. But there was no indication whatsoever of proud fatherhood either.

In fact that crouch with head tucked under, the upper curve of his beak on the surface was usually indication of dislike or readiness to battle, just like a bull warming up to charge, which he did.

He trotted forward and rapped my finger as I closed my hand around the egg.  He backed up again, head down.  I backed my hand away from him, slowly opening my hand. He chased it and this time he gave the egg a little crackly indent, moved quickly past and out of the covers, climbed on my shoulder, and flew to the top of my dresser.

He didn't like the egg.  He didn't even taste it.  He just didn't like the egg.  He didn't even waste time destroying it.  He wanted no nothing to do with it.

He must have instinctively known it was a bad egg.  He knew it was not an egg that he wanted to eat.  Did he instinctively know that the eggs of grey parrots don't have ugly spots on them?  Did he think I had delivered a deformity?

Or maybe he was suspicious of the way I delivered it so easily.  Maybe I should have squirmed, grunted, and labored more.

Maybe he thought he had been cuckolded.

He just knew it was unnatural.  

If he could make the sign of the cross I think he would have.