August Character Interview
Patricia Parrington ~ August 26, 2024
Hello my lovely readers and fellow book-lovers! For those of you who are new here, I, your bird-loving host, Patricia Parrington, have the pleasure of interviewing characters from books all over the world.
Today we have here with us Mallow, a Moluccan cockatoo from the book Second Chances at the Little Village Sanctuary by Ella Cook. Ella’s been obsessed with the written word since she could walk (her mum would put books in her crib overnight to ensure a good night’s sleep!). She grew up believing fairies lived at the bottom of her Grandma’s garden and writes uplifting stories with a good sprinkle of magic in them.
Meet Mallow
Welcome to Fable Features! Please, take a seat.
[Patricia and her guest, a mostly feathered Moluccan cockatoo, settle on the orange suede couches. Patricia frowns and rubs a finger against the couch leg where scuff marks are visible. Mallow shifts from foot to foot and turns around a couple of times before finding a comfy spot.]
Ug, I hate it when my pseudodragon uses the couch to sharpen his claws. Do you have any pet peeves?
I don’t like it when I get put back in my cage. And when the hoomans tell me I can’t eat their food—it looks really good sometimes. It’s annoying, but what you can you expect? They’re only hoomans and I’ve had to teach them a lot. I’m very patient and let them know when I’m not happy by bashing things loudly to help them and screaming because they don’t seem to have very good attention spans sometimes and can be a bit slow. If it gets really bad, I just undo the shiny things hoomans call nuts but that you can’t eat and make the door fall down.
I don’t like mean people either. The screechy blonde woman who throws things was the worst. I was glad when she left!
[Patricia laughs.]
I love your way of dealing with humans! We can be a bit frustrating sometimes, can’t we?
Yes. For an intelligent species, they can be really slow to learn things sometimes. You’d be amazed at how often you have to remind them of things.
Do you have any family?
There was the bad ones. They took me from the faces that were there when my egg hatched. I thought they were nice at first and played with me lots, but then they got bored—which was weird, because how could you get bored of me? I’m awesome! But I don’t know. They stopped playing with me as much and put me in the cage and threw covers over me. I tried everything to make them love me again—I blew kisses and chattered and fluffed my feathers lots. I preened so much that my poor feathers started to come out. Then sometimes they would forget to feed me and I had to scream and scream to remind them—and they’d throw things at me. Then they put me in the box.
[Mallow flattens her feathers and squishes herself against the sofa arm as if looking for a safe hidey hole.]
The box was bad. It was dark and cold. Then got wet. And I thought I was going to die in it. But then Rick-hooman found me. He’s mine now. It took a lot of effort to train him—he tried to rehome me with other parrots for a bit, but I went on a hunger strike until he came and got me again—because I think he’s worth the work. He likes the rainbow-hooman he calls Angel, and she has her donkeys and guinea pigs and fox. The fox is called Ruby and she sometimes gives me rides on her back, so I give her treats when the hoomans aren’t looking. So I guess Rick-hooman, rainbow-Angel-lady, and Ruby-fox are my family now. And the donkeys, but they don’t come indoors.
I’m sorry to hear about your first family! Sounds like they were awful to you.
[Patricia cocks her head.]
I’m curious about this fox, Ruby, from your new family. Seems like you two are very close! Was it always like that? I would’ve never thought a fox and a cockatoo would get along quite that well.
[Mallow perks up at this, pinning her eyes and ruffling her feathers more happily.]
Ruby lives at the sanctuary too. Sort of. She doesn’t have a cage like I do—lucky thing—because she comes and goes however she wants.
Angel-hooman, who dresses in rainbows, says Ruby shouldn’t really be there, but because she was taken as a baby and made to think she was a dog before she got rescued, which is really sad. Foxes make terrible indoor pets—they’re messier than the worst parrots and smell awful . . . and my sense of smell isn’t even that good! But the idiots who took her didn’t know that at first, and when they found out they got rid of Ruby. And she doesn’t know how to be a wild animal anymore.
She’s certainly not scared of anything. Even me. I didn’t know what she was at first, so I gave her my best warning screams and she just thought I was funny—which I obviously am!
Like I said, I didn’t have all my feathers when I first met Rick-hooman, so I couldn’t fly too well. But I soon learned Ruby will do anything for treats . . . even let me ride on her so I could get to where I wanted to go. And she especially liked it when I preened her. But she’s not allowed to do it back to me. Fox tongues do not suit my feathers!
[Patricia laughs then nods.]
I would stay away from fox tongues too if I had feathers!
On the topic of animals, what are your thoughts on lizards?
Weird bird things that decided not to grow feathers. I mean, scales are useful on feet coz they’re easier to keep clean than feathers and super strong. But why wouldn’t you want feathers? I did pick mine out when I was really sad and stressed, but now that I have more room and better food, they’re growing back and I remembered about flying again. Flying is the best thing ever. Except for maybe getting itches from hoomans. I like when my hooman Rick itches my head. Of course I can do it myself, but it’s important for hoomans to feel like they’re useful.
Oh, quite important.
[Patricia nods in agreement.]
Would you consider yourself decisive or indecisive?
I like what I like, and when I don’t like things I am very decisive in telling my hoomans. The bad ones before Rick-hooman taught me bad words. I save them for things I don’t like to make sure my new hoomans understand.
That’s a good use for them! And I think that’s great that you know what you like. I’m curious—has there ever been an instance when you were indecisive?
Well, at first I wasn’t sure that I liked Angel-rainbow-hooman. So I’m sorry to say I used to bite her. Quite a lot. I try not to do it too much now, but I sometimes forget that she’s not the woman who hurt me and stuffed me in the box. I like her now, though!
Well that’s good! I’m glad it worked out and she was patient with you, even though you kept biting her.
Our next question is a fun one! If the world was going to explode and you could only bring one person with you in the escape pod, who would it be and why?
Rick-hooman, obviously, because he’s mine. And I’d bring Angel-hooman too, because she makes him smile. And everyone knows hooman rules don’t apply to pretty birds like me!
Oh, very true! I think those are very good picks if you ever had to go into an escape pod.
[Patricia twirls a lock of her rich, green hair around one finger.]
What was the best compliment you’ve ever received?
I’m beautiful. Look at my pretty pink feathers! I get lots of compliments all the time.
[Patricia gazes at the pink feathers admiringly.]
You certainly are very pretty!
What would you say is your best physical feature?
How smart I am. All parrots are clever, and I’m extra clever!
I can’t deny that! In fact, I’d say you’re probably the smartest parrot I’ve ever met.
[Patricia smiles at her guest.]
[Mallow fluffs her feathers up, raising her crest and spreading her wings slightly, bowing to show off all her plumage to its best.]
So what would you say is your greatest treasure?
Well, obviously my hoomans, but I think you mean things and not people, so I’ll answer that. I love all things shiny. And all shiny things are mine.
But I really, really love my art things. Rick-hooman recognized that I’m a super talented artist—he’s pretty smart for a two-legger—and he got me special paints and brushes. I make pictures with them which he films, and apparently other two-leggers who are smart and see my talent pay lots and lots of money for them.
Wow, so you’re pretty and talented! How did you first realize you liked to paint?
Rick-hooman was sad, and not eating properly, so I decided to cheer him up. He left a plate of food on the floor that had funny red sauce that I didn’t like the flavor of. But it was a lovely bright red, and he had this really boring white rug. So to make him happy I decided to decorate the rug and turn it pink, because everyone likes pink. Pink is the best color, which is why I’m pink. So, as I’m sure you know, red and white make pink, so I made sure to get lots of red on my feet and beak and even my tail, and then I decorated the floor!
Obviously Rick-hooman recognized my genius immediately and bought me my own painting set!
Props to him for seeing that right away!
[Patricia glances at her wrist and stands.]
Well, it looks like we are out of time. Thank you so much for coming out today! It was a pleasure getting to know you, Mallow.
End of interview.
Want to Read More?
Mallow’s author, Ella Cook, can be found on X/Twitter and Goodreads. Second Chances at the Village Sanctuary is due to launch September 3, but until then check out her other books here!
left to right: Mallow, Angel-hooman, Rick-hooman
Author Ella Cook
See Ya Next Time
Aaand that's all the time we have today. Thank you, readers, for coming. And thank you, Mallow, for letting us get to know you! See y'all next time.
If you would like to submit a character to be interviewed for a future issue of Fable Features, please send an email to linnaekconkel@gmail.com with the subject line: Fable Features.
Please note that erotica and content with excessive vulgar language will not be accepted.
If you have questions you'd like Patricia Parrington to ask in a future interview, please submit them to linnaekconkel@gmail.com with the subject line: Interview Questions.
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