“I need to confirm something…” answered Robbie. He was not in a hurry to share that information with Jamie. Instead, Robbie suggested, “You guys go ahead and have lunch without me. I want to take a closer look.”
“Okay,” said Jamie, who sounded a little disappointed when he added, “I can’t read in that language and can’t help much, anyway.”
“I’ll ask Mrs. Rawlston to take the lunch over so you can eat while reading the documents,” said Ellie. She poured Robbie a glass of water and instructed, “Here, have a sip first. Don’t wear yourself out.”
“Thank you, Ellie,” replied Robbie while nodding. He later urged, “Go on now. Don’t let yourself go hungry.”
“Alright,” said Ellie. She turned around and was ready to leave, but Fifi the parrot saw the photo in the document. It flapped its wings excitedly and said, “Mommy! Mommy!”
Robbie put the document away instantly and frowned at Fifi before growling, “Fifi, don’t make a scene!”
“Fifi, you meanie,” complained Jamie angrily, “You acted up the last time we were in the hospital as well. You kept calling Mommy and flew all the way to the stairs. We had no choice but to chase after you.”
“Robbie has to work now, Fifi, so you can’t disturb him,” cooed Ellie gently while caressing Fifi’s feathers, “And one must be quiet in the hospital, so don’t make a scene the next time we go to the hospital, okay?”
“Mommy, mommy…”
Fifi called out again. Jamie and Ellie both glared over, and the parrot had no choice but to hide its tiny head under its wings. It no longer dared to call out.
“Wait, did you just say that Fifi called out for Mommy in the hospital as well?”
Robbie was quick to notice that something was off. Lately, he had been training Fifi by letting it watch tons of photos and videos of their Mommy. He did that so that Fifi would recognize their Mommy if she ever showed up.
Animals’ instinct and sensitivity are much better than that of a human’s, after all. It has a better chance of noticing something we don’t.
“Yeah, that happened the day before yesterday. You were in the emergency room visiting Great-grandpa. Ellie wanted to visit him too, so I accompanied her over. When we were turning the corner in the corridor, Fifi suddenly called out…”
Jamie seemed excited when he shared what happened that night.
Ellie added, “We were lucky Mr. Kyle was there. If he wasn’t, we would have to look for it in the hospital.”
Hearing those words prompted Robbie to extend his hand and order, “Fifi, come here!”
Ellie let go.
Fifi immediately flapped its wings and flew to the back of Robbie’s hand.
Robbie caressed its feathers softly before telling Jamie, “Jamie, go close the door.”
Jamie could tell that Robbie had suddenly turned serious, so the former couldn’t help feeling a little unsettled. He ran quickly with his tiny feet to close the door to the room.
“Robbie, what’s wrong?” asked Ellie anxiously.
Robbie retrieved the document and pointed at the photo before asking Fifi, “Fifi, the person you see the other day in the hospital. Is that her?”
“Mommy! Mommy!”
Fifi called out immediately when it saw Charlotte’s photo. Its tiny and furry head rubbed sweetly against that photo.
“Uh…” Both Jamie and Ellie looked confused. Neither understood what Robbie was saying.
Robbie got his phone out immediately and checked the video recordings from the night before.
The device he installed on Fifi was similar to that of a camera in a car. It kept recordings for seventy-two hours before it automatically deleted the footage.
We still have time. I should be able to retrieve the recording…
“Robbie, what are you doing?” asked Jamie. He and Ellie had inched over and were watching from either side.
“Shh…” urged Robbie. He frowned when he reminded them to keep quiet.
Soon, the phone showed the recording from that night. Robbie calculated the time and fast forward the video. “If I’m right, it should be about thirty minutes after midnight…”
The interface quickly showed Jamie and Ellie hugging Fifi and heading to the emergency room.
From Fifi’s angle, they saw a familiar figure…
Robbie paused the video immediately and zoomed in…
“It’s Mommy!”
