Evening star., 1954-11-22
115 Doys ot Sea
Willis Loses Con1edion' Pet
As Cat Finally Kills Parrot

EuSneS aTOuu0 GIle Geek 10 meet
q new condition of wind and
wave. She was so careful not to-
fall overheard. I could often let
her run free Of the leash But
then. as found, even a cat can
have q mistake.
7 nearly lost her as a result.
On September a., q cloudy.
windy day. being unable to shoot
the sun at noon. ! was aft. work
ing out what seanen call an
X-meridian sight. Meekie was
lying on the edge of the deck
apparently too close to the edge.
Suddenly ! heard an agonized
meow.
Jumping to my feet. ] saw
Meekie had fallen over the side,
near the forward end of the raft.
1t was moving ahead rather
swiftly; the cat. still afioat, was
coming along the side. She was
crying for help as loudly as she
could. BY this time Meekie and
] were pretty close stipmates.
There was only one thing to do.
Ever since my encounter with
a shark many weeks before, /
had always trailed astern a
knotted rope lashed to a bamboo
pole which ] had used early in
the trip for carrying my jib aft
as a staysail. Meekie was about
two feet from the edge of the.
raft. I had only a few strides
to cover, and simultaneously
grabbing the rope, ] jumped in
and grasped Meekie. s
Instantly she climbed to the
top Of my head and dug her
claws into my skull. It happened
so fast that the sharks which
were around the raft as usual
probably never knew what hap
pened. I drifted only a few feet
before my rescue mission was
completed, and I scrambled back
to the deck.
Parrot Had Repertoire.
The rest of the day Meekie
lay in the sun drying herself
with a line around her neck this
time. I didn't want to get wet
again. AS for Meekie, she didn't
mind water, and stayed outdoors
even in the heavy rains that fell
during the last days Of my jour-
ney. A dousing meant so little
to her that she often. raced me
for the flying fish that landed on
deck ands when she won, took
her prize down below to the big
balsa logs between which the
water constantly rose.
AS Meekie was my constant
companion, Eekie was my source
of amusement. Il call Eekie che"
but must admit I never learned
the parrots sex.), Well fed with
corn and rice. Eekie was master
comedian.
The bird had quite a reper-
toire. He generally started gur-
Cling like a baby, then chartered
like a 6-year-old, next had a gig
Cling fit like a 12-year-old girl,
then came out with the voice of
a 20-year-old woman, and after
thatsswaslld sound like 4 woman
Scolding her husband FOR coming
home drunk. AS a finale, Eekie
would become very old lady,
cackling away.
Aside from the comedy act
Eekie could utter a few sounds
of what might have been Span
ish, although I could recognize
only one word, ''lorito," or ''little
parrot" The little parrot was
such a master of his initiative
act, and launched it so suddenly,
that on two occasions I jumped
from the wheel and went to the
other side of the cabin where
the cage stood on q box. After
the many hours in which wind
and water had made the only
sounds, it seemed that one per-
son - or whole family - had
dropped from the sky.
Constant Problem.
While Eekie and Meekie bore
names which were the Spanish
versions of Ike and Mike, two
characters I'd once planned to
use in a comic strip, there was
no humor between the two
Meekie's ambitions to get into
Eekie's cage posed a constant
problem.
On one occasion, hearing 9
terrific noise, I raced to the cage
and found the cat half inside
separated them, and saw that
Eekie had lost a lot of feathers
and suffered several cuts and
bites and a leg injury. For some
time afterward, Eekie hung from
one of the cage bars by his beak
standing on the good leg and let
ting the bad one hang limp.