Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One moment, he was perched in his cage singing his little heart out. The next, his whole world collapsed.
It started when his owner decided to clean his cage with a vacuum cleaner. She took the nozzle off, stuck the hose inside, and at that very moment the phone rang. She turned to answer. And before she could say hello—sssthoppp! Chippie got sucked in.
Panicked, the woman shut off the vacuum, tore open the bag, and there was Chippie—alive, but stunned, gasping, and covered in dust. She raced him to the sink, held him under the faucet, and gave him a soaking rinse. Now poor Chippie was not only dazed but drenched. Desperate to help, she grabbed the hair dryer and blasted him with hot air.
The reporter who had first written about the story called back a few days later to ask how Chippie was doing. The woman sighed and said, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore. He just sits and stares.”
And who can blame him?