“I forgot, I’m sorry,” said Dave.
“You forgot! How could you forget? You promised you would take care of her and you know how much she meant to me.” Alex exclaimed.
“I don’t know, I had a lot going on. Oh, and I was sick.”
Alex shook his head and wiped his eyes. “I thought you were a good friend, and I could count on you. Now April is dead.”
“Hey, I’m really sorry man.”
“She was a special bird, part of the family – like my child. She’s been with me since she was a year old. It must have been terrible for her, running out of water and food.”
“I guess I screwed up,” muttered Dave.
“You guess? You definitely fucked up big time.”
“I…I got really sick. Was laid up for almost two weeks.
Alex shook his head again. “Bullshit. You just dropped the damn ball.”
“No Alex, honest, I wasn’t thinking straight and thought I was going to die.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Really, I wouldn’t lie to you, buddy.”
“Would you take a lie detector test to it?”
“Wh… What? You must be kidding; it was just a bird.”
There was a loud whack and Dave’s head jerked to the side as Alex delivered a solid blow to the side of his jaw.
Alex straightened back up after his follow through and said, “It? April was like my kid, you jackass.”
Dave regained his balance after staggering backward a couple of steps. “I’ll buy you a new one,” he said while massaging his jaw.
“You don’t get it. Just get the hell out of here – old friend.”