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Dan had a Mexican
Yellowhead Parrot. He ordered it from the "Snake King" who was
a character whose animal importing business was just a stone's throw
from the Matamoros/Brownsville Bridge. He was famous in his day,
and he made millions sending animals all over the U.S. before anyone
gave a thought to hygiene, disease, or animal cruelty.
Dan paid $10
for the bird and one dollar freight. He picked it up from the Railroad
Express Agency car right there in Granger. The floor of the handmade
cage had enough sunflower seeds to last to Chicago, if that had
been necessary.
The bird was
named Senor until an egg appeared one day in the cage. She then
became known as Senora. Senora would perch in the tree in Dan's
front yard on her swing, singing to herself and screaming at squirrels
to get out of the street. She would turn somersaults in rainstorms,
enjoying every minute before Dan would run out and put her in her
covered cage. Local cats gave the bird wide berth, after witnessing
a near evisceration of the Martinets' family cat.
Many times
a little Mexican woman would come into the yard and talk to the
bird. It probably reminded her of Mexico. She would pass Dan's house
on her way to buy groceries and kerosene for her stove. She carried
an old-fashioned round ribbed can for the kerosene, and prevented
spillage by placing a raw potato over the spout. Dan remembered
her in detail because of her huaraches and her salmon-colored rebozo.
A Mr. Luna later
told Dan that the woman had been born in the time of the Mexican
Empire of Maximilian and Carlotta. She was said to have been
the head cook for one of "Poncho" Villa's Armies. If the
first figure was correct, (both Max and the Empire ceased to exist
in 1867), she would've been in her early 40s during the Mexican
Revolutionary Period.
Her name was
Carmen Antonia Miranda. Many years later after Dan had moved to
Dallas, he was visiting Granger and at a party asked a Spanish-speaking
group if they knew what had happened to the old woman. They weren't
responsive until Dan described her outfit and the kerosene can plugged
with the potato. She was the family matriarch, they said, but she
had since passed away. Dan later found her headstone and did the
math. She died at the age of 110.
While we're on
the subject:
Mrs. Martinets passed away last year at the age of 104. She was
in a nursing home, but only after her 102nd birthday. One of the home's
residents (who wasn't in his right mind) slapped her face for some
reason. Mrs. Martinets stood up in her wheelchair and slapped him
back. Bravo! Encore!
December,
2000
© John Troesser
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Granger, Texas |
