Fina volunteered to sleep in the game on the return trip, knowing that the flight would not fly over Egypt, it was too lazy to waste time, the seats of the plane were uncomfortable, and it was a little frightened when it took off and landed.

Zhang Zi'an happily agreed, just to save a plane ticket, just buy a seat for Richard.

When he came to the United States, Richard's seat was near the aisle, and when he went back, he learned wisely and asked to sit by the window, and Zhang Zi'an sat next to it.

As soon as he got on the plane, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the flight attendants on this flight were of good quality, tall and young, and their appearance was tolerable...... Therefore, since he sat on the plane, his eyes have not been willing to leave a few flight attendants.

Richard jumped into his seat and looked out the porthole at the misty Los Angeles International Airport.

Silver-gray giant birds are parked on the runway, planes take off or land from time to time, and airport shuttle buses carry passengers to and from the various terminals. Even on rainy days, the third-largest airport in the United States is still a busy scene.

The surrounding passengers talked in various languages about whether the rainy weather would affect the normal departure of the flight, but so far, there has been no announcement from the captain that the flight will be delayed.

Richard felt a little bored, Zhang Zi'an had improved his spoken language a lot during this trip to the United States, ordinary conversation could communicate normally without the help of it, and he didn't speak at all now, his eyes were busier than the airport shuttle......

Knowing this, it simply asked to go back to the game and sleep, and when it got home, it could make a lot of noise while Zhang Zi'an was catching up on sleep.

……

She sat in the window seat and quietly waited for the plane to take off. To her right was a rude, middle-aged man, with a shrewd and scathing gaze, who occasionally glanced at her critically, as if he were looking at something to be sold—a gaze that always reminded her of her ex-husband, and she was sure that he would strike up a conversation with her at some point after the plane had taken off.

So, she took her laptop out of her suitcase, opened it, put it on her lap, started the document, and pretended to be busy. She has no plans to start her next relationship, at least not yet.

The document is a largely finished speech, with only a few minor minor fixes.

In recent years, she has become accustomed to writing these kinds of speeches, even more often than she writes her academic reports, running around to raise money for the Alex Foundation. Some people can understand the content of her speech, some people can't, and voices accusing her of being too radical have also been heard from time to time. To this day, there are still those who believe that Alex is just another joke, a copy of the horse named "Clever Hans", relying on the unintentional hints of others to answer questions, and others say that her insights into animal brains are empty and have no evidence to back it up.

Yes, there is no evidence to back it up, because the only "evidence" has left this world forever.

There are several other African grey parrots in her lab, all of which are excellent, but none of them are as good as Alex. It was a genius—she became more and more convinced of that after it was gone.

As Alex's story made her famous, the lab's funding became more relaxed, so that Alex didn't have to be crammed into a small room of less than 6 square meters with two other parrots and a large living person as he did many years ago. It's Alex's legacy, but it's a shame that it's no longer enjoyable.

She tilted her head slightly, staring at her face in the reflection of the porthole. She was wearing a gray-black suit with a turtleneck underneath, and it was a little cold in Los Angeles today, and she was a little old, her face had many more wrinkles than ten years ago, and her skin was weakly loose.

It's been ten years since Alex died, and she still can't let it go.

Why Grey Parrots?

So many people asked her this question that she had to put her answer to this sentence in the first paragraph of her speech.

The African grey parrot is one of the most popular pets for humans, as early as 4,000 years ago in ancient Egyptian murals appeared as a pet, they are the easiest to learn, and the easiest to articulate human language.

As she stared at the hazy Los Angeles International Airport, she couldn't help but recall that her first encounter with Alex was at a pet store near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, when he was 1 year old and squatting in a cage with eight other birds waiting to be adopted, and she chose it, a 1 in 9 chance.

Not far away, there was a huge Boeing 787 passenger plane parked on the runway, such a behemoth usually flies on international routes, and she couldn't help but wonder where the plane would fly? Russia, China, Australia, or some other distant country? The airport passenger ladder car has been evacuated, the cabin door is closed, and the 787 is following the instructions of the control tower, ready to take off to vacate the runway.

The captain's announcement sounded in the cabin:

"The plane is about to take off, and now the cabin attendants are doing the security checks. Please sit down, fasten your seat belt, and put away the seat back and small table. Make sure your belongings are properly stowed in the overhead rack and under the seat. This flight is non-smoking, please do not smoke during the flight. ”

She pursed her lips and smiled, closed the lid of her laptop, and held it in her arms, as if her plane was about to go one step ahead.

After a while, the plane shuddered slightly, slowly taxied, and gradually accelerated, overtaking the 787 parked on the runway from behind.

The moment the two planes passed by, her eyes seemed to catch a familiar gray in one of the cabin windows of the 787. She snorted softly and quickly turned to the side, trying to keep the gray in view for an extra second or two.

She couldn't really see it because of the hazy rain and the distance, but she was sure it was an African gray parrot, as she was all too familiar with their size.

A grey parrot that follows its owner in the cabin!

If she guessed correctly, its owner was probably also her fellow scientist, and she went to great lengths to apply for a scientific certificate so that she could travel with her without having to be locked in a cage - she was glad for it, which showed that the owner loved it and cared about its feelings.

For a moment, she wondered if it could be Alex, but then she smiled self-deprecatingly and shook her head, banishing the crazy thought from her mind. She must have missed Alex too much to have such an unrealistic idea.

It's been 10 years since Alex passed away on September 6, 2007......

The plane shuddered slightly, tilted its nose, and lightly left the runway and plunged into the embrace of the sky.

The 787 on the ground was getting smaller and smaller, and it seemed that it was also starting to taxi on the runway, about to take off.

She straightened up and leaned back in relief.

It's been ten years, and it's time to put it down.

This may be her last speech as she is retiring. She no longer worries that Alex's legacy will be inherited, like the scientist in the 787 just now, didn't he just carry a gray parrot for scientific research? It must be very good, probably as good as Alex, otherwise it would not be so easy to get the scientific research certificate that accompanies him in the cabin. Its owner must have done a great job, even better than she did, because she had never taken Alex out of the country.

She was relieved to have others and parrots continuing the path she had blazed hand in hand with Alex.

She looked forward to the day when she would see the gray parrot on TV and see the news that the world was screaming for. She sincerely hopes that it will stay healthy and go far beyond Alex.

The cabin radio sounded again:

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have left Los Angeles for Chicago. During this journey, we prepared lunch for you. We will announce the announcement when the meal is served. ”

She had already decided that when she left the Chicago airport, she would go to the same pet store as it had been decades ago, and see if it was still there, and if so, she was going to choose another parrot from the store, the gray one. This time it's not for scientific research, it's just to accompany myself for the rest of my retirement life.

Full of anticipation, a smile appeared on her lips.

……

The flight attendants also sat in the exclusive seats of the flight attendants, and Zhang Zi'an's vision was blocked, so he reluctantly withdrew his gaze.

He glanced sideways at Richard and reminded: "The plane is about to take off—I heard this English correctly, right? You sit down quickly! I said, you got cervical spondylosis as soon as you arrived in the United States, or what's wrong? What are you doing looking at the sky when you're idle? What is there in the sky??"

Richard blinked quickly and said calmly, "It's nothing, Uncle Ben's eyes are in the sand again." ”