looking for a parrot

"Hello. This is Officer [Something-or-other], down at the police station, and I'm looking for a parrot."

Answered the phone at work the other night, and -- that was what the guy said, after I said, "Good evening, da-Da-da, da-Da-da [name of company]!"

"Yes, hello. This is Officer Whozis down at the police station, and I'm looking for a parrot." Very strong, calm, and business-like.
------------------------------- Any time you answer the phone, you do not know exactly what's coming; at the same time it mostly, in this business anyway, isn't ever anything terribly surprising, now that I have worked here for a while.

But this was --
something a little different.
A parrot.
OK.
(You know how your mind sort of jumps around and starts creating a construct to make the thing you see or hear make sense? Like -- ok, it must be this, or it could be that. ...)
I thought, -- "There's a lost parrot. Someone's pet. Somehow it got out; someone accidently left the cage door open. And the parrot is somewhere in our town, flying around, and -- even the police are helping to search for the lost parrot! -- that's so nice! Why are they calling here? Do they believe the parrot has flown out here? Why?
Now, it's dark out -- will we be able to see a parrot? They have brightly-colored feathers, don't they? Maybe we'll be able to see it in the dark ... ?..."

----------------------------
Mind working on Parrot Scenario, I remained still in my chair, holding the telephone receiver, not having anything to say. I was at a loss.

Policeman: "Yeah, I have a teenager here who's been drinking, and..."
(The person who let the parrot out was a drunk teenager?)
"...he says his dad works out there. The parent's name is ________________ ."

"Was the kid drinking and driving?" I asked.
"No, but he was in the car." [Well if he had a designated driver, which is what people are supposed to do, if they've been drinking, then why are you bothering him? And where's the parrot, in this second problem you're having?]

[In Brain -- DING!]: ("I'm Officer whatever-it-is, and I'm looking for a parent.")

-----------------------------
I believe the thing your brain does when it is trying to make a story to go with something you don't quite comprehend, is the Same Thing the brain does when you hear a joke -- we must "leap," mentally, to fill in the blank and figure it out. And to -- as people say about jokes -- "get it."

That is the pleasurable thing -- the fast-figuring-it-out.
Like -- when you tell this joke, the recipient has to quickly-figure-out WHAT is the stereotype / implication and hurry to meet you at the bottom line. Or punch-line. --

Do you know why only 500 Mexicans attcked the Alamo?
No, why?

They ony had two cars.

-30-