“The Green Parrot”
Joseph Payne Brennan
available in Nine Horrors and a Dream
paperback $9.95
ebook $7.96

Today’s post serves two purposes. Not only is it a ghost story, but today, December 20, is the birthday of Joseph Payne Brennan (1918-1990).

“The Green Parrot” is a brief little tale. The unnamed narrator, whom the reader will probably assume to be an alter ego of Brennan since the story is in first person, is a writer who has moved to a small inn in the hills of Connecticut to finish a book. In late November he decides to take an afternoon off since he is on schedule and drive about the countryside.

And on the way back he takes a shortcut…

These types of things are never a good idea.

The shortcut turns out to be a badly repaired road. While passing through a dense thicket of hemlocks, a green parrot flies in front of him, nearly causing him to wreck.  He gets out of the car to find an old woman standing by the side of the road. She tells him the bird is her pet, and as the bird has escaped, would the narrator help her catch him.

So the narrator sets off into the darkening woods…

You can probably guess what’s going on.  I won’t spoil the story for you.  You can read it for yourself. It’s nicely told, While not one of the giants of the field, Brennan was consistent. I’ve lamented before that no one has published a career retrospective on his work.  At least some of his collections are being reprinted.