"What's up with the bird?" asked Betty hates Veronica walking up behind Miss Blimey, who was leaning over a small table looking intently at the still feathery form before her.

"I don't know, I think he's broken," replied Miss Blimey looking up at her first mate, screwdriver in hand.

"Broken?" asked Betty H.V.

"I think the rain caused more trouble than he would care to admit," explained Miss Blimey.

"So, what then?" asked Betty H.V.

"We take him back to the manufacturer. He's got a warranty," said Miss Blimey.

"Right, I knew this bird was more trouble than he was worth," said Betty H.V.

"That may be so", replied Miss Blimey. "But I need this parrot fixed, so we're going to Mexico."

"Mexico?!" stated Betty H.V.

"Yes, his label says he was made there, he's also dry cleanable," stated Miss Blimey firmly, standing up and going to set course.

"Flippin' heck," said Betty H.V.

Arriving in some small Mexican town that evening all was quiet. Miss Blimey moored the Raven for a reasonable price and headed into town to search for any signs of life. Arriving the nearest Taverna she drew many a strange and parting glance, in that those who looked at her wished she would leave. There was a curse upon this town, as Miss Blimey would soon find out, so it was nothing personal. Not long after Miss Blimey had ordered her third margarita Betty hates Veronica joined her, carrying Rawkous's lifeless form, wrapped in plastic.

"What's he wrapped up for?" asked Miss Blimey.

"I thought he'd go off," replied Betty H.V, realising how foolish she sounded as soon as the words left her mouth.

"A clockwork parrot?" laughed Miss Blimey, and Betty H.V humbly dropped Rawkous on the table.

"We don't serve their kind," stated the barmaid coming over to take their next drinks order.

"He's not a 'kind', he's dead," said Miss Blimey.

"Yes, well you can't have it on the table," replied the barmaid.

"Fine, he can go in my pocket," replied Miss Blimey trying to casually stuff the bird into pockets she did not possess.

"Stop it!" said Betty H.V, taking the bird from Miss Blimey and putting it into her travel satchel. Miss Blimey giggled into her margarita.

"What are we going to do?" asked Betty H.V.

"Sleep on it, we'll get him fixed tomorrow," said Miss Blimey ordering yet more drinks. Soon the table was a field of glasses and the girls happily oblivious to the strange goings on in the bar. They hadn't even noticed the giant squirrel sitting in the corner or the duck quaking away at the piano. Which is odd really as you think they might have.

The following day Miss Blimey and Betty H.V were up early despite their efforts from the night before. After an hour of traipsing around the narrow streets of the small town they finally managed to track down the curious shop where Rawkous had originally come from. Miss Blimey pushed open the door and entered the dusty insides of the shop, followed by Betty H.V. A musty smell hung over everything, and the walls were lined with shelves upon which sat murky jars of this and that. Out of the shadows emerged a man, hunched over as though crippled by some heavy weight that sat on his shoulders. He moved towards Miss Blimey, but at the last moment changed direction and instead reached for the satchel that Betty hates Veronica was carrying. Inside was the parrot.

"So you have come to return him to me?" he asked, his accent heavy.

"Not to return him, we just want him fixed," clarified Miss Blimey.

"Yes of course," said the man, grinning silently to himself.

"How long will it take?" asked Betty H.V, impatient to leave. She could sense something was not quite right here.

"Hmmmm, about twenty of your minutes," was the cryptic reply.

"Fine, we'll come back," sighed Miss Blimey turning and striding over to the door. She found it to be locked.

"Hey, what gives? Can you open this thing?" she asked becoming angry.

"Why don't you just wait here while I fix him?" asked the man.

"Ah sure, OK then," replied Miss Blimey slowly. Her brain was whirring over the possibilities in her head. Either this guy was a psycho or this guy was a psycho. Who goes around locking customers in their shop? How could they get out though. Smashing a window didn't look like much fun, there was crap everywhere in this place. She turned to Betty hates Veronica.

"Don't look at me, I didn't even wanna come here," she said.

"Point taken, but we still have to retrieve the bird and get out of here, I really didn't want to have to kill anyone today," sighed Miss Blimey.

"OK, let's just wait til he comes back and see what happens," replied Betty H.V.

Minutes later Rawkous flew out of the curtained back room. The girls hadn't even seen it there. Rawkous perched happily on Miss Blimey's shoulder, but was silent.

"You all right bird?" asked Miss Blimey.

"Shhhhhh" hissed the bird and dropped a key into Miss Blimey's cleavage.

"Hey what?" asked Miss Blimey looking at the bird but she had no time to hear the answer. At that moment there was an explosion just beside here. She jumped out of the way causing Rawkous to seek refuge on the back of a chair.

"What the hell was that?" yelled Betty H.V.

"Give me my damn parrot back!" demanded the odd shop keeper by way of an answer as he emerged from behind the curtain brandishing a bag of corn chips.

"He's my parrot now," replied Miss Blimey firmly whilst trying to find the key.

Reaching into the bag of corny goodness the man pulled out a single chip. Flinging his arm back and then forward, as was the style of throwing he employed, he threw the chip at Miss Blimey. Thinking quickly she jumped out of the way and the chip hit an old lamp, blowing it to smithereens.

"Cripes, sploding nachos!" yelled Betty H.V. "Where's that key?"

"Right here" answered Miss Blimey. "But first things first of course," she added clutching the key in one hand, her trusty cutlass in the other.

Another corn chip was sailing through the air towards her. Miss Blimey deflected it deftly with her blade, sending the chip sailing back in the direction from whence it came. In a blinding flash characterised by a blistering scream the store keepers head was blown straight off. His body crumpled to the floor.

"Tequila?" asked Miss Blimey, turning to her friend who was gaping at the scene. Rawkous swoo hoo'd in the silence where Betty H.V's reply should have been.

"You got that key?" countered Betty H.V regaining her composure.

Back on the Raven Miss Blimey and Betty H.V cracked open one of the several bottles of Tequila they had been given as a reward by the mayor of the town. Apparently by killing the shop keeper Miss Blimey had inadvertently lifted the curse from the town. Fancy that.

The End