Eight Uncles' Beloved Treasure (Lily)

Chapter 9 Stubborn

Gilbert continued to accompany Lilly in her efforts to persuade the parrot after chasing Debbie away. He was irritated at the prospect of having to sweet-talk an animal into following them home rather than trapping it.

“Come on, Polly. I’ll feed you delicious meat if you come down,” the man coaxed.

The parrot stared at Gilbert and shook its head. “No meat. No meat! No fat!”

When he saw the animal was refusing to cooperate, he took a deep breath and resorted to his last resort, “Lilly, let’s go. Ignore the parrot.”

Tears welled up in Lilly’s eyes as she clutched Gilbert’s shirt and begged, “Please, Uncle Gilbert. Don’t abandon Polly.”

It broke his heart to watch Lilly in such distress. Hence, he apologized, “I’m sorry, Lilly. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have said that.” He wanted to slap himself hard when he realized that he had forgotten the little girl was overly protective of her friends.

Lilly was surprised because that was the first time anyone had apologized to her. She smiled and patted Gilbert on the shoulder. “It’s all right, Uncle Gilbert.”

Even though she had expressed her regrets in the past, no one had assured her that everything was fine. The little girl promptly comforted her uncle, knowing that the apologizer would feel horrible if she did not respond.

They then turned their focus to the parrot.

“Polly, be good now. Uncle Gilbert didn’t mean to trick you. He isn’t a bad person,” Lilly assured.

“I’m sorry, Polly. Please come down. We are going to Clodston and the garden there was huge. We can even find you a female friend…”

to the backyard to look for Lilly and Gilbert after they had been missing for a long time. They were taken aback by the duo’s peculiar behavior, and upon further clarification, they discovered that Lilly had returned to the Hatcher mansion in search of the

me, Gilbert? What’s so difficult about persuading a parrot? Why

parrot would be difficult; Gilbert had

Polly started singing, “Gilby

“Why don’t you do it if you’re

and learn!” Edward scoffed and raised one arm. “Squawk! Squawk! Squawk!” The man

eyes and thought, Uncle Edward looks like a

his arms and uttered, “It’s just a parrot. Why does he need

Dumb

response, Edward pointed at the

me!” Polly flapped its wings

incredulous expression; he was horrified by the animal’s

Jonas looks obedient but deep down he’s mean. Uncle Edward looks like a fiery dragon, always on the verge of exploding. My mummy’s brothers are so unique. I think I

Jonas’, she averted her gaze and pretended everything was all right. The man smirked when he saw how timid the little girl was. He then spoke,

you know

out laughing and replied, “Are you an

about to throw a tantrum, Bryson called out, “Jonas is right.

leaving the girl with her toy rabbit. She turned to face the parrot

Even Edward’s heart was softened; she reminded him of his sister, Jean, when she was

Lilly. It then flapped its wings toward the girl, but as it was ready to land on her shoulder, Paula’s voice echoed through the backyard. “There you