Getting the bird

Sometimes, you read a news story that is just too good to be true. Not because the news is positive or the story has a happy ending, but because it is so unbelievable that nobody would dare to make it up.

I came across just such a story last Friday, while reading The Wall Street Journal over lunch. This might not be everyone's idea of a good time, but I like the newspaper a lot, particularly since it changed to a handy tabloid format.

The story in question is about a character called Luke, the Bank of America Corporation, and a 46-year-old woman called Angela Iannelli, who lives just north of Pittsburgh.

Bank of America sent a contractor to Ms Iannelli's house last October. While she was away, the contractor entered the house, cut off her utilities, changed the lock and secured the property.

With rising unemployment and falling house prices, millions of mortgage borrowers in the US have defaulted on their payments and/or had their properties taken over by their banks.

The problem in this particular case, however, was that Bank of America made a serious boo-boo. Ms. Iannelli hadn't defaulted on her payments more than once, nor had she left her property vacant as the bank seemed to believe.

No wonder Ms Iannelli was so furious and is suing the bank for damages of more than $50,000.

But what about the character called Luke in this story? Well, he was Ms Iannelli's 11-year-old pet parrot, and the Bank of America's contractor stole him, too, when he secured her property. Quite!

Ms Iannelli and Luke were separated for more than a week, and Ms Iannelli claimed she needed medication for the resulting emotional distress.

Maynard and Ian before the fight

"Just wait until your bank breaks in here and steals me," Maynard squawked. "Well, I won't wait for that," he continued angrily, and flew out of the window.

I miss him terribly and do hope he comes back. I promise not to laugh at stolen parrot stories again.