For a minute we all stared at Tufty.
Then we burst out laughing.
"I can't believe Tufty made that subway sound!" said Josh.
"It sounded like a real subway train!" said Molly.
"But Aunt Lydia said that Tufty has never said a word," said Jenny.
"He didn't say a word," I pointed out.
"He made a sound.
He roared like a subway train!"
"Aunt Lydia lived near the subway," said Josh.
"Maybe Tufty learned to imitate the sound of the trains."
Mrs. O'Donnell looked worried.
"I hope he never does that again," she said.
"We can't keep a noisy parrot in our apartment.
Our neighbors will get very annoyed."
"We have to keep Tufty, Mom," said Molly.
"He's so cute and friendly!
And he's going to help me get better!"
Tufty began cleaning his feathers.
"He's quiet now," said Jenny.
"It's hard to believe he made such a loud noise," said Josh.
Molly's mom shook her head.
"I just hope it doesn't happen again," she said.
We watched as she began to take food out of a big cooler.
"We use this cooler for camping," she said.
"But during a blackout, it really comes in handy too."
Molly's mom had filled the cooler with ice from the market.
She took out fruit, juice, and some eggs.
"These eggs are still cold," she said.
"I'll have to throw them out if the refrigerator doesn't come back on soon."
Molly's mom made us a snack of peanut butter, crackers, and fruit.
We all drank some juice.
Tufty sat on top of his cage and watched us.
Then he flew down and pecked at cracker crumbs that fell on the floor.
Luckily, he didn't make any more subway sounds.
Suddenly Caswell called from the living room, "Guess what I'm doing!"
"Uh-oh," said Molly's mother.
Josh, Jenny, and I hurried into the living room.
Caswell was peering out of the window.
Beside him was the carton of eggs that Mrs. O'Donnell had been storing in the cooler.
Several of the eggs were missing.
"Hey!" yelled a man from the street below.
"Who's dropping raw eggs on the sidewalk?"
Mrs. O'Donnell ran into the room.
"Caswell, what are you doing?" she cried.
"I'm making fried eggs," said Caswell.
"Iggy's mom said it was hot enough to fry eggs on the sidewalk."
I started laughing.
"That's one way to cook them!" I said.
"Caswell, she didn't mean you could really fry eggs on the sidewalk," said Josh.
"That's just an expression," I explained.
"It means that it's very, very hot outside."
Caswell looked disappointed.
"So the eggs won't really cook?"
"No, and you had better clean up the mess right now!" said Mrs. O'Donnell.
She looked at the rest of us.
"Can you please help him?"
Josh, Jenny, and I went downstairs with Caswell and cleaned up the eggs from the sidewalk.
Mr. Calabria helped us.
"I talked to the workmen," he said.
"Our electricity will be back on tomorrow."
I groaned. "That means another hot night," I thought.
"At least we can have fun with Tufty,"
said Molly when we got back upstairs.
That night my battery fan hummed on my dresser, blowing air around the room.
From somewhere far away, I could hear another sound.
Whoo! Whoo!
"A train whistle?" I thought sleepily.
"I never heard a train whistle from my room before."
I should have known it wasn't a real train whistle.
After all, it was coming from Molly's apartment, right across the hall!