A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 28

This is the eighth year in a row I’ve run this series in April.

Today’s story: Parrot Re-Enacts Murder It Witnessed.

The wife of a Michigan man who was fatally shot five times was arrested after officials acted on evidence obtained from a parrot who allegedly witnessed the murder. Martin Duram was murdered in 2015 by his wife Glenna, prosecutors allege, before she turned the gun on herself but was unsuccessful in killing herself. The parrot allegedly re-enacted the encounter the Durams had before the killing, at one point saying, “don’t fucking shoot.” Glenna Duram is charged with first-degree murder and felony firearm possession, and prosecutors have not ruled out using the parrot as evidence.

I see this article and my mind goes: Parrot sees a Mafia hit. Can ‘finger’ the hit man in court. But bird is in danger. Solution? Witness protection program. Hahaha! Ridiculous idea!

So I start looking for a photograph for this post and on a whim, I type “parrot witness relocation” and boom — The story of Echo!

Echo was owned by a New Orleans crime boss and he’d been at the wrong place at the wrong time, seen something he wasn’t supposed to, and wouldn’t stop talking about it. All this chatter meant he was making himself into a potential target.

Because Echo isn’t a person, he couldn’t enter an actual witness protection program. At least not officially.

Well. Evidently my ridiculous idea actually happened in real life. It’s Paulie meets My Blue Heaven.

Booyah! Disney family movie. Somebody go write this!

There you go: My twenty eighth story idea for the month. And it’s yours. Free!

Each day this month, I invite you to click on RESPONSES and join me to do some further brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when you play around with it. These are all valuable skills for a writer to develop.

See you in comments. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.

For other posts in my A Story Idea Each Day for a Month (2017) series, go here.