A lost and found story as told by our friend Gary Frisch . In February of 2009, I got my kids a pet parakeet, which we named Twitter. This was a special bird, and warmed to my family right away. He was blue, white and grey, very distinctive looking. Sadly, on Dec. 27 that year, Twitter escaped from our third floor apartment when my 10 year old son accidentally left the sliding door to our deck open for a minute. A family search of the area yielded no bird. I posted a "missing bird" sign in the apartment complex clubhouse, offering a reward, and there was a confirmed sighting of Twitter a couple of days later. Based on that sighting, I spent the next two or three weeks searching the apartment complex for the elusive blue bird. Despite heavy snowfall, I continued to search, and placed his cage with food near where he'd been last seen. No luck. I finally came to the conclusion that we'd never see Twitter again.

My son, missing the bird and feeling guilty, said he hoped Twitter found someplace good to live. I smiled and lied that I'm sure he did. We moved on and bought another parakeet, which never was as sociable as Twitter. Flash forward to June 29, more than six months later. Walking in my complex, I saw a little Asian girl carrying a birdcage. I knew this girl from my son's bus stop, and asked if I could see her bird. I was just trying to be friendly. Imagine my surprise when I saw a blue, white and grey parakeet! I asked where she got the bird, and she said she found it on her deck in December. I told her this was my bird. We walked to her apartment, which was in the same building as mine, where I spoke with the girl's mother. Her younger brother said if it was my bird, they should return it to me. I offered them a reward. The girl asked me a list of questions to confirm that I was, in fact, the rightful owner. Questions like, "Does he talk?" (No) "Does he let you pet him?" (Yes). Finally, the kids and their mom walked back to my apartment, where I showed them a photo of Twitter with my daughter hanging on the wall, and introduced them to our replacement bird. Any doubt was eliminated. The kids accepted a $30 reward, and let me borrow the cage until I could put the two birds together. When I called my son at his mom's house to tell him, there was silence, then bawling. He was so happy, and I suspect, relieved and a little vindicated. I felt like I saw something come back from the dead. In fact, the bird was living in our building for the previous 6 months, unbeknownst to us. I've since started calling Twitter the miracle bird. If you want to hear more from Gary and Twitter, contact Gary at his PR agency  @gfrisch at www.swordfishcomm.com