For her birthday, Annabelle got a parrot. He was a big parrot. He was red and blue and green.

Best of all, he talked! He said, “hello.” He said, “goodbye.” He said, “welcome to the rainbow room.” So Annabelle named him Rainbow.

Annabelle tried to teach Rainbow other words. She tried to get him to say “Annabelle.” But he wouldn’t. She tried to get him to say “happy birthday.” But he couldn’t.

Then one day, he did say something new. He said, “HELP!”

Annabelle looked at Rainbow. He looked fine to her. He didn’t seem to need help.

The next day, Rainbow said another new word. He said, “Friday.” But it was only Wednesday.

The next day he said, “three.” Annabelle had no idea what he meant.

The next day was Friday. Rainbow talked all day. “HELP! Friday. Three,” he said. Over and over.

Annabelle wondered. Was something happening today at three o’clock? Was something happening to someone who needed help?

Then Annabelle had an idea. She asked her mom if she could use the computer. She searched on the Internet. She typed in “rainbow room.” It was a restaurant!

Annabelle explained everything to her mom. “Can you drive me and Rainbow to the Rainbow Room?” she asked.

Her mom did. Her dad came along too, just in case. He was a police officer.

Annabelle was glad he came. Because when they arrived, someone was robbing the restaurant!

When the robber ran out with all the money, Annabelle’s dad arrested him. The owner of the Rainbow Room was very thankful. And as soon as he saw Rainbow, he smiled.

“Hello!” he said to Rainbow. “This parrot used to belong to our restaurant,” he explained. “But we couldn’t keep him. So we sold him to the pet store.”

“That makes sense,” said Annabelle. “But I wonder how he knew about the robbery?”

“I know the robber,” said the owner. “He used to eat here a lot. Maybe the parrot heard his plans.”

“You saved the day, Rainbow!” said Annabelle.

“So did you,” Annabelle’s dad said to her. “You solved Rainbow’s riddle!”