A Parrot That Keeps The Peace
When Jim Eggers gets angry, his body shakes. His vision blurs. His hearing becomes muffled. “It’s like I’m the Incredible Hulk,” says Eggers, “turning from a man into a beast.” Eggers, 47, suffers from bipolar disorder. In fits of rage, he has punched a dent in a car’s hood, poured hot coffee on a neighbor, and yelled at strangers. In 2005, he served a year of probation for threatening to kill the archbishop of St. Louis. Several weeks later, Eggers, an animal lover, bought an African gray parrot he named Sadie. Not surprisingly, the bird soon began imitating words she heard Eggers say, such as hello and good girl. One day, Eggers came home angry. Trying to convince himself to relax, “I started saying…