Rosa and Brenda

Rosa and her little sister Brenda sitting in the sand.

“Where’s Brenda?” shouted Sybil.

“Where’s Rosa?” asked George, not ready to panic just yet.

“They’re out here,” shouted an overly excited Elisabeth who was outside having just finished hatha yoga with Pawo.

“What?” the entire nest shouted, running to look out of the window, where they saw Elisabeth standing with Rosa and Brenda not far from her.

“What are you doing out there?” shouted a still panicky Sybil, quickly putting on her shoes so that she could run outside and grab her two youngest children.

“Rosa told me she was taking Brenda to show and tell.”

“What!” shouted the entire nest again. Sybil was the first to fly down to where Rosa and Brenda were sitting in the sand.

“What are you doing out here little one, with the littlest one?”

“I told you Sybil, Rosa was taking her to school for show and tell.” Sybil ignored her cousin and walked over to the two sandpipers.

“Yes, mummy. I was taking Brenda to show and tell.”

“But without asking me or your father?”

“Because you would say no.”

“Probably in all likelihood, but you still have to ask us before you can do that. Your sister is too young to go outside, she has to be fed every few minutes. How were you going to do that?”

“Oh,” responded Rosa.

“Come on littlest one, let’s go back to the nest.” But Brenda was exhausted from her little jaunt out in the sand and waited for George to fly down and help her back. Brenda was disappointed. She was looking forward to going to school with her favourite sister and now she wasn’t able to do that. She looked as if she was going to cry. Elisabeth noticed that.

“I think you’re being very hard on Rosa and Brenda.”

“Buzz off,” replied Sybil with that patented evil look on her face, “before I get one of the seagulls to dive bomb you.” Elisabeth rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.

Once George had got Brenda back indoors, Sybil joined them and took Brenda back to Rosa’s room and put her back in her crib. Rosa in the meantime continued her slow walk to school. “Now what can I do for show and tell?” she moaned.

Jeremy who came out of his nest each morning to watch Elisabeth do her yoga overhead his niece and decided to help her out. “You can take me,” he replied eager to help.

“No thanks uncle, you’re old news.” That struck Jeremy hard, and he turned and began to sulk. “Sorry uncle, but I had told everyone that I had a surprise for them this morning and now I don’t.”

“You can take me and I can tell them all about suing bad people,” Elisabeth thought it was good idea. Jermey thought so too.

“How about taking the two of us and we can show your classmates what a happy couple looks like.”

“Buzz off!” replied Elisabeth, “before I got a seagull to dive bomb you.”

“Guys, guys, guys,” interjected Rosa knowing that wasn’t going the way she had planned. “I’m just going to go by myself and let the class know I couldn’t pull it off,” and with that, she began her walk again.

This all started a few weeks earlier when the news of Sybil’s impending delivery had made the rounds through the entire communities of Snead’s Ferry, Surf City, Top Sail and North Topsail Beach.

“Brenda!” Elisabeth said rather loudly, “who came up with a name like Brenda?” The Blau family turned in unison and looked at Rosa.

“What?” Rosa asked, acting as if she didn’t know what they were talking about. “What?” she repeated but this time with a little smile on her expressive face.

“Did you come up with the name Brenda?” asked Elisabeth who had entered the nest after deciding to spend the day in the company of her extended family, who could also act as a foil to Jeremy.

“I think it’s a great name,” Rosa began her defence in earnest.

“It is yes, if you didn’t live on a beach and instead lived in the mountains of Nepal!”

Rosa was seemingly lost but didn’t want to pursue that. “Guys, guys, guys,” she continued, “Brenda is a very strong name. I like girls called Brenda.”

“Have you ever met a girl called Brenda?” asked Julia.

“No, but all my dolls are called Brenda. It sounds strong, doesn’t it?”

“And what if the baby is a boy?” Rosa looked down at the ground. It wasn’t something she had given much thought to. She had convinced herself over the last few weeks, especially after coming to terms that she would no longer be the youngest in the family and had decided to take an active role in raising the baby sandpiper in her own image, or at least one she felt she deserved. “Oh,” she began and then smiled looking up at her entire family. “In that case if it’s a boy, we shall name him Heathcliff.”

“Heathcliff!” the rest of the Blau family uttered in unison.

“Where did that come from?” asked Sybil, who was actually very proud of her youngest daughter and the manner in which she was handling the crowd of malevolents. Her parents would be proud of their granddaughter.

“That’s your favourite book, mummy.”

Everyone’s attention turned to Sybil, “you like Emily Brontë?” she was asked and now she found herself in Rosa’s corner as she perceived she was under attack.

George all this time stood with Timmy on the outer edges of the group feeling that the discussion should stay feminine. But now his wife was under attack, and this was where he felt he needed to step in.

“Don’t you like Wuthering Heights?” he asked the group who immediately turned to confront him.

“Have you ever read it?” he was asked.

“Yes, I have, a long time ago in school.”

“And which school was that?” asked Elisabeth believing George was making that up.

“Milburn High School,” he replied and that had the desired effect. Everyone stopped talking to try and process what he had just said. George took advantage of the lull to reach into the circle and extract both Rosa and Sybil.

Julia walked into the kitchen leaving Elisabeth by herself, but not for long. “What’s this I hear about a naming ceremony?” it was Jeremy who had walked in from his daily jaunt along the ocean, where he found it conducive to writing his poetry. “Would you like to hear the poem I just wrote for you?” he asked Elisabeth as she took a few steps back from him.

“No, I wouldn’t. Why don’t you recite it to the seagulls and see how many words you can get out before they rip you apart!” Jeremy wasn’t hurt. He felt that Elisabeth really liked him and had been playing hard to get for the last few years. In fact, as long as they had been in North Carolina. He laughed.

“You’ll love it,” he continued. It was time for Elisabeth to fly away which she did without warning.

“Why don’t you read it to me?” asked Melody whose voice bellowed from underneath the nest.

“No thanks. It’s for Sandpipers like us, not cats,” and with that he flew away as well.

The Blau family stood around not quite sure what the next order of business was. It was a Sunday. There wasn’t any school, just a day to kicking sand in the faces of seagulls and plan for the upcoming week.