Rosa the Rainbow

Rosa running home from school

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” shouted Rosa as she crashed through the front door of the nest, shedding her book bag along the way and then bumping into her father George, who stood in the hallway to greet his second youngest daughter when she came home from school. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” she shouted again nearly knocking him over. And then after a brief second, during which the entire nest stood anxiously wondering what had gone wrong, Rosa continued. “I know what I want to be when I grow up!”

“A vet and a nurse,” answered George who thought he knew how his daughter’s mind worked. But he was obviously wrong.

“And a rainbow.”

“And a rainbow?” questioned George not quite understanding Rosa.

“Yes, daddy. I also want to be a rainbow.”

George laughed. Sybil stood at the entrance to the kitchen, always hoping to catch Rosa on her way to see what Julia had made for her and Julia in the kitchen. Julia for her part smiled believing Rosa had finally flipped.

“But a sandpiper can’t be a rainbow,” said George not quite sure how to let his daughter down slowly. “And anyway,” he continued, “how did you come up with such an idea?”

“Well Julia said earlier when I was outside with my bestest friend Anjali, that living around here is like being on Noah’s ark because we are surrounded by all sorts of animals. So, I saw Timmy with his friend Max and asked him who’s Noah and that’s when Timmy sat me down and explained to me about Noah.”

“That’s wonderful!” replied George who was always in favour of his children learning about the bible, “but I still don’t get the business about being a rainbow.”

By this time Rosa had exhausted all her words and wanted to go into the kitchen for her snack, but realised she couldn’t until she explained it all to her father. “Well daddy, didn’t God say to Noah I’m going to put a rainbow in the sky when the rains stop to show you that I will never destroy the earth again with a flood?”

George nodded slowly, “kind of, but not quite.”

“But didn’t God say that about the rainbow?” Rosa was getting a little annoyed because her latest pronouncement was turning out to be a little longer than she had expected. She just wanted her father to say ok and leave it at that. However George being the Rabbi, thought it was an opportune moment to get his daughter to understand the really meaning of Noah’s ark. But George as usual, made things a little more difficult for himself. “How are you going to become a rainbow?”

Rosa immediately replied. “I don’t know. You’re the daddy and daddies can fix everything for their children.”

What was poor George to do? So, he took the line of least resistance and that was to agree with his daughter. “Ok Rosa, I’ll work on it.”

“Good boy,” she replied giving him a well-deserved kiss on the cheek, after which she worked herself out of her father’s wings, picked up her book bag before Sybil said something and walked slowly towards the kitchen where Sybil stepped in front of the door with her wings wide open. “Hello mummy,” said Rosa in a well-rehearsed routine giving her a peck on the cheek after which Sybil stood aside and let Rosa walk into the kitchen where she jumped up on the counter after dropping her book bag on the floor.

Sybil was watching. “Rosa,” she said sternly and immediately Rosa jumped off the counter, picked up her book bag, left the kitchen, opened the door to her bedroom and dumped the bag on the floor and walked back out. She then stopped for a second, walked back in stopped and came out.

“Where’s Brenda?” she asked not seeing her youngest sister who normally would be taking her afternoon nap in her crib.

“Oh,” replied Sybil, “she’s on the deck standing up against the railings to see if she can bring the entire nest down on herself.”

“What!” cried Rosa forgetting about her snack and opening the door to the deck. She smiled and turned to stare at her mother. “No, she isn’t,” she said slowly, “Brenda is fast asleep on daddy’s lounge chair. You nearly had me there, mummy. Good for you.”

“But why do you want to be a rainbow, young lady?”

“Because,” replied Rosa walking back into the kitchen where Julia was busy cutting onions for dinner. “Because then I can tell everyone about what God said to Noah. What are you making for dinner?”

“Casserole,” replied Julia.

“What sort of casserole?” asked Rosa really not in the mood to hear the answer which she wouldn’t like.

“Chicken and cheese casserole.”

Rosa slid off the counter and lay on the floor. “Why chicken again?”

“Well, I told you before. We live like Noah. So, I thought it would be best if we start eating the animals around us and then we won’t feel we are living in an ark.”

“But what about my rainbow? If we don’t have all these animals around, then I can’t be a rainbow. Daddy,” she shouted forgetting again about her snack. “Daddy, it’s not fair. Why are we having chicken and cheese again?”

“Young lady,” replied Sybil who hadn’t moved away from the kitchen door, “young lady, since when have you known this family to have meat and cheese together?”

Rosa stopped in her tracks, “oh,” she replied and with that she walked back into the kitchen, “what do I have for a snack?”

Julia didn’t reply and instead pulled something out from under the kitchen towel and gave it to Rosa who immediately started jumping up and down. “A bagel!” she shouted.

“No, Rosa, it’s a doughnut.”

“Well, it’s round.”

“Yes, but bagels aren’t sweet and doughnuts are.”

“Where did that come from?” asked Sybil turning around. “Are there enough for all of us?”

“No mummy. I stole it from the teacher’s lounge on my way home.”

“I hope no one saw you.”

“Mrs Benjamin did. She told me to take them all…”

“And why didn’t you?” interrupted Sybil.

“I did mummy there were only two left, one for Rosa and one for me”

Suddenly everyone burst out laughing and Rosa walked out on to the deck to say hi to Melody and see if Brenda was awake. “Hi Brenda,” said Rosa offering her a small bite of her doughnut. “I’m going to be a rainbow when I grow up.” Rosa plonked herself on a chair next to where Brenda had been asleep.

“Cool,” replied Melody from below the nest, “I can’t wait to see you all lit up.”

Rosa rolled her eyes not wanting to explain to Melody that rainbows don’t light up. The sun was still warm, and the occasional seagull floated above and then all of a sudden, one flew down and swiped the doughnut out of Rosa’s wing and flew off.

Rosa began to cry. It was the first time Brenda had ever seen her sister cry and so she began to cry as well and a few seconds later the entire family, with the exception of Elizabeth, Jeremy, Timmy, Julia and Melody were on the deck trying to console Rosa. Finally, Julia walked onto the deck with her wings behind her back. When she reached Rosa, she presented her with a doughnut. Everyone gasped. “I thought it was for you.” Julia smiled, “yes it was, but Rosa can have mine.”