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“Hi daddy! I have a present for you,” said Rosa as she walked through the front door of the nest, dropping her book bag and handing her father an envelope, instead of allowing him to wrap his large wings around her. Rosa then continued walking towards the kitchen. At first, George was a little alarmed at his second eldest daughter’s behaviour. But instead of asking her to come back, he watched to see if she would hug her mother instead, which would mark a giant change in her behaviour. However, she waved to her mother and continued into the kitchen where Julia was waiting for her with a snack she had prepared. Rice Krispy Pie. George finally had to say something as this behaviour was so uncharacteristic of Rosa, and so he called her back. Rosa sighed as she was looking forward to a slice of Rice Krispy Pie and turned around, walked out of the kitchen and stood by her mother. Sybil of course was delighted with this change in Rosa, misreading it as she normally did.

I stood in front of the door. I read the sign above it for the third time. Sam’s Computer Repair Shop. It just didn’t look like any computer service store I’d ever been to. The plate glass windows on either side of the door were blacked out. I hesitated to open the door. I wasn’t afraid of what I might in there. It was just that I had a peculiar feeling. I couldn’t put it into words though. Maybe it was just that whenever I have wanted to get my computer fixed or updated or something I couldn’t handle technologically, I went to a place called Alphatech Computer Sales and Service, and guess what, it looked like a computer repair shop. This place didn’t. When I peered through the glass door it seemed dark inside and even though it’s located on a busy main street, it looked as if it should be in a back alley in a not so nice part of town. But this was where I was told to go by a friend who swore by the place.

“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.”

“You are what you eat!” announced Rosa pushing her salad topped with tuna towards the centre of the table.

Sybil looked at her over the rim of her glasses, something she decided to wear even though she had perfectly good eyesight, after being told by one of the mothers, that it made her look studious. “It’s tuna, little one,” she said quietly, “you love tuna.”

“Yes mummy, I do. But we’ve had it 500 times.” As soon as those words left her mouth, Rosa shot a look over at her aunt Elizabeth who had joined them for dinner. “100 times,” Rosa corrected herself and shot another look over at Elizabeth who said nothing but steadily ate her salad enjoying every mouthful. Much better than what she had at home, and it was made even more pleasurable by Jeremy’s absence. He was on a business trip. Though no one in the Blau family knew what sort of business trip it was.

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” shouted Rosa in her usual manner as she opened the front door of the nest and flew in slamming the door shut behind her. She ran right into her father who as usual was standing a few feet back from the door. As she did so, he wrapped his wings around her. “Daddy guess what?” she asked stepping back to look around her father’s portly figure to see if her mother was standing in her usual place, barring her entry into the kitchen before giving her at least a kiss. But her mother wasn’t in her usual place.

“What Rosa?” asked George, but for the moment Rosa had been sidetracked. She didn’t like change much, and to her Sybil not standing guard over the entrance to the kitchen was change.

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” Shouted Rosa running out on to the deck where she stood next to her father as he lay on his chair reading the Sandpit Times. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” Rosa repeated, “can you buy me a farm?”

George turned, lowered his sunglasses and looked at his youngest daughter. “Good afternoon, young lady,” he said calmly pretending he didn’t hear Rosa’s request. But Rosa wasn’t having any of it. She stood there with her wings holding onto the side of the lounge chair rocking on her feet. She wasn’t going anywhere until she had heard the answer she expected from George.