“Hello daddy, namaste. I want to… “Rosa stopped when she saw the look on her father’s face, as he put down his newspaper and swung around to face his daughter.

George smiled, “and who is this, Rosa?”

“I was going to introduce you to my bestest friend dad, but when I saw the….”

“The look of surprise dear Rosa is that what you meant to say?”

“No daddy. It was a look of….”

“Well, I’m sorry Rosa dear. It was meant to be a look of surprise

“Hi, hello, namaste, my name is Rosa Blau. I’m eight years old and my favourite movie is Barbie. I have seen it 500 times and I’m a good girl!”

George lowered his newspaper and looked at his youngest daughter as if she had two heads. “What was all that?” he asked as she stood not too far from him with her hands clasped in front of her wearing a silly grin on her face. George had been sitting on the deck of the nest looking out at the peaceful Atlantic Ocean while reading his newspaper, as he did most evenings when he came home from work. That would inevitably lull him to sleep. He was getting close to that tipping point until Rosa came outside and interrupted his flow.

I was 5 and my sister 4. The year was 1954 and my father had been posted to take command of the Third Battalion the Grenadiers. It was the second time he had taken charge of that battalion. The first was in 1947 just after partition in Bombay when he took over command from that last British colonel, Colonel Shebbear.

“Oh, I wish you could’ve been there when he ran.” Dan laughed at his recollection. “You could always tell where he was on the track. He had this long hair flowing behind him. Others with long hair would tie theirs behind in a ponytail or in a braid, but not him, he just let it flow and flow it did. Thick black shoulder length hair flowed behind him majestically as he ran around the track. I wish you had been there.”

I pulled into what looked like the last parking spot in the grocery store car park without having to walk half a mile or so. I pulled out the grocery list from my pocket to glance at it before putting it back. It was a mental test I had developed for myself over past few the years and at which I must admit, I fail miserably.

As I was taking the keys out of the car in preparation of getting out and fighting the hordes in the food aisles, there was a series of sharp knocks on my window. I looked up to see a pint-sized man with sunglasses wrapped around his entire head staring at me. I lowered my window and before I could ask him why he was interrupting my preparation, he blurted out, “you’re parked illegally!”

Dear God, this is me, Rosa. Someone in my school told me I was being rude by talking with you. He said I shouldn’t do that and I should treat you with more respect. I told him you are my friend. Isn’t that right God? You are my friend? Can you hit him with some lightening, so he doesn’t pick on me anymore. Anyway, you’re a good boy, thank you and Amen and oh yes, sleep well.

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! wake up. I have to tell you something very important.” Rosa ran into the living room where her father was fast asleep in an armchair closest to a window, after a really hard day at work negotiating a new contract with the Teamsters. He needed to rest once he came home, instead of standing at the door as he normally did waiting for Rosa.  He had collapsed in the chair after giving Sybil a quick peck on the cheek.

Hi God, it's me Rosa. Sorry, I was being a naughty kid today, but I did not like my brother doing math with me cause he's very smart and he does not make math fun. My teacher said that in everything that must be done, there must be an element of fun, just like Mary Poppins. God, can you please make sure my daddy gets better sleep tonight because he was very tired and yawning. And, God please, make Julia stop making spicy food for dinner and one last thing, please, help me get oatmeal for breakfast. OK? I love you. You're a good boy and I'm proud of you. Amen.

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” shouted Rosa as she ran towards her father who was waiting for her at the front door, colliding with him instead of jumping into his arms. George managed to stand his ground, though he was rather winded.

Dear God, it’s me Rosa once again. I am hoping you’re not getting tired of hearing from me. If you are, I can cut back talking to you to only two times a week. Please let me know in my dreams. Also please let me stay smart in school and when I tell my friends I want to be a cashier at Domino’s Pizza when I grow up that they stop laughing at me. Not everyone wants to be a doctor or a lawyer like my aunty Elizabeth. Please also make Elizabeth more girly and less like a man. I think that’s it for now. I’m tired and want to go to sleep. So, bye for now and oh yes, you’re a good boy, Amen.

Hello God, it’s me Rosa you’re favourite little girl. I want to thank you for another beautiful day. Do they have beautiful days on all the other planets you look after? Thank you for giving me my family and of course my wonderful daddy, but I have to also say my wonderful mummy because she told me I needed to. Thank you also for my bother Timmy and my sister Julia and especially Julia because otherwise my mummy would have to cook and then we would all die. I’d better go to sleep now because my mummy is looking at me. Ok God. Bye for now, I love you and oh yes, Amen.

Jeremy Steiger waited for the full moon. He was excited. He came home from work at the local birdseed mill in Surf City, where he is a foreman after stopping at Trader Joe’s.

Dear God, it’s me Rosa, your favourite little Blau. I just want to thank you for the summertime and making the weather cooler today. God, I need a few very important things from you. Please make Timmy an astronaut and Julia a chef. Also please help my Mummy feel better, because she’s not nice when she feels ill. She picks on my handsome Daddy. Anyway, you are a good boy, and I love you. Night, night. Amen.

Sybil woke up with a headache.

“Can I get you anything my dear?” asked George who felt he was pushed out of bed because he was drinking his coffee too noisily.

Dear God, hello it's me, Rosa. I know I have not been talking to you for a couple of nights and I'm sorry. I will try to do better. Now God, I thank you very, very, very, very, much for my family especially my daddy, but God, can you help my daddy with his brain because he keeps forgetting to do important things. And God, can you please help him not get too old too fast. I want him to get a little less old and God can you help Julia not cry about silly things and help Timmy build his rocket and God please help me to not be so bratty. I love you and I love my daddy, and I love my mummy and amen.

Hello God, it's me Rosa, again. I know I did not pray last night and I'm sorry for that. I hope you did not forget about me already. So, God I have a problem. I need you to help me become a little more creative when making presents for people. I also need help to learn to be a little bit more patient. I'm really need help with those two things, I think. Other than that, I'm just a really good kid and I thank you for that and my family thanks you for that, and I thank you for my family especially my handsome daddy. So, God, I’m getting very tired now and don’t know what else to say. I hope when you go to sleep you have sweet dreams and I love you, Amen.

Hi God, it's me Rosa. I just want to say thank you for my day and thank you for my family especially my daddy and God thank you for giving me oatmeal for breakfast and please help me to be a better girl tomorrow and keep my brain working and God please bless all the aliens on the other planets. I love you, Amen.

“Does Rosa always pray like that?” asked her grandfather who stood next to his son in law outside Rosa’s bedroom. George who didn’t want to interrupt his daughter, nodded and put his wing up to his beak. Rosa broke out into song and that was George’s cue to leave his daughter alone. They turned and walked outside on to the deck where Sybil and her mother were sitting discussing the old neighbourhood in New Jersey.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well, I could ask you the same question.”

“Jury duty!” replied John holding up a piece of paper.

“Same here,” replied his friend David, holding up a similar piece of paper.

John got up from the hard wooden bench he was sitting on and shook his friend’s hand. They both sat down.

“What case do you have?” asked John looking around the room filled with an assortment of humanity. Some wearing nice suits and jackets and dresses, while the majority were wearing jeans and, in some cases, tee shirts, and a few sporting large head turning tattoos, including one whose tattoos covered his entire head and face.

“Hello G-d, it’s me Rosa, again. Thank you for creating me when you were so busy with so many planets. Do you have an alien like me out there? Anyway, thanks. Also, thanks for my family and the best daddy. Help me be a good girl tomorrow and help my brain to think during school. I love you amen.”

“And this must be Rosa Hadassah Blau!” Rosa beamed, “and oh my look at Timmy,” Rosa beamed no longer, “and look at Julia. What a beautiful young lady you’ve grown into.” Rosa disliked her grandparents.

“Hi God, it's me Rosa. I just want to say thank you for this day and the pretty, pretty weather. Dear God, thank you for my family and especially my daddy. I love you and I hope that you can help me be a better person tomorrow and not get so fussy OK? Love you. Night, night, bye, oh yes and Amen.”

Sybil cleared her throat. George who was as usual listening at Rosa’s bedroom door, turned and smiled at his wife and put his wing up to his beak. “Shh,” he said quietly, “Rosa might hear you.”

Neither bird was quite sure what to make of the other. Separately though, Rosa the Jewish Sandpiper was devastated that she wasn’t the only person in the world named Rosa, while Rosa the Chicken was delighted to meet another bird with the same name.

After looking each other intently for a few seconds, Rosa the Sandpiper turned to her sister Julia and asked, “why would someone name another bird after me?”

“You know the best part of dying?”

“There is a best part?” asked John looking at his friend as he shook his head. “I didn’t know there was a best part.”

“You never have to clip your fingernails ever again!”

“And that’s the best part? You’re sick. I’d rather cut my toe and fingernails than die.”

“I know. I’m just kidding but how about no more haircuts?”

“You know, you’re right. That would be a good reason to look forward to my demise.” John laughed. “Have you ever thought of what you want on your epitaph?”

“And the heavens opened, and all the Gods fell to Earth.”

Much commotion.

“Wait a minute, where are you going?”

“Down to Earth. Didn’t I just hear you say that the heavens opened and the Gods fell to earth?”

“I did yes. But you’re not a God, at least not a God yet.”

Ramos looked down at the ground. “That’s just not fair. I’ve been waiting five hundred thousand years to become a God and I still can’t be one.”

“Well,” replied Jack, “looking sadly at the young boy who seemed so lost. “Well, it’s up to you. In order to be a God, you have to be a God of something. And you still haven’t decided what you’re going to do when you grow up.”

“My life is over as I know it!” moaned Rosa as she threw herself down on the deck with a dull thud and let out a loud sigh of extreme distress.

George was laying on his lounge chair right next to where Rosa had collapsed and generally he would be highly amused by his youngest daughter’s dramatics, but not on that day. George did smile as he looked down at her briefly to make sure she really wasn’t hurt by her fall, even though he assumed she had made sure she wouldn’t be. After a few seconds of silence from her father, which Rosa deemed was highly unusual, she lifted her head slightly and then dropped it again on the deck with a weak thud hoping that would garner more attention from her father, but it didn’t.