Pondering her future

“What are you doing out here young lady?”

George had just returned from Surf City where he had done some shopping at Chaim’s Deli. He walked out onto the deck where Rosa was sitting by herself in a chair with her legs on the railing of the deck, her head turned towards the late afternoon sky.

“Hi dad!” she replied without turning her head, and then added nonchalantly, “did you get any bagels?”

“Yes, I did.”

“And cream cheese?” she asked.

“Well,” began George and Rosa knew what was coming next.

“Did you forget it daddy?” George didn’t have a chance to answer before Rosa jumped in. “Daddy! How can you forget cream cheese? How can I eat bagels without cream cheese?” “Well, Rosa, I actually like them toasted with lots of butter.”

Rosa didn’t answer. Instead, she turned her head to look at her father. George for his part thought what he always thought, ‘what was I thinking? Just because Chaim’s didn’t have any cream cheese, it doesn’t mean they are the only store in town I could’ve gone to. I could’ve gone Publix or Food Lion.’ Instead, he replied, “well I’m going out again to get some beer, so I’ll get the cream cheese then.”

“You’re getting beer?” asked Rosa sounding astounded. “Has Uncle Jeremy’s bad habits rubbed off on you?”

“Oh no, no, no,” George sounded stunned that Rosa would even think that. “No, I’m getting beer because we are going to have a cookout later tonight and I need beer to steam the seafood.”

Ok, thought Rosa putting her feet down and standing up. “Ok that’s fine. But I didn’t think we ate shrimp and stuff like that because it’s not kosher.”

“No,” responded George quickly, “not shrimp. There’s other seafood that’s kosher.”

Rosa, even at 9, knew better. “Such as what, daddy?” she asked walking up to him and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“I don’t remember their English names. I only know their Hebrew names,” he answered and Rosa took a step back.

“Good boy!” she replied knowing her father wasn’t being truthful. “I’ll ask Timmy to come out here and translate for me.”

“Oh, I think I hear your mother calling me,” and with that he walked over to the sliding glass door and opened it. “Let’s do that later.” And with that, George walked inside and closed the door behind him. Rosa, sighing as she did invariable when she stumped her father, walked back to the chair and sat back down.

No sooner had she put her feet up when she heard Melody’s voice from down below the nest, “what are you doing, Rosa?”

“Oh nothing,” she replied sounding despondent. “Just trying to figure out the path the universe wants to take me.”

“Say that again,” asked Melody not sure she understood what Rosa had said.

“Leave her alone,” Herman shouted as he walked towards the nest. “I’ve been there too. When life gets you down, some people say you should whistle which I can’t do very well, while others sit in a chair, put their feet up on the railings and try to see what the universe has planned for them.”

Again, Melody had no clue what either one of them had said. “Ok,” she responded shrugging her shoulders, believing that the next game of pickleball was more important than what the universe had in store for her. Winning the world championship is what the universe had told Melody she must do, and she was convinced that once she had done that, then both she and Herman would be millionaires. And that’s all that mattered.

George came back onto the deck, but Rosa after her little interaction with Melody and Herman decided to pretend to be asleep. “Are you sleeping?” he asked Rosa. She did not reply. She was annoyed that her father hadn’t got her any cream cheese. “Oh well, I’ll come back later,” continued George. “I just wanted to tell you that Timmy actually came back with some cream cheese from Max’s house.”

He then turned and walked back indoors, but smiled when he realised Rosa was right behind him. “Oh, sorry young lady,” he said as he half-heartedly closed the sliding glass door. “I thought you were asleep.” Rosa didn’t answer. “It’s not kosher though,” he added to which Rosa very adeptly replied.

“That’s ok dad, neither is your seafood steaming.” They both walked into the kitchen where the entire family was standing while Julia toasted the bagels. “What’s that?” asked Rosa pointing to a black bagel in the sink.

“Mummy burnt it,” Julia replied and Sybil grinned sheepishly.

“I thought,” she said, “I could try my hand again at cooking. It’s been a very long time since I last did.

Rosa ignored her and stood by her father. Soon, all the bagels were toasted and lathered with cream cheese, except for the last one.

“Oh dear,” said Julia, “we are out of cream cheese. What are we going to do?” adding quickly, “Timmy, you weren’t going to eat one because the cream cheese isn’t kosher.”

Well Timmy was actually going to pretend it was kosher and eat it, because he was hungry. Rosa saw the look on his face. “Here,” she said handing him one half. “I’m not that hungry. I want to wait for daddy’s kosher seafood steaming.” Timmy silently took the bagel and bit into it. And then Rosa, true to herself, said, “Timmy, daddy only knows the Hebrew words for the seafood he’s going to steam tonight. He said you can translate for me.”

Timmy looked confused. “It’s very simple,” he replied, “unless it has fins and scales, it’s not kosher.”

“Does everything have fins and scales, daddy?” asked Rosa, but he pointed to his beak to avoid answering. “Are you going to eat dinner?” asked Rosa of Timmy and his reply floored everyone.

“Well, if I can eat Max’s non kosher cream cheese, then I can eat daddy’s shrimp steamer.” Rosa grinned.