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“Hi God, it’s me, Rosa. I want to thank you for giving me my family. My Daddy and my Mummy, but more for my Daddy because my Mummy gets grouchy when she doesn’t have her coffee in the morning. And for my sister Julia without whom we would all die because she does the cooking, and my brother Timmy because he’s my brother, but not for my aunty Elizabeth or my uncle Jeremy because they’re weird. That’s all, amen.”

The nest was finally quiet. Everyone, with the exception of Sybil, were either on their way to school or work. George as always was running late. He barely had time to take a bite of his toasted bagel with butter before he was chased out by Sybil who was sure he would be late for his first meeting of the day. Timmy had left for school and as always with plenty of time to spare. He was the most organised of the Blau children. Timmy laid out what he was going to wear to school at the end of his bed the night before. So, when the alarm sounded, all he had to do was follow a well established pattern.

It was a gloriously warm April Saturday morning when George stepped onto the balcony which led off the dining room and looked out over the Atlantic Ocean. There was a slight breeze blowing as was usual at that time of the day, and the waves washed ashore in silence as the tide was going out.

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” shouted Rosa as she flew from bedroom to bedroom waking up everyone. And as the occupants groaned Rosa pulled the curtains aside. She then flew into the living room and opened those curtains as well because the occupant of that room Elizabeth, was asleep on the couch. She groaned the most and tried though unsuccessfully, to pull the quilt back over herself. “Wake up! Wake up!” Rosa continued to shout and Elizabeth who had fallen asleep on the couch after drinking too much the prior evening, had been allowed to stay the night, instead of having an overly eager Jeremy walk her home.

“Don’t princesses become queens?” asked a concerned Rosa as she sat at the dining room table trying to finish up her homework.

“Not always,” replied Elizabeth upon whom the day’s duty fell to make sure that the three Blau children finished their homework and helped them when they needed it.

Rosa never asked for help and so unlike her brother and sister, she constantly got into trouble at school. But to Rosa, that was part of her charm.

“Then why would someone want to be a princess?”

“I don’t seem to be getting any better, Mummy,” groaned Rosa as she lay in bed and again pulled the thick quilt her mother had made for her a few years ago around her neck. She let out a big sigh and added, “maybe I have the bird flu!” Sybil laughed for a brief second. “Yes Mummy. It’s all over Asia and we aren’t that far away from there.”