Chapter 15 ----Looking after English children

It's Wednesday evening and Isaac is already in bed. Elisabeth is asking Rosa a lot of questions.

"Where's mummy?"

"You know where mummy is."

"Where's daddy?"

"You know where daddy is."

"Where's your daddy?"

 Rosa does not want to answer this question. Her father is dead, but what can she say to a small child with her bad English vocabulary?

 "My daddy's in the sky?" Rosa answers.

"Is he a pilot?" Elisabeth asks.

 Rosa does not want to continue this conversation.

"No, he isn't a pilot, but we're pilots and we're going to fly three times round the living room, out of the living room into the hall, up the stairs, along the landing, past your daddy's door, into your bedroom and you're going to land right on your bed."

"Where are you going to land?" Elisabeth wants to know.

 "I've got to do many things before I land and you're going to help me. We're going to fly all the way to the bathroom. Then we're going to wash your aeroplane's face and clean all its little teeth."

 "Don't be silly", Elisabeth says, "Aeroplanes don't have teeth!"

"Well, you've got very nice teeth!" Rosa tells her. "First, we're going to clean them. Then, I'm going to land on your bed and tell you a story!"

"I don't want a story!" Elisabeth says. "I want to ask you another question!"

"But I want to read you a story." Rosa answers. "It's good for my English! You can correct my mistakes!"

"Mummy and daddy don't make mistakes when they read me stories!"

"That's because English is their first language. My mummy and I live in Spain and our first language is Spanish!"

"Why does your daddy live in the sky and what language does he speak?" asks Elisabeth.