Rosa This and That

“Are you going to church tomorrow with your family?” Rosa asked me tonight as we were talking on the phone.

“My family doesn’t go to church,” I replied. “I see no reason to start now.”

“Have you ever gone?” Rosa then asked.

“I sang in a choir when I was married due to the urging of my then wife.”

“I wish I could believe in God and Jesus,” She said. “My using days, prostituting days, and my tough life made me bitter against God and all religions.”

“I know,” I said. “I sometimes feel the same way. It is hard to believe that a just and good God would allow such terrible things to happen in our lives and he supposedly knows all before it happens and can stop it.”

“I missed you today,” Rosa then told me. “I kept hoping you would come walking around the corner down at the shopping center. I was down there for hours talking to Big S and Ferret. It was the most boring conversation and I needed you to liven things up. Ferret was drunk as hell and the manager of the grocery store almost called the police. Ferret went sulking off. To where, I don’t know.”

“I missed you too. I wondered what you did today. Ferret is worrying the hell out of me. He is like me. We can’t do anything half-assed. Even drinking. We are all or nothing fellows. I wish I had the money to put him in a treatment center.”

“You would spend money on that drunk?”

“I would do the same for you,” I said. “People are more important than money.”

“Thanks,” Rosa said. “I know you will always be there for me. Well, I am going to bed early.”

“Good night and sleep tight,” I replied.

“Am I gonna see you tomorrow?”

“Let’s go get some lunch down at McDonald’s. My treat.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Rosa said and we hung up our phones.

I am not long for the bed myself.