Bugs And Teens

Here we are at school. Yesterday Madeleine and Billy join up post Kumon at Palewell Park to hunt bugs. Sonnet brings a picnic blanket and food for a lazy afternoon. I use some time to run laps around the common at a hard clip; a gaggle of teen-agers loaf while listening to Michael Jackson; they watch me suspiciously. On my last loop, one has the temerity to remark: "you go, dad." What's more interesting to me is the body language of the group - girls under dressed despite school clothes; boys dorky and awkward. Lots of posturing. I can see this a mile away. Kids same everywhere. Meanwhile, back on the picnic blanket, the insect enthusiasts make a little bug home inside a match box complete with leaves and grass for their captured lady birds. They cup inside their bowled hands creepy crawlers that make Sonnet a tad uncomfortable ("put those down now!"); Madeleine concentrates on an ant: "Don't crush it, Dad! He's a living thing too!"

Eitan: "what other choices did you have for my name when you named me?"
Me: "Oscar, Jake, Michael, Pickles, Potato head."
Eitan: "I do not believe the last one!"
Madeleine: "How about me?"
Me: "Gooseberry"
Madeleine: "Dad! That is not funny! Just be serious!"
Me: "Gooseberry Orenstein - it really has a ring to it, don't you think?"
Madeleine: "I am most definitely never talking to you again."

Madeleine: "Can we go to France, please please please?"
Me: "Let me think about it."
Madeleine: "Pleeaaaase"
Me: "You can let me think about it or the answer is no."
Madeleine: "Ok (pause) but if we do go when would it be?"