Kids These Days

I can't tell how old she is when she comes up to us, almost shyly, while we're waiting on the platform for the Q train to take us home after a full day at the beach, and asks where we got our beach umbrella. We are laden down with the accouterments of beaching, including rainbow-striped umbrella, beach chairs, towels, bags of snacks, and we're tired, to boot, but she seems nice enough, and so we strike up a conversation.

"Well I usually go to Coney Island, but now I've started to go to Brighton Beach," she says later on, still talking 15 minutes later. "There's just so many kids there these days, and they're so loud."