It’s been, the First Day of School week, on the upper east side. Kids of all ages, with parents, grandparents, nannies in tow, dressed like tiny cadets…boys in blue blazers and miniature knackis, girls wearing jumpers, tights and brand new Mary Janes, armed with backpacks filled with spanking new school supplies.
You can almost smell the sharpened pencils, along with fresh polish on all those pint-sized penny loafers.
How exciting it all seems, except for one.
A little girl, kindergarten age, when ordered by her mother to stand still and smile for posterity, refuses. “NO”, she screams. “NO NO NO NO.”
Well Mom, in her snazzy suit, clearly off somewhere after her daughter’s academic debut, isn’t taking, NO, for an answer.
So sipping my 8th of coffee, on the corner of Park and 87th, I watch the all-time battle of wills.
Since NO, at the top of her lungs, isn’t working, Miss Camera Shy, starts to cry. Mom doesn’t care, yelling, “I’m telling Daddy, what a bad girl you are, and on your first day no less.”
OOH
The kid, one couldn’t help but to admire, refuses to be bullied, now on the sidewalk, legs splayed, screaming three octaves higher.
Atta girl. That’ll teach her. When a girl’s not ready for her close-up, that should be that, after all.
An Asian mother with her daughter, the same age, is walking by. Her child whispers something before breaking away, now crouching next to the girl having the meltdown. I have no idea what’s discussed, but…the little lady gets up, taking her new pal’s tiny hand, the little diplomat that she is, before continuing on their way, the two mothers following.
There’s no more talk of picture taking, at least for the moment, but what I notice is, neither woman speaks to the other.
Think Gandhi verses Mussolini, in pumps.
As for me? After spilling coffee all down my Monticello T-shirt, I guess from all the excitement, cheerfully go home to write.
SB
