Washington, D.C., December 28, 2008

Published in the A Year in Repose: May 15, 2008-March 15, 2009, Journal

When the “walk” sign flashes, a family of four on the other side of Independence Avenue start to cross the street. The youngest of the bunch—maybe a little younger than three, at any rate much too young to cross a four-lane highway by herself—stumbles off the curb and lands on all fours. Frozen, she stares down at her hands and knees without making a sound—her face a mixture of surprise, fear, and pain. The father sees her fall out of the corner of his eye and turns around and looks down at her and snaps, “Get up! Watch where you’re going! For Christ’s sake, we’re in a crosswalk!” And he reaches down and pulls her to her feet and whips her forward, and I can see that she isn’t crying any longer because she loves being pushed by her dad enough to scar her knees.