2.

L., aged nine, stretched her legs con gusto across the dining room table, her chair tilted back to an inappropriate degree. Thus she sat for close to forty minutes, reading The New Yorker and sipping English Breakfast. When H., aged forty-four, found her, he sat across from her and watched for several minutes as L.'s toes wiggled in time with the turns of her pages. Finally he decided to speak up.

"L.," he said apprehensively, "don't you have homework to do?"

L. responded, without looking up from the page she was reading. "Don't be a dick, father," she said, and sipped the last of her tea.