Took a wonderful walk in perfect, inspirational weather with my son. Came across a girl of maybe twelve or fourteen on roller blades, her mother putting pads on her. These must have been Christmas roller blades because the girl was none too steady. When it came to the helmet the daughter issued a series of quiet and evasive no's, while the mom pursued a policy of gentle but firm insisting. It struck me as exactly like trying to talk a 4-year-old into whatever it is they don't want, be it to wear sunscreen or shoes or a sweater. The girl took a few baby steps in the blades and tried to tell her mother: "I'll just be like this." The mother approached with the helmet, stealthy and calm as a lion tamer. "Let me tell you a story about someone I work with..." she was saying as my son and I moved out of earshot. I mentally completed the story of the person with the steel plate in their head who drools out of one side of their mouth.