It was one of these days. You are willing to let your wife climb on your nervous system, and let your daughter give her a supporting hand.You let some maintenance workers inside your house at 8 am, completely executing what was left of your sleep, and then indulge yourself in the pleasures of life: heating milk, cooking, cleaning dishes, cleaning the kitchen, prepare the baby etc… All you ask in return is just five minutes with yourself and the park and the rays of sun.

After the heat cooled down we took Maya to the water fountains at Weinberg Park. I am not really fond of this place. It is too full, kids can easily slip, and there are many broken glasses from all the people that drunk there the previous night, and there are many lonely adults there who like to stare at the kids. But it has water, and Maya likes water.

I undressed her and we began our regular tour: both barefooted, I am holding her hands up and we walk on the water, from one fountain to another. Finally, we reached the fountain where other kids fill their buckets with water and where Maya likes to wash her feet. We stood there for five seconds and then one kid froze and started crying hysterically.

His mother jumped from the blanket she was sitting on nearby and told me that her son has angst from strangers and that I should leave.  Naturally, I turned and walked back, but after a few steps I realized what was going on. Her son, about 2 or three years old, playing in a public place filled with the strangers, was handicapped by angst only when I reached his zip code. I looked around, I was the only dark-skinned person in the park.

My wife was looking at me when I returned. Since I started writing this blog she thinks that I am becoming paranoid, voicing her concern that soon I am going to hear people whistling Wagner on the street to me, just like a character in a Woody Allen movie. I told her what happened. She took Maya and returned to the crime scene. This time, the kid got no angst. My wife asked the mother what was the deal, and the mother answered, like this is how things supposed to be, that it was true, that her son gets the angst, but only from strangers.