perils of childhood

i'm at my favorite place to study and its bustling with holiday shoppers. thankfully, not a peep of christmas music to be found in provisions -- which pretty much forever secures my love for the place.

at a table across from me sits a girl who must be about seven years old. she is eating a giant chocolate chip cookie. or attempting to do so. her two (or maybe four, actually) front teeth are missing so she's shoving it towards her remaining back teeth and gnawing away. it's a crispy, crispy cookie, so it must hurt a bit to cram it against the side of her mouth. her left cheek is covered in melted chocolate. she occasionally takes a break from gnawing and licks the cookie for a while. it is completely adorable. but i vaguely remember being without front teeth and attempting to negotiate such terrific problems such as cookie consumption. ooh, and ice cream, so tasty, hurt so much against the exposed roots before adult teeth began to emerge. man, sometimes its tough being a kid.