THESE FUCKING KIDS

I like to walk and read.  I do it all the time and the trails around my house are all very familiar to me.  This morning I was finishing up "The Color of Law" by Richard Rothstein and walking down a path that had a clear painted line between the pedestrian and bike path.  I am so engrossed in this book I am not looking up at people who pass me.  I am aware that people are around me, but I'm not interested in engaging in eye contact or anything.  

As I'm walking I hear someone say in a snobby voice, "hello."  I turn around and see these two late teen slash early twenties girls walking away from me.  I'm like, "Is something the matter?"  And one of them, the yoga pants, crop top, sunglasses, sipping out of a single-use plastic cup goes on to tell me that I was being rude by not moving over so that the two of them could continue walking side by side.  I said, "I bike a lot and it's unsafe when people walk in the bike lane.  You had room to move over, too."  She said if she moved over, she would have to walk on the dirt path.  

I so badly wanted to say, "Oh kitten.  You're so precious.  Your mommy and daddy might tell you you're special, but you actually don't have the right to take up any more space than anyone else."

Instead I told her she was an entitled baby and continued on my way.