10:59am | The very next time I was at Aroma di Roma (if you don’t know the backstory, go here before reading further), sitting on the other side of the glass wall, a mother came with two sons right around Alejandra’s age. At one point the younger boy was marching around in private reverie, talking to himself, and approached me as I watch him, pointing to me as he continued to intone words only he understood.
Later there arrived a male adult-type (not the father; probably the mother’s boyfriend), who talked with the boys for a short while before they all got up to leave. Before leaving the boy decided to come back to my table, again pointing, though this time speaking quite clearly to me:
“You’re funny!” he said, for no apparent reason.
I pointed back: “You’re funny, too!”
He smiled and joined the others in their leave-taking.
Just before they were out of sight, I clearly heard the male adult-type’s words, spoken as a kindly admonishment:
You shouldn’t talk to strangers.