Asterix *?$!@

When you are younger, you can hear everyone whispering in the background telling parents not to worry, that children go through a long phase where they simply feel the need to say everything that's been stuffed inside their throats when their mouths get covered to keep it in. It is natural, one says, to curse for attention, to curse to seem mature and cool. And then we move on, and people forget that those once repelled words and phrases ever bounced back. We don't remember that we ever assumed that woman swearing on the bench was crazy. The taboo has become acceptable because we, teh few who tried to fight, soon grew tired of interrupting every sentence. But a dress rehearsal? A lost scene change? And someone cursing? I'm too old to reprimand you and too young to try and guide you away, but you better not do that for my cousins. They are younger than attention-seeking pirates stumbling up school bus stairs. They are younger than covering the mouth for fear of release. They are an ear-covered, semi-swaddled, innocent, unbroken glass toddler pair. But soon enough, they won't be.