Faith in humanity: restored

If you don't know me, then you don't know that my biggest beef with the male gender is street harassment. (DISCLAIMER: back in the days when I was, inexplicably, a chick magnet, I was harassed once or twice by women, so the boys don't have the market completely cornered.) Anyway, as I walked down my block this morning, I saw the older Latino men hanging out in front of the bodega, like they do every morning. To my shock and horror, the 16-year old girl who lives on my floor walked by and was greeted with leering and words I cannot make out because they were in Spanish. She blushed, put her head down and quietly walked by. Behind her was a big, hunky fireman-looking guy. He glared at the older men and said “Yo, that’s too young for you”. While I would have preferred a “she’s” to a “that’s”, it made me happy nonetheless. I even smiled at him as we walked by each other, and he smiled back in an uncreepy, nonthreatening way. I guess the boys on the block don’t all call out “Mommy” when a pretty girl walks by.