An essay, as written by Austin when he is seven, which is still a while yet away. (Of course, quality of prose and proximity to reality is, well.... approximate)

Why I like living in the city, by Austin Lesseps

I like living in the city. Our city is called San Francisco, but the city I always think of is "China Town" because when I was young I thought that China Town was the city and we lived next to it here in North Beach. When I was a baby my babysitter used to take me to every single shop in China Town. Every one. Even the small ones. Even the ones that didn't exist until last year. I feel inside like I have been to all of them. My babysitter would take me to the place where she got her hair cut. All these ladies would pat me on the head and give me candy. I like candy. One time, she left me there while she went next door to buy something that was on sale. I didn't mind because I got to watch Pokemon and eat lollipops. And I got to sit in one of the big chairs that move up and down. When I was young, I could understand everything anybody said to me, even old Chinese ladies. Even that loud man at Trieste that my mom says is from Algebra. It is funny that ever since I started school I can only understand American. Why is that?

I also like living in the city because I like parks. I know of many parks in our city. There is the grassy park, the sandy park and Michelangelo park. There are other parks but I don't know much about them because they are far away. I go to the sandy park with my mother everyday after school. She says this park has a different name. I think it's named after a very old baseball player. I think his name is Joe. Joe is a stupid name.

There is also a forest in our city. Just walk up Filbert Street and see for yourself. It is a very steep hill with lots of bushes and trees. There is only stairs in this forest, no street for cars to drive on. On either side of the forest there are houses. I would like to live in one of these houses one day, even though I am afraid of bears. I think my Dad would protect me. He is really big. And he is also wide so I can hide behind him. My dad is not the biggest dad. I think my friend James has the biggest dad. I don't get to see James anymore because he goes to a different school now.

The one thing I do not like about living in the city is that my mom and dad make me go to a coffee shop with them all the time. I hate coffee shops! I really hate Caffe Trieste because everyone is kind of weird and cranky. And they all tell me how tall I am now. Of course I am tall, it is because I am seven. I also do not like to go to Caffe Trieste because my mom is a famous poet now. She is only famous when other poets are around and that is only at Trieste. When I was little she entered some contest and won. It was called the Stegner contest. She was surprised because she says she is not a good poem writer. She says poets are stupid. But when she won, she was excited because she got to stop working with cheese. Instead she got on the bus once a week to go to a school somewhere and write some poems. She said it was good because she got health insurance. Mom and Dad keep laughing about making someone named Stanford pay for my little brother. Who did they pay? My little brother is three. His name is Paul. I call him stinky butt in my head.