New York in the time of bedbugs

This is what it has come to. This afternoon, a woman was having an argument with her two teenagers in the row in front of us at the movie theater: “You’re crazy!” she said. “No, we’re just playing it safe,” they said. ”What a great idea!” I told the girls, who were spreading out a giant piece of clear plastic over each seat before they sat down. The mother turned around and told us that where she grew up—Cuba—everyone had bedbugs and it was no big deal. Then she broke out into what she said was a traditional Jamaican song about bedbugs that sounded a lot like “La Cucaracha.” It was a reminder that in New York (and elsewhere), It’s always something, as Gilda Radner used to say.