Kaput.

The street I was walking down had some particularly sweet homes. They all had interesting looking lawns, as though the families who lived in these homes made it a family activity to tend their lawns. Most of the homes had children playing or bicycles and toys strewn across the grass.

I was slightly preoccupied when I noticed the little boy on his green bicycle with a yellow flag stop in front of me. I was listening to music but it was calm music so I could still hear. I smiled at the boy. He was giving me a strange look. He wanted to say something but was either contemplating whether or not to say it, or was trying to multiply large numbers in his head. He looked confused. I had almost walked passed him when he finally opened his mouth.

“Dass macht die Ohren kaput.” This roughly translates to, “That’s bad for your ears.”

I looked at him smiling, a little stunned. It was so sweet and in that moment I almost considered never again listening to music with headphones again. Obviously it was only a brief moment of madness. Before I could say anything in return, the boy’s father and older brother had caught up with him and the three of them left me standing on the pavement, with a stupid smile on my face.