There we were, standing on a platform that jutted out into the middle of the Marine Park marshlands in Brooklyn, when C said, "I need privacy. Can I have quiet, please?"

If you know C, you know how rare it is for him to ask for something so directly, so clearly, let alone string together two unique but related requests.

He repeated his plea: "Can I have quiet?"

"You want us to go away?"

"Yes. I want privacy."

Faced with such an unequivocal demand, what else could we do but grant the request?

So the three of us walked back up the path and, from some distance, watched C sit quietly, by himself, in the middle of so much...silence.

And there he remained, at peace, for a surprisingly long time.