This piece is part of the 随筆 | Zuihitsu notebook, which features original art by Satsuki Shibuya.

Stairs

People should teach young children how to deal with stairs. On my last visit, I caught Luca stairing down into the basement, those steep stairs so inviting to a two-year-old boy. Mother was crazy about teaching a toddler (any toddler!) how to step downstairs “like a big kid,” alternating feet instead of using the same one foot to descend. And yesterday, as I entered the subway stairwell, I saw a woman carrying a small girl, an older one lagging behind, and a middle girl doing that one-step-same-foot-at-a-time-thing. Ah, yes. The middle child. The one who does not receive radiant attention. A kind of stepchild. 

Clutch

number of eggs laid in a single brood by a nesting pair of birds

Mother’s ostrich purse. Or maybe it was snake.

vehicular mechanism

noun, in sports: occurring in a situation in which the outcome of a competition is at stake

Phrases from online dictionary:
clutch one’s pearls mainly humorous be extremely or excessively shocked or appalled: apparently everyone at the film festival is clutching their pearls in horror over the explicit sex scenes in his new film. 
in the clutch US informal at a critical moment: why are some athletes able to perform in the clutch while others choke? 

a tight grasp, even a controlling necessary to escape

(or alligator?)

“You’ve really got a hold on me” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

(snake?)