Have you ever stopped to listen to nature?
In the ten minutes it took for me to walk from the fair back to the dorm,
I listened.
I heard the absence of sound.
I realized that the fair was loud,
with music playing from a variety of booths.
The announcer spoke from outside the big fair building;
voice amplified by his mic:
We thank today’s sponsor Service Electric for
sponsoring today’s videoproviding us with the giant TV screens for us to watch college football.
Yeah, the fair was a fair, but it wasn’t for me. I had decided against food before going—though some of it seemed interesting—and when I got there I avoided the rides and animals. I lapped the fair once, looking at the games like “Which hole is the mouse going to go into?” or “Toss the balls until you get BINGO” before heading inside the fair building. Inside I briefly glanced at the cooking show before continuing my solo walking tour to an author. I bought a signed copy of each of Frank Stangle’s books and had a wonderful conversation with him and another gentleman there who also supported him.
But as I walk back, I think…
I thought about the sounds,
how much quieter it was that there was no music.
About how I could tell as soon as I stepped on the side-street pavement that it was more recently paved than West Chew St.
About the sounds I’d here when I’d return to my room;
The buzz of the microwave/fridge.
The annoying high tone pitch of my watch charger when it draws power.
The beeping of the dehumidifier in the hall as it warns about a full tank.
I listened to nature on that walk back.
And I heard my inner peace.
Love this! Fantastic evocation of the sounds — of the Fair, and not!