Listening

Listening

Mac listened carefully, it was a funny noise. He’d been in this house long enough to identify all the regular sounds. This one was new. He listened again, scanning his memory for a clue.

The trouble was, a lot of the sounds he knew to be normal, he only knew by sound. He’d never seen them. For instance, he knew the sound of the furnace even though he’d never been in the cellar. He knew the sound of the dishwasher, any running water, piece of cake. He could even tell if it was the bathroom, the kitchen, the cellar, even outside just by the sound.

The neighbors had a dog named Rolf. He knew Rolf by his bark, he knew Rolf’s name because Janice, the woman next door, spent a lot of time yelling at him. ‘Rolf, stop that! Rolf, don’t dig there!’ There were birds and traffic, televisions and cell phones. Mac knew them all. This was different.

Jim had come in a while ago with Kim. They were chatting in the other room for a bit before he heard the new sound. As soon as he heard it, Kim and Jim started talking, all happy. It must be something new they got, but what? He tried to listen more carefully.

Suddenly Jim came in the room and sat down to write an email. Kim called from the other room, “Honey, you forgot the pictures!” and she came in with Jim’s phone. The noise came again; from something Kim was holding. Finally, Kim leaned down and Mac saw the most amazing thing. A tiny human, waving its tiny little arms! Suddenly all the information they had been looking up lately made sense! He knew what it was, Mac was finally happy.

Well, as happy as a computer can be.