random thoughts – Day 1,246 – (Tuesday) – calm then yelling

Tiny rose.

The neighborhood has been mostly quiet lately. Calm. Peaceful. Almost, dare I say it, boring. Even the Nuisance House hasn’t been very much of a nuisance, which has been kind of great.

Today, though, things got a tiny bit spicy. As I toiled at the yolk yellow desk, eyes burning from the new movie screen sized monitor, with a super tiny rose plant from my sister on the windowsill, very phlegmy coughing could be heard from a yard behind mine. It was the second day of such coughing, and it went on long enough that I worried the person doing the coughing might expel a lung and kick the bucket.

Not long after the coughing, a voice could be heard from the same back yard area. It grew louder, intruding into my auditory space, which made it feel like a good time for a quick break.

Seeking clarity, or at least a spot where I could hear the outburst more clearly, I moved to an open window. From the bathroom, snatches of what sounded like an impassioned argument floated across the yard. “How can that be racist? I’ve listened over and over and there is NOTHING racist!” There was more yelling and then something about “small town” and I concluded this was one side of an argument about the Jason Aldean song, “Try that in a small town.” There was some more yelling, then suddenly, the loud talk went silent.

The Sherlock Holmes hat came off and I returned to my work of sending out photo files. It wasn’t long before the quiet was shattered again with excited cries of “Discovery! Discovery!” Then there were some unclear words and more loudness with “April blah 2023 blah RNC.” And then silence. I imagined back yard guy had been punching questions into Google to support whatever he was arguing.

Just then, neighborhood white cat with gray patches sprinted diagonally across the back yard from the shed towards the deck. And then it got quiet again, and stayed quiet for the rest of the afternoon. No more fragments of arguments, and it wasn’t as exciting as some of the other local events, but it was a nice little break in the silence.