Sounds

I can hear the birds singing in the morning chill – only 2 or 3 are loud enough to make it to my window. 

I can hear the rush of traffic, wheels on pavement, engines working hard or shifting gears, combining to make one continuous stream of noise that sounds like slow rapids from far away.

Occasionally I can hear a car horn or the squeak of truck breaks.

In my room some of the sounds are closer.  I can hear the tick tock of the clock on the back wall.

I can hear the stroke of my computer keys as I write this.

Upstairs a few students move their chairs occasionally and the rubber stoppers moan as they drag across the tile.

Several classrooms away something is dropped that sounds like a hundred tiny keys being poured out of a bottle.

Somebody whistles softly as they walk down the hall and I can hear the shuffle of sandals on tile.

Some voices are talking softly upstairs.

A distant sounds reminds me a hammer drill burst, but there is no staccato pattern.  Now the sound grows steady and closer and I think of a large metal filing cabinet being half carried half dragged across the floor.

Perhaps it sounds like a noisy morning, but as a high school English teacher this is one of the quietest mornings I can remember in a long time.

The stillness is refreshing.