by Amy Paul

Created on: November 24, 2007

I cannot find silence. Everyone sleeps in their beds and I, searching for silence, sit on my couch, waiting. Clocks tick, the fish-tank drips, the frige hums. Frustrated I dress myslef in layers of insulated clothing for the winter walk in the woods. My feet crunch upon the snow so I plunk myself down upon a dusted, rotting oak trunk. Ah, I breathe in cold air, waiting for a moment of silence....A woodpecker alerts me that it's time for the hunt. Snow falls from a branch, thudding four feet from my own feet. This is momentary I think, except the chickadees and chipmunks begin their morning shopping trip for any visible sign of food. Oh well.

A pursuer of the near impossible, I continue my quest for the perfect silence.
Obviously, I find it not in my home nor in the woods, so I get in my car in drive. Where to go? I try my church in town. The preacher encourages to pray in silence and welcomes us to sit in the church even when services do not occur. I am excited by the prospect of discovering the elusive creature. It is cold, and I jog up to the heavy oak doors. Nobody here. Despite the minor squeking of an underoiled hinge and the inevitable thud of door on frame, it is quiet. Will I spot silence as it envelops me? Any pew will do, so I choose one directly in the middle of the church. Ah, real, live quiet. Then a gentle ticking rudely interrupts my emptiness, just as silence was kissing my cheek, and I feel a warm draft emitting from a grate under my feet. Damn furnace. I could wait until the furnace finishes it's introduction, so I choose to do so; then a very loud "thong" sound emanates throughout the church. I turn toward the noise, organ practice apparently. Frustrated, I storm out of the noisy place.

I've given up, surrendering myself to a world without silence. I decide I will go to a very public, noisy spot known for loud conversation and buzzing contraptions: a cafe. I start the car and drive along the frozen road. Finally I park across the street, ten minutes until the cafe opens, and I am willing to wait. Turning off the car, bundled warmly, I gaze upon the empty street, no cars, no people, I close my eyes. Hey, wait...with the windows rolled up and the heat off..I found my tricky prey...in my car!I have met silence! I breathe slowly and softly and realize, ironically, that a contraption so filled with potentials to generate noise (motor, muffler, heat/cool controls, radio) isn't! Aha!

It is deafening, this silence. It rings in my ears, trying to overcome me. I am uncomfortable without any sound. It burdens my ears to listen to this monster, this invisible force. I have been exposed rare exposure in this society, and I am not sure that I have found what I was searching for. I open my eyes to greatfully see a car driving toward me. It parks in the cafe's lot, and I just about bust through my door, trying to escape silence.

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