I wonder who called the local police?
Minor irritations, by SGHolland
Along with a blustery wind that had loose papers blowing around the neighborhood came a blast from what sounded like a DJ running a very loud music?al party somewhere a few houses down from where I live.
I had opened the window for the last bit of waning sun — and the papers on my desk took off and flung themselves across the room. This was at just about the same time as the womp womp womp sound of very amped-up hip-hopish music came up the road from somewhere near — I really thought it was going to turn out to be a car with teenagers in it ruining their eardrums — hopefully on its way to somewhere else.
But it didn’t go away.
I stuck my head out the door to try to locate the source, and a big wind gust brought someone’s plastic bag from somewhere kiting across the sky!
The noise came from some sort of device that changed directions, like the electronic megaphone does at a dance hall. Was there a Friday party of some sort, or maybe an auction or was it the local high school practicing band practice?
I remembered a similar occasion when I was working in the Issaquah studio — the house just below us had two teens in it who were playing very loud rock music after school aiming it out their windows while they bounced their basketball around in the driveway before their parents came home. That day I got irritated enough to put my stereo speakers out my window and drowned them out with classical music. Then I went down to visit the boys messing around on their front lawn.
I asked them if they liked my classical music.
They made bad faces and looked vaguely embarrassed, and shook their heads no.
I said I was going to start using my classical gear outside every day now, as long as they were going to do that with their music. I said I’d put mine up loud enough so I didn’t have to hear theirs. How did they like that idea?
They did cease and desist. I brought my gear inside and was glad there was not further ado.
While I was muttering to myself today with the windows closed against wind and Womp Womp Womp, the latter diminished in volume. In the time I have written this, the Womps went away. It’s quiet now.
I wonder who stopped them? Maybe the neighbor whose baby sleeps in the daytime made a call. Or reasoned with the perps. Or maybe their parents came home. It’s blessedly quiet out there in the wind. I’ll turn on my classical music radio station, I think.
Relieved, Susan G Holland ©2017
