Listening.

There's this new guy at work. His name is Jacob. He's just a bagger for now. He is short and has grey curly hair and a moustache. He has a peculiar way of moving. He reminds me of my high school Bible teacher. He also has an accent and reminds me of Robin Williams in "Jacob the Liar". I asked him were he is from and he said Russia. I asked him his last name and he said that it is too long and confusing. But I asked him again and he said it and I was able to repeat it. He was impressed by my name saying skills. He's a cool little man.

Last night, when it was getting close to closing time, the manager turned off the air conditioning. It was deafeningly silent. I noticed that there wasn't music playing like there usually is. I heard the beeps of the registers. Crinkling of bags. Carts rolling. Quiet voices. It felt like the air was thin, not full of all the extra noise. I noticed the people in the store. I wondered for a moment how the world would feel without traffic, tv's, radios, and all the background noise that we filter out of our conscious minds. Maybe we've gotten so used to filtering that we also filter out people. Voices and faces flow in and out and they seem as meaningless to us as blowing air. "Maybe we crash into each other so that we can feel something."