Deep Listening

 For my ten minutes of silence, I choose to sit in my car at a gas station. This gas station is located in a small town near my hometown. This gas station is at the corner of two roads, where there is a stoplight at this interesting. My two front windows were down and I listened to all the different sounds this small town was occupied by.

    I heard the constant sound of vehicles. The buzzing of cars driving by, the loud trucks starting up, the sharp sound of vehicle doors opening and closing, and even the quick sound of tires turning on pavement. I also heard the pitch of some squeaky cars and trucks and the buzzing of dings when a drivers door is open. These sounds reference that this location is in a small town and that people are always coming and going. These sounds are relative to me because they remind me of home, a small town.

      These sounds do not really inspire a sense of mood but they reminded me of a dream. When the sounds were soft and when I didn't hear much, the dream was calm. When I heard loud noises like the trucks running and the doors slamming, the dream was at it's climax or at a violence scene.

      While I was listening to the sounds of vehicles at the gas station I realized how sounds flow together. When one sound stopped, another one started. For instance, at one point I heard the sound of a car drive away and as soon as the sound was far in the distance I heard a squeaky truck. I also realized that sounds overlap, and for the most part they all seemed to fit together. I would hear the piercing sound of tires turning on the pavement and during that time I would also hear the loud sound of car doors closing. However, when there were silences in between distinct sounds, I realized that this is what breaks up time.