What I Hear

This year, I commute to Hunter from my parents' house on Long Island, but last year I had an apartment on 83rd street, between the avenues of York and East End. I decided it would be fun to do this assignment while sitting on the stoop of my old apartment building, because... well, why not?

The first distinguishable sound that I heard was the wind.  Today was a very windy day and the loud gusts of wind came often.  The next sound I recognized was the sound of a fire engine roaring by. This was to be expected, as sirens are very common in New York City.

I was beginning to think that coming here was a bad idea, because of its lack of original sounds, when suddenly the door to my old building opened.  I remember from living there that if the door was opened all the way, the bottom of it would scratch against the floor, creating a loud screeching sound. It seems that the super still hadn't gotten around to fixing it, because when the tenant walked out and pushed the door open, the door screeched very loudly.  The noise of the door sent a dog living in the building on a barking spree.  Coincidentally, the tenant who walked out of the building was also walking his two dogs, and so the next sound I heard was the sound of dog paws and nails clacking down the stoop.  Before they headed on their walk, the man stopped to throw out his trash, and so I heard the noise of the tin garbage can lid clattering open and closed.

Shortly after this, I heard the chattering of parents and kids.  There were a few schools in my old neighborhood and I guess the school day was over because herds of children and their moms (or maybe their nannies) were heading my way, gossiping and talking amongst themselves.  In this sea of people happened to be my old super, who was having a heated conversation on his cell phone.  At this point, I was getting kind of cold, and I was not in a mood to exchange pleasantries, so I left before he got a chance to recognize me.