Eavesdroppings
Eavesdropppings
It’s a repetitive assumption. People with their faces down in technology. We assume they are cocooned in a bubble of self-interest. We assume they aren’t listening? What if they were, even just one of them? So much to hear. So much blather. So many stories.
I have no preference. Eavesdropping happens in lines, sitting at coffee shops, and any other crowded place. Hard to listen while you’re talking though, so I recommend stalking the syllables solo.
Only takes half a minute to discount the drivel and get back to your own musings. Be ready to write. Take out your pen and give those thoughts light. There I go. I try to say something normal, but the rhyme creeps underfoot, then bursts in singing and all is kaput.
Let’s start a new paragraph and see if I can stay away from the meter. God help me now, in the back lurks Peter.
Seriously though, I get a large proportion of ideas from snippets of conversation I overhear. Sometimes I even interject. Last night, I was waiting to buy cereal at Dollar General and a young clerk asked the lady in front of me why people used checks instead of debit cards.
I jumped in and told her how a check might allow you to juggle funds over the weekend because they can’t be cashed until Monday. What an epiphany she had. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. My father, the accountant, would tell me that once a check is written the money is gone. It’s hard to stop myself from joining. Writing the interesting talk keeps me from bothering others and starts me down roads I might not travel. Next time you’re out, stop to listen to the humans around you. You never know.