Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Conversation

Sometimes, at night, if he's not watching TV or listening to the radio, he can hear the woman in the next apartment on the phone. She has a distinctive voice, loud and high-pitched, and the walls are thin. He can't make out what she's saying, or whether it's in English, but he can hear the timbre of her voice, the lilt and flow of it, its occasional ascents that could be either urgency or excitement.

At times like these, he puts down the book he's reading, switches off the lights, and sits very still, listening to the muffled sound of his neighbor's conversation, this music of connection that only he can hear.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

quite beautiful, just a observation (might seem incorrect)- but off late your writings seem to have attained a certain sense of brevity about them- ending abruptly. Seems its an experimentation of some sort wherein you are trying to express everything without being generous with words.
take care.

Anonymous said...

falsie, for a change why dont you come out with a list of your favorite
movies/documentaries of the year- something similar to the book list.

frissko said...

The prosaic beauty and all that notwithstanding, this act is called an attempt at eavesdropping :)...

Anonymous said...

AArggghhhhh! There is such a thing as not ruining a post! And sentimental comments do ruin them, folks! Please keep them to yourself!

Falstaff said...

anon1: Brevity, yes. It could be experimentation. Then again, it could be just that I'm short on time.

anon2: You know, I thought about it - but I couldn't come up with enough films to put on a top 10 list.

frissko: Not really. Not if he can't hear what she's saying. Which is why I specify "He can't make out what she's saying"

anon3: Temper, temper.

frissko said...

which is precisely why i called it an attempt at eavesdropping and not eavesdropping :)...

Falstaff said...

frissko: No, no. See, it would be an attempt at eavesdropping if he wanted to hear what she was saying but wasn't able to. But he has no interest in what she's actually saying, in fact, he's probably happy he can't make that out because a) if he could he would have to stop listening and b) it's probably something silly and banal. So if anything he's trying to ensure that that he doesn't hear what she's saying.

Anonymous said...

anon1:ahan...so dissertation is finally reaching its culmination. But then what happen to 'night falstaff'. has he been subdued for the time -being. take care.