If I showed you a quick photo of it you'd know what I was talking about. The whole street had a volume to it - on the whole very calm. You could be in a room upstairs at the back of your house and you'd hear the post plop on the mat - even a couple of thin bills emitted enough softness to be heard and appreciated. The sounds that came into the house were sweet things - made into animals they'd be hoppy little mice and stuff like that.
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Of course, you can't make noises into animals as well as you can animals into noises. This story will try to know that much for you and leave such metaphors well alone.
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Cars hummed by with a faint, pretty honk every now and then. The kind of sounds which helped you sleep - rocked you gently in your pillow and propagated the right dreams.
Even generally cantankerous noises - vacuuming, dogs barking at phones ringing, seagulls' screeches - all had a pleasantness about them.
Like the sky had notched down all noises a couple of decibels - wrapped every sound in a couple of pink ribbons.
Generally it took the same toll on conversations - not allowing much more than the price of potatoes to be discussed. All put in a basket the whole street produced less than a kilo worth of conversation every day. Most of what was said floated away on light winds just higher than a puppy's ears. Old women conversations for everyone - the next holidays - somewhere nice needless to say, the new chip shop recently opened and the quality of the batter on the fish, and the weather. People actually mentioning the degrees of pleasantness found in the day's breezes.
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'Do you know any good stories about something else?'
'Sorry - did you say stories?'
'Yeah.'
'I didn't tell a story. That wasn't a story. I was talking about what I watched on telly last night. That's all.'
'I know, but shouldn't we talk about something a bit more important. Or even something important at all?'
'Like what? What to watch tonight?'
'Come on. You know what I mean.'
'Okay - I'm taking the piss a little, but I don't know what you mean, no.'
'Big things. Philosophy. People. Love.'
'Whoa! And you started this with stories. What do you want to talk about?'
'Tell you what - do you have any stories about love?'
'About love? Well, I do have one actually. I wouldn't tell it ordinarily, but you might be the first person to ever ask me. It's not a story I'm comfortable telling. It's one of the reasons I came here in the first place. Are you sure you want to hear it?'
'Christ - I do now. Go on.'
'Well, I'm going to let the story tell itself, even give it a name. It's one that'll leave a hole in your head. I call it 'She multiplies infinity', but you should call it whatever you want once you've heard it. You might have to do that. Or even forget I ever told you it.'
'Go on, I'm listening.'
'It might take a while, but here goes...'
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