Musings

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Distraction

Today, during the singing of a hymn at mass, a whistle was blown. I was astonished to hear it. It was not just a short blast like you hear for a foul in a basketball game. This was a very long, shrill and disturbing noise, lasting a full measure of music. This is the first time I had ever heard anything like this. The singing did not hesitate, after all the organ music kept going, yet we all heard it. The singing continued as I wondered what would prompt somebody to blow a whistle in this church. What were they trying to accomplish? Then it came to me, it was the scream of a baby that was angry. Yet, I heard no shushing, or such accompanying sound, to get it to stop. It just stopped. It had come from the other side of the church and so it would do no good to crane my neck to see anything. Just before mass ended, during the concluding hymn, it was heard again but this time much subdued. My thoughts: Was this baby inspired by the singing to join in and doing it's untrained best? Did this baby always scream like this? Why didn't the parent just blow in it's face to get it to quiet? With training, this kid is going to be a powerful operatic singer. Upon exiting the church, I tried to overhear some conversations. To my surprise nobody was saying anything about that scream. I guess it was only a distraction for me.

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