That's the only way I can describe it. It's not quite white noise. It's like a halfway point between silence and the achingly loud sounds of the world. Have you ever thought about how loud the world is? It's sort of scary. It's a hissing, buzzing sound. The sound of no sound at all. But in the background there's the sound of people talking. Just barely. If you weren't paying attention you just might miss it. Are you watching closely?
The coffee shop was strangely empty for a weekday morning. The towers above me were already full of the people who worked in them. I guess I missed the stragglers. The ones who needed their giant coffees before they even bothered to hop into one of the elevators.
I'd made my way to the counter just in time to be cut off by a pair of hipsters who'd entered a different way than I had, that put them closer to the cashier. The one in front, with the green trousers and the glasses he didn't actually need ordered loud enough for those tower people I'd been thinking about to hear. "I'll take a triple espresso" he said. My eyes shot to the burrista who I knew was attempting to make sense of the guy's order. I'd been coming here for years and this order was far to L.A. for this nice old lady to have ever received. She took it like a champ though. She made the thing.
The green legged hipster watching her every move in the process. I watched his hand go to his back pocket for his wallet but before taking it out, he abandoned the thought.
She returned to the counter with the tiny beverage. Green Pants asked her if she could add two ice cubes to the mixture. She complied with a befuddled look. Upon returning to the counter, she gave him his price and this is when he decided to inform her that he'd forgotten his wallet. His friend tiredly pulled a few dollars from his wallet and paid the woman for her efforts. Green Pants didn't bother thanking either one of them.
She waved me forward and reflexively I moved to the counter. Her mouth moved but no words came out. The gray noise again. My noise cancelling headphones kept out the sounds of the city and in turn, the Coffee Woman. I peeled back one of the ear phones, allowing me to hear my own order. I wasn't even listening to anything. Just the noise cancelling sound that the headphones generated. I'd wasted battery power on three minutes of nothing. That drove me crazy.
