Honeymoon's Over: Day 99

Earlier today . . .

I sat down at the computer and opened a game of MahJong solitaire. The tiles fell, but there wasn't any sound.

My hands flew to the computer's speakers, adjusting the volume and frantically reaching for the area where a port for earphones should have been.

"What? No . . . no!!"

The last of the tiles fell. Sound was completely absent.

"Tad?"

Nothing.

"TAD?"

"What?" he asked, turning briefly from his XBox game.

"Why isn't there any sound?" I screamed at him.

"My earphones are in."

"What?!"

"I was using them."

Again, I waved my hands where the earphone plug should have been. There wasn't anything there, and the poor lighting prevented me from seeing much.

"You sure they're in?"

"Yeah."

But I couldn't find them. Too frustrated to ask for assistance, I finished my game without any sound and closed out the program.


A few hours later . . .

I came back to the computer and this time examined the tower. Sure enough, earphones were plugged into the port. I removed them.

I fired up MahJong, cranked up the volume, and sighed in happiness as the tiles trickled down the screen.

"Mmmmm," I smiled. "It sounds like rain. The most beautiful sound in the world."

Tad turned from his XBox game, and stared at me for a moment. "Is that why you freaked out earlier when the earphones were plugged in? Because you couldn't hear the tiles falling?"

"Yeah," I admitted. Then, to justify my actions, said, "It's my favorite sound in the world. I love it and am sad when I can't hear it."

"So that's why you always freak out about the volume."

"Yes."

He looked at me for a few seconds, blinked a few times . . . and then turned back to his game.