Quiet Time

I'm afraid I had another incident with my voice. These things always happen when I'm with a friend someplace where I'm usually alone. It's happened on a city bus before, but this time it was a return to the library. A friend had been around my neighborhood and wanted to see a movie. I proposed first a possible visit to the cheap movie theater, but there was nothing there that we both wanted to see. I then suggested that we might get something from the library and bring it back to my place. We did that.

It didn't take long before the trouble happened. We went over to the movie section, and got to talking about improv comedy some way or another. As always, I was totally ignorant of what was going on vocally with me. My friend said nothing, thinking perhaps that nothing was wrong, or at least that nothing was wrong enough to warrant comment. He later opined that I had been speaking in a normal tone of voice, albeit perhaps not normal for the library.

A librarian came up to remind me that I was in a library and that I could easily be heard by all. Whatever it might look like, I am sensitive to the impact of my voice. As in any such occasion, I was mortified and definitely abashed. In a couple of words I confirmed that I heard her and expressed contrition. We spent a few more minutes looking over the movies, and took a couple to the checkout counter. I was partly recovered.

The lady there, who perhaps knows me a bit better than the other (given that I seldom need help and am usually no trouble), and I ruefully owned up to my comeuppance. She observed that the staff was perhaps somewhat on edge owing to some unspecified trouble earlier that day. I was curious what that must mean, but didn't ask about it. I wish I had. In any case, I was pretty embarrassed. I've got to learn how to moderate that stuff.