The other day I was working in my back yard. A few houses away, invisible but audible through the hedges, a child was playing in his/her back yard.
(I think the child is a boy.)
He's a talker, at any rate.
Non-stop.
His mother, to her credit, responds at regular intervals with a quiet "uh-huh" and "ooohhhhh". Dad is also very patient. His little baby sister apparently is quite contented. Even when she cries, it's a low-pitched, low-maintenance complaint of "mamamamamama". Mostly, the sound is the little boy, talking non-stop.
So I could hear him chatting away, with barely a breath, for an hour or two. Most of the time, I couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but clearly he's got a very active imagination.
At one point there was a pause.
Then a baby girl's low-pitched, low-maintenance wail.
Followed by his mother's quiet query - "What are you doing to her?" ... "Don't do that please."
Baby stopped crying.
Another pause.
And then he started chatting again, with this introduction - "Mom, I'm not going to KILL her. I'm just ...."
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I wonder if, at that moment, they were startled by their invisible but audible neighbour's laughter through the hedges.
