The Sounds of SoHo

SoHo at almost 6 a.m. is surprisingly calm on this particular autumn Monday morning. I realized that I landed in the more quieter part of SoHo.

I chose to take a small detour on my way to campus and as I stopped and attempted to shut my mind off if even for just an hour, I couldn’t have felt more relaxed. Things are quiet... almost too quiet as if I were in another city. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to interrupt my brief moment of serenity. How could it be that a part of Manhattan usually so lively and full of noise was now so quiet, so still, as if it too, like most of the city, decided that Sunday into Monday morning was strictly reserved for quiet time, relaxation and sleep? I close my eyes and I try to find sound. I wait and listen...

The quiet breaks by the distant sound of a skater gang drifting down the street pavement. As the sound grows louder and louder I anticipate the sound I grew up hearing; skateboards gliding on the city streets, and I get a whiff of nostalgia. I see the boys coming... I count them ... 3, 4... 5 skater boys effortlessly making their way down an almost empty side street. I wave to one and he waves back almost losing his balance but... wait no... not quite... he recovers with ease and disappears down the street with his crew. 

As I walk slowly down the street, I hear the sound of broom bristles sweeping the pavement as a local shop owner tidies up the entrance to his shop, readying his quaint business for the new day. I hear the faint beat of the music the early morning jogger listens to as she passes me on the sidewalk. I hear two street vendors talking, laughing and sipping their morning coffee as I also hear them unpack the plastic covered items they sell. One vendor unfolds his chair and I could swear I heard the rusty parts rub together as he unfolds his clearly worn-out seat. 

Then I see a small group of tourists coming my way. They’re talking loudly and pointing in all different directions. Time has gone by and the sky to bluer now. I hear and feel a pigeon flap its wings and take flight inches from my head and more people appear all around me as if out of nowhere and just like that, my mind is back in NYC.