Isaac

You know, the whirl of the cappuccino machine can sound like a lot of things. It’s tripped me up once or twice, sounding like a whisper or even a familiar voice – enough so to make me spin around and drop a customer’s drink.

Well, tonight after closing, it happened again…and I was just about to score another victory for the demented cappuccino noisemaker when I realized I’d unplugged it before counting up the money in the register.

I’d heard some high school girls talking about it the shift before. It was kind of a ridiculous idea, and I thought maybe it was just teenage angst and underworked imaginations coming up with a concept to make the dire mission of finding a prom date so much easier.

The girls said people at school were starting to hear whispers – once a day and always a proper name. No one could really place the name so delicately slid into their ears. Only one girl that they knew of had been told a name of a boy they knew. The strange part was that the lucky girl that had been whispered a familiar name was already dating him.

The so-called “whoosh” sound I heard…I’d figure out later was Sarah Sasson. With so many “s” sounds in a name, I have to give myself a pat on the back for being easily confused with the whooshing nature of Ruby’s Grind Coffee Shop.

After any double shift, the surrounding noises walking home sound like static…just a noise to tell you stuff is going on around you. Just like when a TV channel fights through the static to get the reception back loud and clear – a day-old newspaper with bird poo and mustard stains caught my eye.

I wouldn’t call myself an environmentalist – so don’t think I’m picking this newspaper up for the good of mankind. It was the headline that caught me…

“Whispered Names Have Meaning”

I flipped through the article quickly to see if it was graced with any other repulsing delectables – any sign of disgusting liquids past the blotch of bird crap, and the newspaper was finding the nearest trash can. Miraculously, I found that the article covered six pages, with only an engagement photograph of a couple that looked too happy to be real – almost like the filler photos when you by a frame at Target.

It only took the first paragraph to realize that the article was going to require undevoted attention that my overworked, drooping eyelids would fight to offer…

New York -- Psychologists, sociologists, various doctors and biologists agreed today that the whispered voices experienced by all members of the human race are the next evolution of humans. The whispered names might represent a sixth sense, and while speculations exist that the name refers to one’s intended partner, others continue to research.

It continued:

Tom Sanders and Linda Knoblach are a matched couple that both heard each other’s names and met the following day. They met while shopping at a grocery store, minutes after having heard each other’s names for the first time. Upon bumping into each other, Tom and Linda decided it best to exchange phone numbers and have told scientific authorities that they feel compelled to get to know each other.