Not a Sound

None of these things, however – grey sky nor ravaged landscape – is what unnerved me. It was the silence. I can’t think of a time before or since where I’ve encountered such an acute stillness. Even at my B.C. home out in the country there is always noise of one kind or another: birds singing in the trees, the river in the valley below, and the occasional vehicle rumbling past. Even inside my house it is never completely silent. The fridge is always humming, and the floors creaking. It’s not possible to ever completely escape sound. But where we were there was not a birdcall, river, or highway. The silence was absolute. It was profoundly isolating. I doubt you can imagine what that is like unless you have experienced it for yourself.

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