Freight Trains At Night

After almost two weeks away, I can't help but wonder what my super loud neighbors back in Los Angeles have been up to. Their nighttime revelries echoing through the darkness are such a constant in my life there. And it is not till the depth of night, well after midnight, that it is finally quiet in my neighborhood.

But here in the flatness of the Midwest, instead of hipster parties, the sound of trains can be heard all night long. The tracks are a few miles away but the rumble of steel wheels against them is so loud, its almost as if the train is right next to my window.

For some people, the trains are literally right next door. If it's loud for me, I wonder how loud it is for these folks living in these houses?

Do their kids ever get a good night's sleep? Or do their teachers send home notes complaining, "Andre fell asleep in math class today. Can you make sure he gets enough rest to be able to stay awake?"

Then again, maybe over time the rumble of the trains just becomes barely noticeable background noise.

I used to have a friend whose second floor apartment was right next to some El tracks. When the train went by, we'd have to stop our conversations because we couldn't hear each other without shouting. Instead we'd sit there, watching the pictures on her walls rattle. The times I crashed at her place, I never slept. However she always slept through the night because she'd gotten used to the sound. She sometimes said her very inexpensive rent made getting used to the train's noise worthwhile.

I suppose our ability to acclimate to even the strangest, noisiest circumstances is why most nights I barely notice my loud LA neighbors. It really takes some out-of-the-box partying on their part for me to even glance out the window.

As annoying as my neighbors sometimes are, I think I'll take them over the sound of these freight trains.