Did you hear that?
One of the worst things in the world to hear is the phrase, “Did you hear that?” No matter what you are doing when that phrase is uttered by someone you always think of the worst-case scenario.
Lying in bed at night, she turned to me and said, “Did you hear that?” The mind boggles as I think of who is invading my home? Do I have a bat or heavy object available to deal with an intruder? Or, what just fell? Did the roof just fall in? Do I know where the escape ladder is kept and is it still usable?
You’re driving in a car with your spouse and he turns to you with a shocked look on his face and says, “Did you hear that?” I’d better grip the wheel tighter. Did I just run over someone? Did the axle just fall off of the car? This reminds me of the time I was driving 55 mph on a highway with my mother and I ran over someone else’s exhaust pipe on the road, because I couldn’t avoid it and blew out a tire. My mother asked me, “Why are we slowing down?” as I tried to pull the car off the highway onto the shoulder with only three functioning wheels. That could have been a “Did you hear that?” situation.
You’re teaching in school and one of the students jumps up and says, “Did you hear that?” Oh no, are we being attacked by some crazed person with a gun. Should I go into lockdown, call the office, or call 911? I’m certainly not setting foot out into the hall to stop a knife fight.
You’re walking down the street and your partner grabs you and says, “Did you hear that?” Was there a car accident? A tornado approaching? Some dastardly rabid dog on the loose? You know it could happen.
Most of the time, none of these catastrophic incidents ever happen. But the creative mind does seem to have a bank of stored possibilities when asked to react to certain questions asked.
So I say be prepared ahead of time, before you ask, “Did you hear that?” so that when you do hear something that is not a life-threatening situation, you can either rephrase the question you ask or just make a statement of fact rather than play a guessing game.
Now don’t get me started on “Did you see that?”
