Listening to the World

 I have to admit that I am much more visual than aural as I move through the world. I love colors and shapes and visual connections. I like moving furniture around and flipping through magazines to look at how rooms are designed. I find it difficult to spend time in certain rooms because I find them oppressive. I wear pops of color on rainy days. I see first and then understand. I watch people -- their smiles and frowns and gestures. I remember faces although I have always had a problem remembering names. 

This week I have had the experience of spending time with someone who listens to the world. Oddly enough that someone is my new puppy -- Fergus, an almost 4 month old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. He arrived from Maryland a couple of Sundays ago, and he alternates between bursts of boundless

energy -- leaping, barking, nipping fingers -- and passing out with legs in the air in puppy exhaustion.

What is fascinating about Fergus, with his face so solemn in repose, is that he listens. A trip to the backyard is full of trotting about and tugging on his leash and digging up and trying to consume doubtful items. But there are also moments, when he stops and sits down or goes still of a sudden. During those moments, his head moves from side to side as he listens to birds in a nearby bush or the traffic passing on the two streets parallel to ours or to the sound of another dog barking. He listens to the wind and the squirrels. He seems to be taking it all in to his fluffy ears and storing it in his mental files. 

I am fascinated by this because I have had dogs before, and I don't remember any of them listening in this way. Yes, when there was a familiar sound or something out of the ordinary that put them on alert. But none of them with Fergus's absorption in the everyday. Or, with his silence.

Watching Fergus listen makes me listen. And that reminds me of how much better use I should make of sounds in my descriptions -- and in my plotting. I need to think about what my characters attend to when they listen.What sounds delight them or make a shiver run down their spine?

I'm not sure I even have the words to describe some sounds. I must see if there is a list somewhere.

And I will continue to watch my dog and try to move beyond my default setting and use my ears.

Note: Harry, my cat, seems to share my visual orientation.