I seem to have developed super-senses as a result of my new occupation. I realize this because upon awakening late and sitting down to eat breakfast this afternoon in the quiet, quiet house, E having taking M and L off shopping or something, I'm distracted and unable to eat at first. Something is unsettling me, and after concentrating for a moment, below the chirping of birds and the distant drone of traffic, I imagine I can hear the wail of a child in distress. Surely E wouldn't have left one of the kids behind, I reason, but I have to go check the house anyway. Finally I open the door to the outside and can hear it more clearly now, no more than a murmur, but recognizably real, a child crying a few blocks away. Wow.

I put on some music and return to my breakfast.