Shannon Costello

Honks — pleasure honks — must satisfy some deep auditory need in the heart of mankind, particularly children. A little effort may reward you with deep, resonating sounds that thrill right through you and ring in the air about you. For a moment there is nothing but the delight of the sound.

At school today kids pumped their arms up and down as I pushed my cart down the hall, wordlessly requesting a honk.

Then I remembered running to the edge of the road in front of our house on Center Street, gesturing at the enormous truck driving by, hoping that he would honk. There is an explosive burst of delight and satisfaction when someone honks just because you asked them to. Of course the horn on my cart is nothing compared to the penetrating, rich sound of the horn on a Mack truck, but if you’re a kid, stuck at school when you belong outside playing, you take what you can get.

Honk. Honk…………Hoooonk.