I was walking through the park this morning and heard what I was absolutely certain was a notification sound. That particular chime. I stopped walking, checked the phone, screen dark, nothing there. The sound had been the wind through a specific cluster of dry leaves. I stood there for a second listening to it again and yes, it did sound like the notification, more or less. Close enough to stop me mid-stride. I put the phone back in my pocket and kept walking but I checked it again ten minutes later just to be sure I hadn't missed something.

I've been hearing the chime in other sounds for months now. The fridge, the rain on the window, a car key being set down. The brain has learned to listen for it above everything else and now it's finding it everywhere, inventing it in ambient noise. I think about what it means that my attention has been so thoroughly recruited that even the park sounds like it's trying to reach me. What sounds do you filter through the expectation of being contacted? What are you always half-listening for?