Los Gatos Weekly-Times

The Prowler

'The bed creaked; the floor squeaked. The wind blew the leaves through the trees. The leaves fell on the roof: swish swish. The tea kettle whistled: hiss hiss. 'Too noisy!' said Peter."

While pawing through last week's newspaper, the Prowler meowed out loud in laughter at the unfortunate hilarity of a Monte Sereno resident's battle with neighborhood noise and how it brought to this feline's mind an old children's story, Ann McGovern's Too Much Noise.

In this short storybook, accompanied by a 45-rpm record for listening, hapless Peter is plagued by what he thinks is too much noise. He follows the advice of the town's wisest man and brings home a cow, sheep, donkey, dog, cat and chicken to mask the ambient noise, only to practically lose his mind in the ensuing zoo.

When he finally lets the animals go, the ambient noise suddenly seems so quiet and peaceful that Peter sleeps soundly for the rest of his days.

While good fences make good neighbors--at least according to poet Robert Frost--sound walls would probably be even better in situations like that in Monte Sereno. First it was the annoying noise produced by a neighbor's elderly air conditioner that kept the Monte Sereno gentleman awake during hot summer nights, eventually causing him to seek slumber on the opposite side of his house.

The brief respite was interrupted first by a barking dog and then by a shrieking peacock--the former a common disturbance in suburban neighborhoods, the latter a colorful oddity.

Good thing we have City Council meetings for grievance-airing and code enforcement, especially when a good night's sleep is at stake.

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]