I'm sitting in a coffee shop enjoying my coffee and laptop. Two mothers with a total of five kids, all between three and six years old make a sudden entrance. The mothers sit their kids at a booth and leave them there while they make restroom visits and order drinks. The kids start becoming loud. I mean real loud. I curse myself for forgetting to bring my earbuds. I look around for the mothers. They're standing in line to order. The kids continue their loud yelling and jostling with each other. Shattering the decibel levels of the regular back ground noise. The sounds punish my ears and penetrate into my mind. My head suddenly aches as like from a hangover.

I think I'm blacking out. I start to have visions of being on a city airport runway. And on a flight deck of a Navy carrier without ear protection as large aircraft fly right over me. The sound of a bad car wreck comes into my mental view as the slamming and twisting of metal and plastic explode. I see flashes of dark red and bright white. A volcano erupting. I think I'm bleeding from my ears.

I can't take it anymore. I've got to get up and say something!

But just in time the mothers appear. Completely unconcerned about their outrageous little noise machines. They collect the kids and casually depart.

Thank you Dear Lord for sparing us from their permanent stay. And from continued suffering and damage to our hearing and mental stability. I surprisingly find myself on my knees as I'm giving this thanks. I get back up into my chair.

It seems my coffee has cooled.