Clarion

The church bells called me out into the twilight.

I'm not certain how long they'd been ringing when they first pierced my consciousness.  I'd been immersed in writing, only vaguely aware of the pleasing notes repeating in the dying light.  Then came the thought-

Funny, I can't usually hear church bells from my apartment, soon followed by, My, those are going on awfully long for the chiming of the hour, and almost as quickly by, Wait a moment- it's 5:18.  That's not church-bell time.

I sat up and listened harder.  Am I imagining this?  No, there they were, ever-so-faintly.

What is going on?

So out I went into the twilight to follow them to the source.  At first I thought they might be coming from the park two blocks away- they often hold concerts there, although usually in the summer.  But no- the closer I got to the park the more I lost the sound.  Has it ended?  But when I walked back up towards my apartment I caught it again- so slippery, just barely there.  To the point where maybe I was making it up.

There is a Greek Orthodox church only about three blocks away (in the other direction): in retrospect I realize that I don't know enough about Greek Orthodox to know whether or not they even engage in bell-ringing, but in that moment all I could think was, maybe it's coming from the church.

But it wasn't.  Or, at least, if it had been it ceased to.  The bells faded, replaced by the lonely whistle of a train and the rushing hum of rush hour traffic on University.  Nothing, nothing left to tell me whether or not I'd imagined the whole thing.