From the day
Perspective: The Anxious Local · Sound
The shrill whistle of the steamships down at the docks is drowning out the neighbors’ Victrola, and honestly, the **Latest Shipping News** has me shaking; if those crates of coal don't arrive soon, the price of a five-cent loaf will be the least of our worries this winter. I can hear the newsboys shouting about AM radio breakthroughs over the clatter of horse hooves on the frozen slush, but it all sounds like noise when you’re down to your last few copper cents. It would be absolutely capital to just sit and play a quiet game of Rook by the hearth, yet the tension in the air is as thick as the soot on my collar. I feel like a total chump for hoping for a peaceful Christmas while the harbor groans with the weight of delayed cargo and the world keeps spinning faster than I can keep up with.