For the first time in forever, I got up and walked the dog and, as such, was reminded of one of my favorite noises in the neighborhood. Not that we have a lot of noises in the neighborhood. Mostly just cars, birds, dogs, and sometimes children. But we also have the AT&T building. I don’t know what, exactly, this building does for AT&T. I’ve been walking by it for a couple of years and it appears that very tired men in crappy cars go into the building and… I don’t know. I never see anyone leaving it.
I like to imagine it’s a support group for people who can’t quite make the switch in their minds from Bell South.
“Okay, guys, just one more time. Repeat after me, ‘Hello, Ma’am, I’m from AT&T.”
“Hello, Ma’am, I’m from Allt&South.”
“Close, Earl, real close.”
I shudder to think what happens if they all have to start calling themselves uVerse.
Anyway, they have an HVAC unit that that makes the most awesome noises. It comes on like a mechanical dragon clearing its throat, all cluuunnk cachunk cachuuooonk and then it purrs for a few seconds prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpppppprrrrrr (ha, I’m 36 years old and I’m just now realizing ‘purr’ is an onomatopoeia.) and then it kicks into this heavy metal scream, “ooooooooEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” and then I assume they have heat or something.
Even though it kicks on almost every time I walk by, that initial cluuunnk cachunk cachuuooonk scares the shit out of me.
Sometimes I think, “Dang, they should get out there with some WD40,” but most of the time I just laugh at myself and think that I should remember to tell you guys about it.
Tiny Cat Pants 
“I don’t know. I never see anyone leaving it.” – clearly this must be part of your next ghost story
Are you sure the cluuunnk cachunk cachuuooon noise isn’t unsatisfactory service people being … ground to bits?
This story made me miss “Lost”
There was a high-tech copier at a firm I worked at that made the exact notes of the start of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song, kind of like “oooooeeeeeeeaaawaaaa” over and over and over. It amused me greatly to have this going on in such an uptight place, even if no one heard it but me.
I second what Rachel said.
Also, to share that one of my favorite spots to walk past on campus when I was in college was by the massive exhaust vents that came out of the industrial laundry room in the student union. It was squeaky and noisy, and always smelled clean. Very pleasant in winter.
That’s something I’m really enjoying about quilting. There’s a ton of ironing. Not the kind of ironing that sucks, just pressing seams. But it means the constant smell of hot cotton and the psshhhssshh of the iron.
It’s really lovely.
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