The Sound of Boys

Overhead I hear the stampeding sound of little boy's feet
Boom.Boom.Boom
THUNDEROUS and impossibly loud for their size
I feel the vibrations beneath my own feet, like a small earthquake
If our house had thoughts would she be afraid of crumbling away footstep by footstep

Rapid machine-gun fire sounds in the distance
as their mouths and tongues make impossible sounds that I can't seem to mimic
Sometimes I wonder if all little boys have this ability

Battles are being won and lost as soldiers bark orders
I hear their voices deepen and take on an air of authority as men jump from helicopters ready for war
Words and phrases like "base" "the agency" "RPG" "we need more men" "medic" "pistol" and      "he's going down" are spoken as if the language of war was their native tongue
This dialect of my little boys is not one I am fluent in

When the wars are over and the battlefields are silent I hear other sounds
In the distance I can hear a sports commentator giving a play-by-play of the matchbox nascar race that ensues on the asphalt tracks of their imaginations

Sometimes I hear the crashing sounds of railroads and towns being demolished
as loud roaring dinosaurs wreak havoc on the fisher price townspeople
Those poor fisher price people with the smiles painted on their faces
The absurdity of people smiling while being eaten by dinosaurs makes me giggle

Then I hear silence which can only mean one thing
Their little bellies are not so silent
All of the running, jumping, battling, racing....VERBing
must have awakened the food beasts within them
Now I hear the sound of maniacal laughter as starving heathens bite off the heads of their goldfish

One might think the sound of silence would be welcomed in my home
Silence with my boys is mostly unnatural
Silence now usually means disaster later
Unless it's bedtime of course, and even then I wonder what their dreams sound like