WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.910 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.910 --> 00:00:05.270 align:middle line:84% This is called, "Wind Chimes," Wind chimes 00:00:05.270 --> 00:00:08.510 align:middle line:84% are those little glass things, those [INAUDIBLE] things, 00:00:08.510 --> 00:00:13.432 align:middle line:84% make a tinkling noise if the wind blows. 00:00:13.432 --> 00:00:14.015 align:middle line:90% "Wind Chimes." 00:00:14.015 --> 00:00:24.000 align:middle line:90% 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:30.150 align:middle line:84% Begin with a Victorian cottage in a Rhode Island resort town-- 00:00:30.150 --> 00:00:32.490 align:middle line:84% a two-story house of yellow shingles a block 00:00:32.490 --> 00:00:35.430 align:middle line:84% from the ocean with a roof like a Chinese pagoda 00:00:35.430 --> 00:00:39.510 align:middle line:84% and a screened in porch on three sides. 00:00:39.510 --> 00:00:41.220 align:middle line:84% A wooden croquet set lies scattered 00:00:41.220 --> 00:00:46.740 align:middle line:84% on the lawn which is surrounded by a chest-high privet hedge. 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:49.110 align:middle line:84% Hanging from the porch ceiling, a wind 00:00:49.110 --> 00:00:53.430 align:middle line:84% chimes with eight glass bars swings gently in a breeze 00:00:53.430 --> 00:00:56.070 align:middle line:84% smelling of salt and fried food from hotdog 00:00:56.070 --> 00:00:59.730 align:middle line:90% stands along the beach. 00:00:59.730 --> 00:01:01.440 align:middle line:84% In the middle of the living room, 00:01:01.440 --> 00:01:05.370 align:middle line:84% a boy lies on his stomach reading a Batman comic. 00:01:05.370 --> 00:01:07.860 align:middle line:84% Around him are wicker chairs with white cushions. 00:01:07.860 --> 00:01:11.910 align:middle line:84% The boy's knees are bent and the soles of his tattered gym shoes 00:01:11.910 --> 00:01:13.260 align:middle line:90% point toward the ceiling. 00:01:13.260 --> 00:01:16.650 align:middle line:84% As he reads, he slowly bumps his heels together 00:01:16.650 --> 00:01:18.930 align:middle line:84% as if in time to the sound of the surf 00:01:18.930 --> 00:01:21.060 align:middle line:90% he hears in the distance. 00:01:21.060 --> 00:01:25.020 align:middle line:84% A collie dog lies panting at the top of the stairs, I'm sorry-- 00:01:25.020 --> 00:01:28.140 align:middle line:84% a collie dog lies panting at the foot of the stairs, 00:01:28.140 --> 00:01:31.320 align:middle line:84% while in a bedroom at the top of the stairs 00:01:31.320 --> 00:01:35.550 align:middle line:84% a man lies naked on white sheet smoking a cigarette. 00:01:35.550 --> 00:01:40.350 align:middle line:84% His wife, also naked, sleeps with her head on his chest. 00:01:40.350 --> 00:01:44.370 align:middle line:84% As he smokes, the man carelessly strokes her back and stares up 00:01:44.370 --> 00:01:47.670 align:middle line:84% at the lines and angles of the white ceiling 00:01:47.670 --> 00:01:52.140 align:middle line:84% until it seems he's looking down from some high place, a plain 00:01:52.140 --> 00:01:54.006 align:middle line:90% or hilltop. 00:01:54.006 --> 00:01:57.690 align:middle line:84% From where he lies, he can just see the roofs of other houses 00:01:57.690 --> 00:02:00.510 align:middle line:84% and he imagines his neighbors drowsing their way 00:02:00.510 --> 00:02:03.210 align:middle line:90% through the August afternoon. 00:02:03.210 --> 00:02:06.870 align:middle line:84% White curtains sway in the breeze from the open window, 00:02:06.870 --> 00:02:08.430 align:middle line:84% while the smoke from his cigarette 00:02:08.430 --> 00:02:12.570 align:middle line:84% seems to turn blue as it rises through bars of sunlight 00:02:12.570 --> 00:02:14.940 align:middle line:90% to the ceiling. 00:02:14.940 --> 00:02:17.580 align:middle line:84% From nearby, the man hears the sound 00:02:17.580 --> 00:02:18.960 align:middle line:90% of people playing tennis-- 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:21.720 align:middle line:84% an occasional shout and the plonk of the ball 00:02:21.720 --> 00:02:24.510 align:middle line:84% against the webbing of the racket. 00:02:24.510 --> 00:02:26.910 align:middle line:84% From the porch, he hears the tinkling of wind 00:02:26.910 --> 00:02:31.740 align:middle line:84% chimes like a miniature orchestra forever warming up. 00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:34.760 align:middle line:90% 00:02:34.760 --> 00:02:39.530 align:middle line:84% Years later the same man is lying fully clothed 00:02:39.530 --> 00:02:41.690 align:middle line:90% on his bed in a city hotel. 00:02:41.690 --> 00:02:44.000 align:middle line:84% It is evening and the only light comes 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:47.690 align:middle line:84% from the street and a blinking red sign outside his window. 00:02:47.690 --> 00:02:50.570 align:middle line:84% He's waiting for a friend and soon they will go to dinner, 00:02:50.570 --> 00:02:53.870 align:middle line:84% but as he waits he watches the shadows on the ceiling 00:02:53.870 --> 00:02:56.030 align:middle line:84% and either that reminds him of the wind 00:02:56.030 --> 00:02:59.150 align:middle line:84% chimes or perhaps it is some combination of sounds 00:02:59.150 --> 00:03:01.430 align:middle line:90% from the street. 00:03:01.430 --> 00:03:05.150 align:middle line:84% His son is grown up, his wife has remarried. 00:03:05.150 --> 00:03:09.290 align:middle line:84% He himself has a new wife in another city and he's away 00:03:09.290 --> 00:03:12.080 align:middle line:84% from home only because of his work 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:16.430 align:middle line:84% in which he thinks himself happy and successful. 00:03:16.430 --> 00:03:19.010 align:middle line:84% But for a moment, he clearly hears 00:03:19.010 --> 00:03:23.000 align:middle line:84% the wind chimes, sees the swaying curtains in that summer 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:27.020 align:middle line:84% bedroom, even feels the faint pressure of his ex-wife's 00:03:27.020 --> 00:03:29.450 align:middle line:90% sleeping head upon his chest. 00:03:29.450 --> 00:03:34.560 align:middle line:84% But then it slips by and in its place 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:37.010 align:middle line:84% he has an awareness of all the complicated 00:03:37.010 --> 00:03:39.710 align:middle line:84% turnings of his life, and he wonders 00:03:39.710 --> 00:03:43.070 align:middle line:84% if what he had seen as progress was only a scrambling 00:03:43.070 --> 00:03:45.290 align:middle line:84% after circumstance, like a boy trying 00:03:45.290 --> 00:03:49.170 align:middle line:84% to scramble into the back of a moving truck. 00:03:49.170 --> 00:03:51.530 align:middle line:84% And while he doesn't regret his life, 00:03:51.530 --> 00:03:54.170 align:middle line:84% he grieves for all that was lost, 00:03:54.170 --> 00:03:57.590 align:middle line:90% all that he had to let go. 00:03:57.590 --> 00:03:59.270 align:middle line:84% He thinks of that ocean house and wishes 00:03:59.270 --> 00:04:01.790 align:middle line:84% he were back in his former life or that one 00:04:01.790 --> 00:04:05.090 align:middle line:84% could take one moment and remain inside it 00:04:05.090 --> 00:04:08.420 align:middle line:84% like an egg inside its shell, instead of constantly 00:04:08.420 --> 00:04:11.720 align:middle line:84% being hurried into the future by good luck or bad. 00:04:11.720 --> 00:04:14.840 align:middle line:84% Again he hears the wind chimes, even 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:17.540 align:middle line:84% sees them hanging in the dark with their eight glass 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:20.810 align:middle line:84% bars and red oriental designs, but then they 00:04:20.810 --> 00:04:25.010 align:middle line:84% begin to get smaller as if quickly receding, 00:04:25.010 --> 00:04:27.680 align:middle line:84% until they are no more than a speck of bright light which 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:30.620 align:middle line:84% at last blinks out as his friend starts 00:04:30.620 --> 00:04:35.740 align:middle line:84% hammering at the door and his whole busy life rushes forward. 00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:41.000 align:middle line:90%