Friday night if you went to the Women’s Volleyball game, you could get a free Chipotle burrito. We decided to show up 45 minutes early to guaruntee ourselves a free dinner, which occured to the rest of the similarly informed student body as well. Sitting in the stands waiting for the game to start, the din was so loud conversations could not carry on at a “normal” volume. There was music playing and the sound of balls hitting walls (no pun intended) reverberated through the gym.
I must admit I didn’t notice the background buzz at first, until I looked at the girl on my right and realized that we were all yelling to communicate with each other, sitting about 6 inches apart. Then I started to pay attention to the buzzing. In the novel, the ‘white noise’ comes through almost subconsciously, like one of those nagging voices at the back of your head that you can’t seem to ignore no matter how hard you try.
Across from us are the proud parents and obligatory relatives that actually came to see the game. Roaring all around me are the students that came for every possible reason except maybe watching the game. There are girls who showed up in their finest, like peacocks on parade. Mating calls refined to skinny jeans and Ugg boots. There are athletes who are required to show up to support their kind, who crack jokes and revel in the free stuff. There are boyfriends winning brownie points, best friends pretending they really care, high school volleyball players coming to become inspired, faculty to support the entity that employs them.
The girls playing in the game, did they show up to have fun? They make noise too, rolling, dodging, setting, bumping, spiking, cheering, encouraging, laughing.
The code I found in the mundane? Inherent selfishness. Not necessarily a bad thing, not exactly a great thing, just a common denominator.