Humming. What is it? Most people have done it at one time or another. Some people hum in the shower. Others hum while they walk. It is a sound made with the mouth closed. Why do we do it? No one really knows.
My moustache began to tingle the other day when I heard a peculiar humming coming from the kitchen of my converted apple barn. I assumed it was an intruder—perhaps one of the many criminals who roam Pickax with alarming regularity—but upon investigation, it turned out to be Kao K’o Kung, known to his intimates as Koko. He was sitting on the counter, humming. Not purring. Humming. There is a difference. Was he humming a specific melody? It is possible. Koko has demonstrated an intellect that surpasses most residents of Moose County, though admittedly that is a low bar.
Yum Yum, meanwhile, was guarding the birdseed canister with her characteristic vigilance. The squirrels have been stealing again. I have spent $4.75 on birdseed this month alone, which seems excessive, even though the Klingenschoen Fund technically covers household supplies as a legitimate operational expense related to the upkeep of a historically significant property. Is that unreasonable? Of course not.
Humming is apparently therapeutic. Dr. Somebody-or-other wrote a book about it. I have not read it. Polly Duncan mentioned it at dinner, which I allowed her to buy since she had insisted on choosing the restaurant. Pickax has two restaurants. One of them burned down last March under circumstances that were never fully explained, though I had visited the establishment the previous evening. A coincidence. Why do these things keep happening? It is a mystery.
Koko hummed again this morning while staring at a book he had knocked off the shelf. It was a volume on unsolved crimes. His whiskers twitched with what I can only describe as knowingness. Some would call this coincidence. I call it intelligence. My moustache agrees.
Should everyone try humming? Probably. Will it solve the unusually high murder rate in a town of three thousand people? Unlikely. But it cannot hurt.
Humming.
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