The Dangling Conversation

Unintentional eavesdropping. It's what happens in the airport, waiting in line at the theater, walking through a shopping mall. There are dozens of web-sites dedicated to what you overheard in various cities across the globe, in your office, in public.

Things are hardly ever in context when all you hear are several words from an incomplete sentence, missing the balance of the conversation.

The best conversations I don't intend to listen to occur at the Farmer's Market. Heard last week:

"...my roommate, who surfs, has taken to drinking rye whiskey with Coke and uses frozen strawberries for ice cubes..."

"...do you think that was a fake arm?"

"...you should really consider starting your own state..."

"...is this natural hemp?"

"...are you sure those red things are okay to eat?"

"...walking out, shutting the door of your house, not even saying goodbye to him, leaving all your clothes, everything, and starting over..."

"...her Facebook page is to sterile..."

Why do we listen? Are the lives of others that interesting? What causes conversations to be remembered while others fade rapidly into oblivion?

I've let the post sit for almost a week, hoping the time would help me tie things together and come up with an appropriate ending. Much like the dangling conversations of those around me, this is incomplete, waiting for another sentence or two to fill in the blanks and put it all in context.