Suddenly Ahe pressed both hands over his ears. The courtyard grew muffled and distant, as though a thick quilt lay between him and the world. He breathed out in relief.

There, he thought. If I can hardly hear it, nobody else can either. He stood beside the bell with both hands on his ears, no longer reaching for it. He believed he had solved the problem.

Another breeze crossed the courtyard. The bell rang again. Its sound passed the flowerpot and the threshold. It did not need to travel through Ahe's ears to reach somewhere else.