Every so often there are loud booms in South Minneapolis close to the river. They seem to happen monthly and usually at night. They’re loud if you’re outside, or your summer windows are open. I’ve heard them for years but have never had a conversation about what causes them with friends, or neighbors since we’ve lived here. It wasn’t until I joined Nextdoor years ago that I read posts about the booms with the same questions posed every time. “Did anybody else hear the boom last night?” “Where do they come from?” “What are they?” Those are followed up with the same answers every time that range from, “it’s probably a sewer gas explosion down by the river,” “maybe a transformer blew,” “the nearby trains,” “fireworks,” or “the military.” Then the thread veers further away into Hilary’s emails, anarchists, crime, or Obama’s citizenship.
City council members, the health department, the police department, ballistics experts, and the FBI, don’t have a clue what causes the booms, at least no one has come forward publicly to confirm anything. Investigative journalists haven’t discovered any answers either, only further speculation. There was even a triangulation project commissioned between the city of Minneapolis and the main airport to discover the location of the booms. Despite the precise monitoring technology that was used, they never found the source.
Occasionally there’s an uplifting post by someone on Nextdoor notifying people that their cat has been found or thanking neighbors for shoveling a path across their front yards, from home to home, through deep snow because it makes it easier for the mail delivery person. Those posts usually devolve into anger, suspicion, and lecturing too. Someone will explain that they don’t shovel a path because of how it might affect their spring lawn and wish other people wouldn’t either because it makes them feel guilty, and targeted, because they choose not to. It’s ‘divisive’ they say.
Then a different person will post a non-sequitur saying that people shouldn’t walk in the alleys. That turns into arguments about race, thieves, car jackers, and how Minneapolis has become unlivable because of the unhoused and stolen lawn gnomes. Turns out the person walking in the alley was a new neighbor most people on the block hadn’t met yet. He was looking for the discarded lumber and shelving he noticed days earlier that someone had set out in the alley. He thought he might be able to use the items since his new house was unfurnished. The misunderstanding was never clarified, and apologies were never posted because Nextdoor has become another venue for the frustrated, bored, retired, and unheard to vent their agendas. It’s like the Lord of the Flies, complete with neighborhood moderators drunk with keyboard power and still, no one knows what causes the booms.
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“A thought often makes us hotter than a fire.” :: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Songs :: If You Want Blood (You’ve Got it) by AC/DC, and Angry by The Rolling Stones
© C. Davidson