Background Noise (Short Story‪)‬

"Pardon," the man said. "I hope this won't sound off-key." Erica hadn't seen him approach; now he walked alongside them, smiling at her, her mother, her four-year-old son, and at Amber, her neighbor's oversized seven-year-old daughter. The man had short hair, a nice overcoat. He looked to be about sixty. "Pardon?" he repeated.