From the story archive · Fictional encounter
Visiting a 400-year-old cathedral in Rome. Incredible acoustics where you can hear a whisper from 50 feet away. The tour guide demonstrates by dropping a pin on the marble floor. Complete silence as everyone listens to the pin echo when—BRAAAAAAP—my barking spider provides a much more impressive acoustic demonstration.
The tour guide, an elderly Italian man, simply said, "And that is why confessional booths have doors." I lit every prayer candle on the way out.