The Cricket & the Quarter Tom Brown, Jr. is a world reknown tracker, perhaps the best one left in the world. Author of The Tracker and The Search, he can track a pregnant deer across low-shag carpeting and tell you the sex of her unborn twins. After attending one of Tom's workshops, Herb Urban offered Tom a ride to the airport in the bumpin' and swervin' Herb Urban Suburban. Understandably, Tom couldn't refuse. After fighting horrendous, Los Angeles traffic, they arrived at the airport and parked in a loading zone. Chancing a nasty airport-cop ticket, Herb decided to walk Tom to his plane. But before the two of them entered the terminal, Tom held up his hand and told Herb to listen. Amid crowds, automobiles, and the roar of the planes, Herb wondered what Tom's practiced ears could be hearing. "Listen," said Tom, pointing to some decorative shubbery. "Put your head down over here, it's a cricket." Herb brought his ear up close to the bushes and, sure enough, he heard a cricket chirping. "How did you do that?" asked Herb as they strode through the terminal. "It's so loud around hear I can't hear myself think." At that Tom smiled, produced a quarter from his pocket, and rolled it down the linoleum corridor. It made a metallic sound as it rolled causing heads to turn as they tried to locate it. "People hear what they want to hear," said Tom. He winked at Herb and boarded his plane.