Someone Still Loves You National Eye

I sat in a cardboard box with my feet hanging out in my grandma's unused living room talking on the chunky portable phone to Phil from Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. I had a lot of trouble hearing what he was saying; at one point I asked when he was coming east again and he told me he'd be in New York to see (garbled words) sometime in the spring with his girlfriend. I was a bit surprised because I could have sworn he said Bella Morte which is a goth band my best friend and I used to go in Charlottesville see when we were in high school.

"Whoa. Did you just say you were going to see Bella Morte?"

"No. I said Queen Eleanor and the (garbled words again)."

"Oh, ok." I didn't particularly care about the rest of the band name.

There was great amounts of silence in the conversation where I would say hello over and over again and then someone would answer me and pick up the conversation awkwardly. I finally realized that I was talking to Will now rather than Phil. At some point I figured that it would be easier to turn around and talk to the guys in person rather than on the phone since I didn't really know who I was talking to and when.

I managed to scoot my little box around with my butt still planted firmly in the bottom but now I was facing the hallway. The room was suddenly much larger and grandma's trunk that doubled as a table (and also to my knowledge still contains my childhood Lego collection) had been removed. In its place was a shiny red drum set. The various members of the band were doing whatever it is people in bands do when they're not playing shows. Will came over to say hi and I hung up the phone. We chatted for a bit before Phil came over and thanked me for the mixed cd. I asked him which track he liked best and he said he really enjoyed National Eye's Dread Flight of the Crimson Bee immensely. All of the other guys agreed. He walked over to a karaoke machine in the corner and turned the song on.

Will, Phil, and John Rob began to dance around the room. Well, not so much John Rob but Will and Phil got really into it. They were clapping their hands and shaking their butts like my little step-sister used to do when she was five.

I told them I was really super happy that they liked the song and I told them all about National Eye; how Rick and Gretchen were nice people and they had a really awesome cat named Harpo that thinks he's a people. I also remarked to the band member that was sleeping on the couch in front of the faux bay window that he looked a lot like Rick, actually. Gretchen appeared in the hallway and agreed with me. I looked down and Harpo was at my feet staring up at me.

Gretchen thanked me for sharing the music with the Boris kids and then went over and started talking to Phil. I walked down the hall and went into the pink bathroom.

I was washing my hands when I saw Gretchen in the mirror. She was standing in the doorway and excitedly speaking about something though I'm unsure what. I thought about it and took it to mean that National Eye and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin were going to do a collaboration.