One night not too long ago, my folks and I set forth to a little bar called The Boro.
I like Metal. I even like death metal. But I was never too keen on some of the singing. The thing is, I kind of like to know what the singer is saying, you know?
He could be “singing” “Please pass the ketchup,” or “Do you want fries with that?” and no one would be the wiser!
It all sounded like he was throwing up and belching! It was one or the other, or both at the same time. I can’t decide. What was really funny is the singer of Kissing the Corps’ voice seems low when he “sang” but when he asked the crowd “How are you guys doing tonight?” his talking voice sounded like Mickey Mouse!
The dance floor had people dancing, all guys. They were weird dancers, and their moves seemed like fake fighting. What was even stranger is that after they would pretend fight they would hug each other or high five one another!
Some times the guys would hold hands and do this weird ring-around-the-roses thing (think Mary Poppins), then they would go back to fake fighting, and slamming into peoples’ tables and sometimes they broke glasses!
It was chaos and I feared for my life a few times. By The second band, the dancers were getting rough!
Someone grabbed at a string of balloons bringing them down and they had a balloon fight! Balloons were popping everywhere!
At the end of that set, I noticed that a purple balloon escaped harm from the fake-fight-high-fiveing-hugging-balloon-killing slam-dance of chaos and terror!!
I picked the lone balloon up and kept up with it the rest of the night.
The last band, Not Worth Trusting, did a song about waking up. You know like waking up spiritually. And at the end the singer pointed right at me and my folks and said “you see those guys over there? They F—in’ RULE!” Then he pointed to the rest of the crowd, “and the rest of you need to wake up!”
I looked to my folks and said “Believe me we’re wide awake after fearing for the safety of our lives!!”
When the music stopped and the only sounds were people chatting, and with the music of death metal ringing in my ears and my mind, I got up from my seat, put on my jacket and picked up the purple balloon. I tossed it into the air and said “be free!” The guy sitting in the next booth caught it. He looked like he wanted to return it to me but I said “keep it.”
He looked confused and then he handed it to a girl that sat near him, her arms stretched out to get the balloon. When she got it she held it close as if it were a child. She didn’t try to pop it. She was happy to get the purple balloon.
As I walked out of the bar, I saw the girl with the balloon. She was still holding it like as if it were a child, for maybe she new it was the lucky one, the soul survivor?
? Galadriel Diana Robinson
