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Animals

by Box Of Birds

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about

It was 11:30pm on a Thursday night but Noah was still energetic. His avatar, a muscle-bound bull, stood chatting with a group of smaller bulls. Each of them corresponded to respective humans on the other end of their computer screens. Other Farm Life characters were gathered in clusters. Chickens, pigs, cows, goats, even a few peacocks, mingled in the distance of Noah’s screen.

“Noah, if you don’t turn that computer off and go to sleep…!” Noah’s mother said, crocking her head into his bedroom door.

“Fine!” Noah said, snarkily.

“Sorry guys, I have to go.” He said into the boom mic of his headset. He shut his laptop and placed it haphazardly on the ground beside his bed. Pulling the sheets over his shoulders, he curled his body around a teddy bear.

Noah was a late bloomer. He had just turned 14 years old, but hadn’t quite reached puberty. His body was hairless other than the thick, coarse, unmanageable tuft on his head. His voice had recently begun to drop. The squeaks and cracks contrasted starkly with the majority of the boys in his class. They sounded like men. He still sounded like a boy.

School was difficult for him. Sure, he was smart enough but socially he struggled. The bigger boys liked to pick on him and Noah was sensitive. Therefore, when they messed with him, he would react emotionally. He was fun to pick on. Thus, the cycle continued.

On the other hand, he was a god in Farm Life. He was the most advanced character in his local chapter, an alpha bull. The local chapter consisted of all the Farm Life players in a 100 mile radius of Rochester.

The time he’d invested in building his farm during gameplay paid off. The other characters revered him as a skillful strategist. When he’d enter the Farm Forum, the part of the game where avatars could mingle freely, other animals would approach him with respect, asking advice and giving him praise. He could hear their voices over his headset. Many of them even seemed older than Noah. He had a sense of pride in his Farm Life fame. It was the one place he felt important.

But the next night, he heard a familiar voice over the headset. It came from the center of a cluster of bulls. Noah approached, but when he came close, a hush came across the group. In the center of the bulls was a chicken.

“What’s going on, guys?” Noah said. There was a pause.

“Well, if you really want to know…” the chicken began, “I was just telling your friends here that your reign as alpha is coming to an end.”

But then, Noah recognized the voice. It was the voice of one of his classmates, a big, handsome kid named Paul. He wasn’t a gamer. He was a popular athlete.

Noah laughed to himself. He thought, “What does this chicken know about Farm Life?”

“Okay, tough guy. How do you figure?.”

“My cousin plays Farm Life out in Oakland. He figured out how to mod the game so that I can gain points super quickly. He’s coming to visit tomorrow, and then you’re going down.”

“Yeah.. okay.” Noah said sarcastically. But in his mind, he started to seethe. He couldn’t understand how this asshole could possibly want to take his one outlet from him. He needed this game. He had worked too hard to let it go to waste.

He abruptly closed his laptop screen. He started pacing around his room.

Noah’s mind was on fire with ways to take Paul down. Maybe he could put a bag of shit on his doorstep. Maybe he could put it in his locker. But neither of those things, he concluded, would stop Paul’s assault on his position in Farm Life. They weren’t bad enough to actually deter him.

Noah toiled. He hopped on Google looking for pranks that would scare Paul and his cousin enough to discourage their plans. He found himself on a forum where other bullied kids discussed “swatting”. It seemed like the perfect idea. He’d call the cops, tell them that there was a hostage situation at Paul’s house, and they’d come scare him.

At this point it was nearly 2am. Noah tiptoed out of this bedroom and down into the kitchen. His mother’s cellphone sat dark, charging on the counter. He grabbed the phone and quietly snuck out the back door.

He rode his bike a few neighborhoods over to where Paul’s house was. He pulled the cellphone out of his bag. He dialed 911.

Minute slater, six cop cars pulled up to Paul’s house. Paul, who was still awake and messing around online, heard car doors close outside. He thought perhaps his house was being robbed. He cautiously and quietly grabbed his father’s cellphone. He raised it, prepared to call 911.

Just then, a SWAT team barged through the screen door behind him. Paul lifted the phone, startled. Gunshots rang through the air.

Another unarmed black kid, dead in the kitchen.

lyrics

How many mentors does it take to change a lightbulb?
No one ever writes that joke.
You don’t want to feel poorly
Of your brother, sister, hero, friend
You don’t want to see
What they really are
Just stubborn hunks of flesh

We’re animals, people
We’re animals

You come to an end
Just like you had a beginning
At one time you were nothing
And you’ll be nothing again
Well i feel like nothing right now
I’m lying on my bed
Like i was trying to smother myself
Like failed evolution

Because we’re animals, people
We’re animals

In the center of the Earth
There is a forward forceful spin
Time, life, love, pain,
Hatred is
And you are a forward forceful spin
You’re a forward forceful spin

And you’re an animal
We’re animals
We’re animals, people
We’re animals

credits

released October 17, 2018
Recorded, mixed, and produced by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios Allston, MA
Assistant: Matt Hipp
Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering, Boston, MA
Assistant Mastering Engineer: Maria Rice

Box of Birds is:
Steph Durwin: Acoustic guitar and lead vocals
Charlie Gargano: Electric guitar and harmony vocals
Erik Caldarone: Bass
Benny Grotto: Drums, mandolin, and dulcimer

Additional instruments:
Chris “Gooch” Bloniarz on Banjo/Mandolin
Gang Vocals and Fun: Murdock Manor House Party Crew

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about

Box Of Birds Boston, Massachusetts

Box of Birds is a melodic, lyrical, and heartfelt folk/rock/punk band. The band consists of lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and miscellaneous instrumentalist, Steph Durwin, and lead guitarist and background vocalist, Charlie Gargano. New EP "Come Out Clean" out now! ... more

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