The Go! Team-Bottle Rocket

You’re standing in a little girl's room. The walls are bright yellow with rounded black suns grinning from every corner. The wooden floor let out a small click for every step you take in your battered Converse. The girl is about five or six years old. She sits on her bed and swings her legs back and forth, back and forth. She has pigtails held up with two long red ribbons. She’s wearing an artsy and cool without trying shirt a little too big from Random Nicole and a dark denim skirt. Not one of those preppy slutty ones, but a really sweet and smart one that flattens out at the end.

You survey her bed. You notice a gigantic, fluffy teddy bear next to the pillow. The fur looks softer than silk and you have a sudden urge to grab it, smother it, and squeeze it to no end. He has on a playful tie and a fitted shirt. The little girl had drawn little monsters on it. Somewhere near the edge of the shirt, you see the title of a Smiths’ song. Upon closer inspection, you realize that in fact it says boy, and not girl least likely to. Your skin tingles. What other treasures will you find? On the other side of the bed you see a girl and a boy doll holding hands. Both of them have on grins so big it’s a surprise their faces aren’t exploding. The boy’s doll is cradling a notepad in his hand. You see a sketch of an architectural design. And maybe the girl is holding a map of Helsinki. You can’t be sure.

You turn away from the bed and the first thing that catches your eyes is tossed in a corner of the room. You see a number of brightly colored balls of all shapes and sizes. Exciting patterns and designs swirl and dances. Every one looks like it’s ready to be brought out, bounced around, slapped, thrown up and caught, and danced with. You take a step closer (click, goes the floor), and lifts one up. It’s light and begging to be tossed around. You toss it up and on the other side of the ball you see a big, screaming exclamation mark. You soon notice that all the other balls have words on them. You see a “the” “go” and “team”.

“The Go! Team,” says the little girl, suddenly, with an edge to her voice. She jumps up and points a finger at her portable iPod stereo, which you failed to notice before. And suddenly this beat and this song leap out. Your eyes widen and you take a step back. You were expecting fluffy, twee like, dream like, child like, cuddlecore like sounds, and instead you get this.

And suddenly you are hit with a vision so strong you almost fall down to the floor. You see a brown skinned girl on a background suitable for a Beck video. She’s wearing short denimn shorts and a rainbow shirt. She’s dancing and shaking like there’s no tomorrow. She reminds you of, oh, I don’t know…say, M.I.A. And you are hardly able to resist the urge to jump up and dance with her. And also chant along the lyrics that you don’t yet know.

The little girl seems to read your mind. She jumps up and begin chanting. “The! Go! Team! The! Go! Team!”

You’re taken back by the sheer number of exclamations she puts in and you decide to test it out yourself. Suddenly you can’t stop adding an exclamation mark after every word and you skip! Out! Of! The! Room! In! Sheer! Joy!