That Is Part Of The Standard Deal

“No, pianist. Pi-a-nist. A tiny... oh, I get it. Lame. What? Go fuck yourself.”

“What did he say?”

“Fuck you. Get the hell out of here. I don't need this crazy shit.”

“All right, buddy, take it easy. Say, could I get some help with this piano?”

“Oh, jesus. All right, give me a second, I need to get a drink. Hey, I'm sorry for yelling at you. I don't know why I've been so angry lately.”

“Something on your mind?”

“I keep thinking about meetings. No, I keep thinking about one meeting. That first one. Everything has gone wrong since then.”

“What meeting was this?”

“It was last year, it was secret, it's hard to describe but it was supposed to be ground-breaking. World-changing.”

“I think I know the meeting you're talking about. I was there.”

“You were?”

“I was playing. Don't you remember the music?”

“Oh shit, there was piano music. I didn't even see you.”

“So what went wrong?”

“That's the thing, I'm not sure. Everyone was in agreement, there was a plan, there were different phases. Didn't it seem like a good meeting?”

“Don't ask me, I'm just a musician. If you could do it again, what would you change?”

“Oh, I've thought about that, believe me. There are all kinds of things that could have been done differently.”

“So redo the meeting.”

“What?”

“Get everybody back together, reboot.”

“That's crazy. Is that even possible? It would take a lot of work. Wow, maybe we could. Wow. I have to make some calls.”

“Just one thing to consider – maybe you underestimated how weird things would get. Like, deeply weird. It's the nature of the players involved. Weirder than you would ever think, and you can't rationalize it, can't ignore it, you have to accept it for what it is.”

“Who are you?”

“Me? Nobody. I'm the piano player. And, woo, look at the time, I have to be going. Say, before I go, do you want to see my dick?”