The evening had, thus far, been a tad uncomfortable. Everyone had used the spaghetti in front of them to indulge in silence, for no topic was yet brought forth, and no one wanted to be the first to do so. However, an icebreaker soon came by a most unexpected means. Something small and fuzzy pushed up against Sophia's leg, making her start. She peered over the side of her chair to see a pair of green eyes staring up at her. A small black and white kitten took the eye contact as a sign of invitation and immediately hopped up on her lap. A moment later, the kitten was curled up quite comfortably and running his throaty motor in approval of the new guest.
"Well," Estelle said, "it appears you have received the official seal of approval from the cat. That's always a good sign." She winked as she said this to Sophia, who smiled back.
"What are we listening to?" Inquired Sophia, thankful for her brain to finally have thought up a topic.
"It's electronic classical remixes" answered Amelia, "this CD is very difficult to find."
"This guy takes popular classical songs and re-interprets them. This one's..." Estelle said as she tried to remember the name of the song.
"The Nutcracker Suite," Amelia finished for her.
"Oh," said Sophia, "I thought the melody sounded familiar."
"Wait'll you hear what they did to Bolero!" Estelle exclaimed, her face unable to hide her delight.
"It's...alright." Interjected Sophia's boyfriend, trying to sound as though he were merely trying unsuccessfully to hide his displeasure. Everyone at the table gave him a displeasured look of their own, although each bore a slightly different expression; Sophia appeared a little embarrassed, Estelle looked slightly offended, while Amelia's face betrayed the fact that she knew something like this would happen eventually.
"What's wrong with it?" Amelia asked, in a returning gesture, as though she were merely trying unsuccessfully to hide her dislike of him.
"It's just..." the boyfriend tried to find his words, "this kind of remaking does a great disservice to the original composers. I'm sure they would have never wanted their music to be withered down to a common fad."
"Industrial music is not a fad," Amelia retorted through her teeth. She was clearly having a difficult time controlling her temper.
"Well, it's like using classic rock in car insurance commercials."
"Don't you mean BEER commercials?"
"Well that's a bit different I think."
Amelia's eyes bulged slightly at this hypocrisy as she took a deep breath with the intention of raising her voice in order to drive her point home with more authority.
"What do -"