Baby, Let Me Follow You Down

My female roommate came into the kitchen where I was working and accusingly asked me:

"Do you know how much the American appliance industry has smothered the New Zealand market?"

"What unit of measurement do you use for smothering?" I asked.

Ignoring me, she said, "There's a washing machine that has three buttons on it that was designed by Americans, but is made in Dunedin (a town on the south-east coast of NZ). If you press the three buttons at once, the washing machine plays the American National Anthem."

"God bless America," I said.

"Isn't that fucking ridiculous?" she asked.

"It's a good song," I countered.

"What's it about?"

My male roommate (her boyfriend) said, "It's a song about growing up on the rough side of town, in the ghetto," which made me like him more. I laughed.

"Do you even know what your national anthem is about? Do you know the words or what it's called?"

"Yes, I know the words," I said.

Then she was distracted by a piece of cheese toast.