It sounds like it's from a horror movie

For her preschool class's Christmas Grab, Nora got a musical jewelry box. It's the kind where you open the lid to make the music start, and there is a little ballerina who spins around. I remember my sister had a green one with a ballerina when we were kids, and I remember it fondly. My sister's played "Music Box Dancer," and we used to play with it all the time. I loved it.

Nora's plays "The Unicorn Song." (You know? "Green alligators and long-necked geese/ Humpy-backed camels and chimpanzees/ Cats and rats and elephants as sure as you're born/ But the loveliest of all was the unicorn") But while my sister's music box played a lovely, if tinkly, version of "Music Box Dancer," Nora's music box is juuuuuust a titch out of tune. Or even more than a titch. Really kind of a lot out of tune, actually. Hilariously, astoundingly, gloriously, out of tune. Also, the ballerina broke off immediately. Then the key for winding up the music broke off about twenty minutes later, but that was a blessing, really.

I tried to describe the degree of out-of-tuneness to Andrew when he got home that night, but he didn't really believe me. Sure, he nodded and smiled and said, "Yes, wow, sounds pretty bad," but all the while he was secretly thinking, "How bad can it possibly be?"

Well. Nora managed to jam the key back into the winding mechanism, so you can all bear witness to how bad it can be.

Pretty bad.

Music box from Maureen on Vimeo.