Post
Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:08 pm
#4
by Draglide12
Making Freddie Mercury
(Disclaimer, I know this is probably too long.)
Hey guys. I'm Paul. So uh, well, I was one of the beta testers for the new Time-EXs. Yeah, no kiddin', we all expected Rolex, amirite?
Well anyways, the story. So, A bit of background, I LOVE Queen. They are my favorite band ever, of all time. I first got into Queen when I was a kid, listening to my big sister's radio. She had the Greatest Hits Album, and she played it all the time. It loved it. It was just coool when I was kid. and uh, needless to say, once I got old enough to kinda... connect faces to the music, I got into the band more personally, especially Freddie Mercury. He was my hero.
So uh, I get into... When Timex first opened up the writing contest to get into the beta tests, I wrote about my passion for Queen, and my lifelong dream to meet Freddie in person. I mean, he was dead, for a long time, before I was even born so, uh, this was like, this was gonna be my only chance. Well, hey I got into the test! Yeah! Woo-hoo! I mean... man, was I psyched.
So I go to the new showroom and pick up the watch, and the guy there, the uh... salesman, he's like "Man, try it out." "Right here? Now?" "Yeah, man, take it for a spin, go for it."
So, I raise my wrist to my face, like, in a Bond movie or something, and I'm like "Time-EX, take me to Freddie Mercury!" Then, just like that, I'm standing in the middle of street somewhere. There a couple kids out nearby, but... I don't see Freddie Mercury. So I have no idea where I am, really, so I walk up to these kids, and they kinda look over at me. I kinda started to notice sorta in the subconscious that the watch had sent me way back, I mean like, mid 20th century, but, well, it really became obvious when one of the kids is like "What the hell are you wearing? Mister?"
Skinny jeans, man, hot int the... 60s, whenever it was. I kinda look down, then shrug. One of the other kids says "Wuthcu wan't dude?" I'm kinda confused still, like, where is Freddie Mercury, and so, i just ask them, "Where is Freddie Mercury?" So then, all of the kids turn and look at this one kid, like, dang, this guy is in some trouble, and I'm like "Oohhhhhhhh." Freddie Mercury when he's just a kid! Well, I guess... not what I had in mind, but... hey, it's Freddie Mercury. Sweet.
So all the other kids kinda just take off, like they know Freddie's in trouble and all, and he's just kinda staring at me for a minute, me staring at him. I mean, if it hadn't been a ten year old kid the word would be star struck but... Well, he asks me finally, "What is it you want, sir."
I guess I wasn't thinking clearly yet, and I just blurt out, "You're gonna be a rockstar!" The kid just stares. I swear he's thinking, damn, this guy is nuts. I'm about to say something, then, just like that, I'm back in the showroom. The timer expired. right away, I look at the sales rep, and I'm like "I have to go back!" He says, just tell it "Send me back." So, James Bond here again, I raise the watch to my mouth and tell it. "Send me back."
The kid is there. He is still just staring. then he says, "Mister you just disappeared!" So, at this point I'm thinking, A, that's a bug, gotta report that, I'm a tester, he shouldn't notice, then... haha, well... I'm like, well, this is Freddie Mercury right? I mean, it's Freddie Mercury, he can get weird stuff, right? So I just tell him. "I'm a time traveler." Jaw, hit, the floor. the kid is stunned man. He looks around, takes a big breath and says. "So, you're a time traveler, and you came back to tell me that I'm gonna be a rockstar?!" Aw yeah, he got it.
Well so from then on, I know, I'm just gonna play it straight with this kid. This is Freddie Mercury, this is my hero. I can't screw with him. I tell him "I'm testing this watch, it lets me travel through time." His eyes light up. "Cooooool." I say, " Well, I'm gonna have to recharge the battery after this but, I just wanted to meet you man, you're gonna be a rockstar. Then I show up on the floor room again.
The rep sees my smile and knows. It went well. I tell him about the bug, and he's like, well, yeah that's why we're testing it. Anyways, I head home, plug in the charger, and lay down and do not sleep all night. I just met Freddie Mercury.
So, next morning, I decide, I wanna see Freddie when he's older. The kid was great and all, but I want the real deal. so, I tell the watch, "Take me to Freddie when he's older." Bam, I'm in some family's living room. Kinda lucky, the family wasn't there, so... hey that worked. There was one person there, a kid in his late teens. he doesn't notice me, so I clear my throat like "Hmm. Eherm!" He turns around, and is like, "You!"
So, this is the point I realize, this is not Freddie Mercury. I mean, it is, and it isn't. It is definitely the kid I saw the day before, but it is not Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen. Yeah. Let that sink in. It had honestly never occurred to me that there might be more than one Freddie Mercury. It actually wasn't until after this that I actually read about Freddie, and learned he wasn't even born in the States. So yeah. Then, something else occurs to me. I just convinced some completely random kid that he is going to become a rockstar. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't really sure how I felt about this, so...
Then, he tells me. "I don't have the soul." And I'm like, what?! Did I mess this kid up? Did he become like crazy because he told all of his friends that he met a time traveler and they didn't believe him? Then he talks again. "I don't have the soul to play rock. I just don't. I've been trying hard, but it just isn't in me. On the positive side, my music theory is great."
So now, now is when I take another look and realize, this guy is lookin' pretty down. And it's my fault. I convinced someone who wasn't a rockstar that they were gonna be a rockstar. My god, I'm a horrible person. I'm horrible! I have to help this kid out at this point. so I say "Hey, theory is important, it's the first step, right?" "Yeah." He says. "I guess." I really have no idea what to say at this point. "How am I supposed to be a rockstar?" He asks. "Maybe... maybe you don't have to be." I say. "Maybe this is like, another dimension."
"I think it is. I don't think I can be a rockstar in this one though." Man, I'm like, hating myself, I have no clue. I'm thinking, I'm thinking, what the heck am I gonna do here? Then, I'm back in my apartment again. Timers. I know, right, gonna have to report that. Heh.
Well, brainstorming time. Time. Haha, no pun intended. so, I really just sit in my apartment and think a bit, and I decide, okay, this kid needs some hardcore positive reinforcement right now. I have to make him believe.
So, for the forth time, I Bond it up, "Take me back!" I show up in the room again. "I remember you did that the first time." he says. So, okay, this is pretty messed up, but right now I think, this isn't the real Freddie Mercury, I don't have to play it all the way straight right? Not if I mean well right?" So I tell him, "Man, I talked to the experts, and they say that a person's path can only change so much from interference, and they say you are going to be a musician. So I'm telling you how this is gonna work. How long has it been seen you last saw me?" "Thirteen years." He tells me. I say, "Freddie I'm gonna be back in thirteen years, and I am going to find you, and I will listen to you in concert, you hear me?!" Then I poof out, back in my apartment.
So, handled that well, huh? Wooh. Time travel, it's risky business, folks. Well, at this point there's not much I can do, so, I plug in the watch, just enough for one trip, and tell the watch, "Take me to the concert!"
And I'm there. I'm at the concert. And I am in one of the nicest concert halls I have ever seen. It is amazing, and at one end, is an entire orchestra. yup. You guessed it, my Freddie Mercury is standing at the front, bowing, conductor's wand in hand.
So I must say, the concert was fantastic. I'm not really into classical, and I liked it anyways. I talk to him afterwards. He tells me that he thought about what I said, that his life was for music. I guess at the point I showed up the second time, he was thirteen years deep in hardcore music education. My little prophesying had made it his passion, and he was not gonna back down. But he didn't have the soul. He couldn't rock. He realized though, that he had the technical chops to compose some amazing stuff, and he put it to use. My Freddie became one of his dimensions most famous composers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
I mean, this kid persevered. This guy gets his life screwed with by some time traveling jerk, and is all like "Well, might as well make the best of it. Let's do this." He followed his dream. Not even really his dream, 'cause I screwed with it, but his dream, I guess.
And that, ladies and gentleman, is why Freddie Mercury is my hero.
They shall call me, Draglide! The thread killer!