TURN BACK THE TIME, BABE. BOOK 8. CHALLENGING THE DOORS OF TIME

OH, MUCHACHOS

AMANDINE'S POV

After overcoming that pitfall called Rudi Dolezal I found myself stronger and looked like I could take control of my own life again. I got ahead of me two big challenges that I trusted could help me to keep the Austrian away from my mind.

One: being the best nanny Farrokh could wish for just to make it up for his mother's absence. During this disturbing period the child had spent quite a lot time with Mack's family and it had been such a great idea but now I felt my job as a nanny became even more important. I should turn myself into someone closer to his mother without exceeding my duties. I gotta find a flawless balance so the boy couldn't suffer because of her absence and never try to change the topic whenever he recalled her. The goal was not forgetting her, just the opposite. Just remember her with no anger. That got me enough busy.

And two: Freddie. And that was also a hard task. Being aware of he was infected with that damn virus got me angry and brought me grief but I couldn't share it with him because so far he didn't tell me about it. That was just normal. Some people knew about it and he had right to choose his own rhythm when it came to tell about that sad news.

But he was a constant inspiration. Nothing could tell his life had changed because of it though it surely had. His relationship with others was exactly the same. He was still funny, thoughtful, kind-hearted, such a big artist.

Freddie couldn't allow himself to get really low because of this setback, his motto was the same, always looking forward. And work was one of his breather through which he could run away to that world he loved and kept his artistic juices flowing. The music world.

In spite of it actually brought some bitterness and worries. Brian and Roger had written together a Christmas single some weeks ago. It was the first time they did something like that. It was not a bad idea, the song was alright but right now a single was been recorded that made the top 1 on charts on Christmas. Do they know it's Christmas? Band Aid had recorded it at Sarm studios in Notting Hill.

Seemingly their goal was not competing, it was pure randomly. Freddie added his vocals from Germany, he wasn't so involved as usual. They didn't plan shooting a promo video of that while Band Aid's single to raise money for Ethiopian famine, would turn into the fastest-selling single in UK chart history and by the end of the year had sold over three million copies. And they have been ignored to join that project and that still hurt them.

Freddie thought that apart from Southafrica's mistake hanging still over them, there was a reason that haunted and distressed him. The band Queen was not the coolest thing anymore, their presence wasn't required because they had given what was expected from them and now it was high time to leave the way open to younger and more fashionable stars and they had grown old. The band looked like quite jaded.

Nevertheless, something amazing happened that Christmas time in 1984. Freddie missed the band when he was working in the studio and had called Roger to come and do his backing vocals.

Needless to say that melted the drummer's heart down, he felt flattered. But Roger took advantage of that "crying for help" or at least it sounded like that to him, to suggest Brian and John to join him in Munich.

Just the usual thing. The funny thing was they had travelled to Munich to spend Christmas there and I couldn't believe it. It was something so weird, a real change in history. But this time around that change didn't get me angry or restless. I just got stunned. Positively, for a change.

I realized perfectly what Freddie meant for all of them. They used to have their own plans at Christmas time. Some of them at home like John and Brian and others like Roger enjoying skiing with the family. But this time around everyone decided their Christmas home was where Freddie's home was. The reason? Quite obvious. Elideth was gone. They knew what that meant for the singer and out of the blue they had decided to fly to the Bavarian capital to support him. They knew Freddie loved Christmas time. It was his favourite period and they wanted to make it special.