Double Twenty

CHAPTER 8 - Thubthumping (Chumbawamba)

"Every secret has a weight, and sharing it means giving it for someone else to carry." – François Mauriac

"About time!" Loïc taps an imaginary watch vigorously, reproaching a nonchalant Julien, who finally decides to fully embrace the situation rather than try to intellectualize it. "Aren't the others here?" He glances around warily.

"No, we're meeting directly at the 'Beausoleil' and then at Stéphane's place. He just bought a PlayStation. Spoiled rotten, if you ask me, Stef."

Julien nods. His priority is not to make any blunders and to maintain his composure. He must ignore the fact that Loïc had visited him the day before yesterday, in the late afternoon, for a quick beer and a chat about this and that. He doesn't have much time for friends anymore, nor much hair either. Sophie, his partner of twenty years, is expecting their third child after Louise (8 years old) and Jade (5 years old). If everything goes as Julien experienced in his future, they are heading straight for the birth of a little Gaspard in August 2008, for whom he will become the godfather. Loïc and Julien met Sophie together at Alex's place, another friend from college. She is the cousin of a friend in the group, and Loïc fell for her at first sight and quickly made a move. Barely six months after their first feverish kiss under the auspices of Céline Dion and coconut punch, they moved in together, which, at the time, destabilized the group's balance. Since then, he has led the life of a settled family man, as fun as a triangle player in a philharmonic orchestra.

"JF and Tonio are up for going to Ibiza this summer. Partying from morning to night, girls everywhere, and great beaches. What do you think?"

Ibiza 97, a beach volleyball tournament won by their improvised French team on a scissor kick by "Zinedine" Tonio. Julien dated a 22-year-old Dutch girl he met on the beach, but it didn't go any further. Loïc and Stef didn't speak for two days because Loïc learned the hard way that "tus ojos huelen a culo" doesn't mean "What do you want to drink?" in Spanish but rather something far less flattering. Overall, it was a great memory.

What would happen if Julien didn't go to Ibiza? Would he have new memories? But so would the others, without him... and would this absence create a butterfly effect? Loïc wouldn't go to Alex's place, therefore wouldn't meet Sophie, and their destinies would be completely changed! Except maybe for the hair. He wouldn't be responsible for everything either. On the other hand, is he capable of replicating everything exactly? Does he even want to?

"The Beausoleil" is their HQ. A central bar in Gradignan with foosball, pool, pinball, and a Street Fighter 2 or Virtua Striker arcade machine. Needless to say, he spent plenty of 5 and 10 franc coins on afternoons where some would compete for high scores while others oscillated between tarot and belote. A Coke or mint water renewed every two hours to avoid being asked to leave. Everyone knows each other, and the old-timers, bar pillars with regretful, wine-soaked eyes, loudly proclaim to anyone who will listen that soon the carefree days will be over and "there won't be any pubs left, just American McDonald's garbage." Thoughtfully, Julien reflects on this prophetic remark, "We have the visionaries we deserve," he says, shrugging.