Flashback Filler: somewhere in time

1K 30 22
                                        




1965, tube station at Piccadilly Circus, London

"Right, my ticket says I've got forty five minutes here." Freddie anxiously looked at the linear world clock on the wall as he strolled along the ticket hall, tucking his return fare safely into his pocket.

He emerged from the underground and into the bustling streets and bright billboards and advertisements, deciding where to go first. Before he went home for Sunday dinner, then a quiet evening to continue working on his portfolio, Freddie had a list in his mind of things he was intending to get such as new music, for he was getting a little bored of what was in his current collection and needed an update, as much as he loved it of course. The same went for his wardrobe, but he didn't have enough money to buy the latest fashions.

I have time for that later, he told himself, convinced that one day he was going to be under the spotlight.

He stopped by a reflection on a car door around the corner from where he stepped off the underground, anxiously fixing his hair. He didn't like how short and awkward it still was, and wanted it to grow just a little longer. A bit like the urchin style most guys around him had since The Beatles or The Beach Boys stepped into the scene, ever since he pleaded his mother to let him do it. Even within a few months of living here his little sister quickly noticed that he stood out from most Brits, and wouldn't walk next to him when they went to the shops in Feltham. It had been a year, and the one thing Freddie wanted at this time was to settle into this drab, cold country. The only thing he liked about London other than the galleries was the growing music scene.

Once he was satisfied with every minor detail of his appearance he then turned to the wall to look at the street he was on before his eyes scanned his surroundings, deciding on where to go first.

Instinctively he walked towards a music outlet that he saw in the distance, and made up his mind that it was to be his first stop on the journey for goodness knows how long he'd need in there.

"Let's see what I can surprise myself with." He murmured, looking right and left at the kerb before crossing through each gap he could take.

He wavered toward the new releases section of the shop as soon as he walked in, seeing what he could get his hands on. He stopped by the stand advertising Cliff Richard's work, old and new.

His musical tastes were broadening, yes. But he still liked listening to Cliff just as much as he did back in India; he was a part of the only western music he and his band had back then.

He picked up one of his most recent singles, Angel.

"He's going out of style but at least he is still a talented fellow" he thought, looking at how he was sporting a decade old hairstyle that he himself was also trying to outgrow.

He looked around for the listening station, and luckily there was one situated next to where he was by the stand.

He eagerly slipped the record out of the sleeve and laid it on the turntable, slipping the headphones on and cutting off the sound of the outside world before lowering the needle...

He listened as the song opened with an upbeat, swinging rhythm with the claps of hands, like most songs these days of course. Aretha, Dusty, the list went on...

"Angel... with those angel eyes...," Freddie felt himself nodding along. "Come and take the earth boy... up to paradise..."

He was startled by the tug of his sleeve.

Every time you make a moveWhere stories live. Discover now