Time Passages (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

66. Pinch Me, Part One

Freddie

Believe me when I tell you I had to fight not to take hold of Julia's hand as we walked into Danny's half-lit little room. And it was quite little indeed, smaller than what I considered a properly-sized child's bedroom, and made even more awkward by the full size bed on which Danny slept, which together with his desk and chair took up about eighty percent of the floor space. Such a cramped little house, it was; I could very likely fit three copies of the building itself comfortably upon the grounds of Garden Lodge and still have room for a Japanese koi pond.

But Danny didn't seem to mind. Why would he, when he and his mum had endured even more strenuous circumstances in the past? As far as he was concerned, this might as well have been the Taj Mahal. What was more, the shadows had found themselves a very nice place to lurk in the deep purple walls, making what seemed claustrophobic in broad daylight, snug and cozy in the dark.

A bit absently, he picked up his phone and looked at the display on the front, then set it back down again. "She keeps texting me," he said.

"Are you guys still on the outs?" Julia asked; I assumed they meant his friend Lauren.

"No, I just don't want to talk to her tonight. I haven't sent her one thing this whole time."

"If I had to guess, she probably keeps texting you to say she's sorry."

"I know," he nodded. "I just want her to think I'm still mad right now- so she'll be even sorrier when I text her tomorrow."

"That's no way to behave. If you forgive her, forgive her."

"Yeah, usually I do, but she just keeps doing it, leaving me there when they tell her to, so- maybe if I scare her a little, make her think I'm reeeeeally mad, she'll stop so I don't ignore her again."

My God, this sounds familiar.

"That's, um- quite a risk you're taking," I remarked, keeping a straight face.

"Nah. It'll be okay when I give her her Hanukkah present." With that wonderful, concrete confidence all children should have, Danny sat down at the foot of the bed and moved on to the more important things. "So, Mom, did you know 'Let Us Cling Together' had a Japanese part too?"

"I did," Julia nodded.

The boy frowned. "Why didn't you ever sing it to me?"

"I did, Danny, I keep telling you. You were just very young."

"I mean, I know about the English part, I remember that, but- why didn't you sing me the Japanese part too?"

"But Danny, I did. Trust me. You just don't remember. When you were very little- right up until you were about four years old- I sang you the Japanese and English words all the time."

I immediately tried to picture Danny at four years of age, chuckling quietly to myself. If he was anything like me, he must have been an absolute handful. I could only speculate of course; after all, I had basically missed out on half of the boy's childhood, and the curious absence of family photo albums had left me only Julia's memories and my own imagination for use in reconstructing the last ten years.

"Why'd you stop at all?" Danny asked his mother.

That was an excellent question; I turned and looked at her as well. But it seemed she was ready for that one. "Because you wanted me to; you told me straight-up, 'I'm told old for lullab-'"

"Yeah, but that was after you stopped singing the 'Teo' one to me. Why'd you stop singing that one before?"

To my quiet disappointment, she only shrugged and changed the subject: "Did you brush your teeth, Danny?"