Story-a-Day

Kersley Fitzgerald

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He was riding in the back seat of his mom's car on his way to kindergarten. They'd started a new game where he could choose which button on the radio to press during the ride. Yesterday had been golden oldies. Today, after a few test runs, he chose "5".

Why did he choose "5"? Was it because it was his age? Was he just tired of NPR? The music started, he rejected the song and chose another number. As happenstance would have it, the game was temporarily paused--his mother would not turn away from The Doobie Brothers! So he was forced to endure the remainder of the song.

A strange sensation came over him as the next song began. It started slowly but he could almost feel the electricity in the air. He leaned forward in his seat to catch every note, every word. Then the music changed, then again! An aria? A wall of electric guitars? What was this? His mom recognized the event for what it was and, being one of those annoying people who has to sing everything she knows, she did sing. And when she didn't quite know the words, she mumbled, passionately. He caught on, mumbling or humming, occasionally catching the odd word, completely caught up in the moment.

He felt it was somehow familiar but he was pretty sure he'd never heard it before. The song was unusually long and when they reached the school parking lot, it was barely half over. Still, in unspoken agreement, they stayed in the car. Until the last mournful line, the last piano tinkle, the end.

As he hopped out of his car, eager to take this newfound lightness of being into his class, his mom turned to him and, briefly, explained what had just happened to him:

"That was Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, one of the greatest rock songs in the world."

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Story-a-Day is an attempt to bring a small bit of humor and amusement to Mrs. ~brb and Audrey as they fight very serious illnesses. If you have a short, amusing story, please send it to kersley.fitz at yahoo dot com. If you'd prefer, you can drop it in the drop.io (password: challenge) and email me to let me know it's there.