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Feltham. October, 1964
Freddie is cold. It’s only October, and it’s already colder than what he’s ever experienced in India or Zanzibar. He doesn’t know how he’s going to make it through the winter. And no he’s not being dramatic. To think that the English climate was described to him as moderate! He’s literally freezing. At least, for once it isn’t raining. Not that it’s making much of a difference to the general dampness of the air. He’s walking along the street in Feltham, back from buying bread for the family. Which is the only thing there seems to be worth doing in Feltham in the weekend. He doesn’t know many people yet and he is terribly bored.
As he makes his way through the park he hears a weird cry and then whelp coming from his right side. From the bushes. No idea what the first sound was but the other is definitely a human voice. What on earth….?
He turns towards the source of the sound and, from the bush, legs suddenly emerge. Although it looks for a while like they’re going to last forever – how tall is even this guy – it is finally followed by a torso. Then a head. Well, mostly hair covered in branches and foliage but there is a face somewhere in there he’s sure.
The man gets up fully, cursing all the while under his breath. He’s really very tall and from what Freddie can tell, about the same age as he is or maybe a bit younger. His shoulder is about at eye level for Freddie and as a result, he has a perfect view on the arm that the stranger has cradled there, with four long thin, red line from what looks like claws. It’s bleeding, if not a whole lot. There also appears to be a few tears in his clothes and Freddie can’t help but wonder what kind of wild beast is lurking in these bushes. And why on earth the other was in there in the first place.
Even if the stranger wasn’t a far more interesting conundrum that anything that’s happened in Feltham since as long as Freddie can remember it seems, he is standing in the middle of the path and so Freddie can’t really move past him.
“Oh, hi, I’m terribly sorry” the stranger says. He has a calm soft voice, and Freddie can’t help wonder what his singing would sound like. “I’m in the way aren’t I. You maybe wanted to get through?”
“It’s quite all right, really. I…”
As Freddie starts to move along, there is that same noise coming again from the bush.
“Oh, err, I have to try again” the tall stranger says.
“What’s going on in there?” Freddie can’t help but ask.
“There’s a baby badger in there, it’s gotten stuck in a pipe, I’m trying to get it out, but it’s not, it’s not an easy task, really. I don’t really know how…”
Freddie takes a look at the stranger, thinks about how boring his day is going to keep on being and says.
“Maybe I could help?”
“That would be really kind of you yes, I think I could use the help. I’ve tried opening the trap door, there, but it won’t get out when there’s someone, so I need to grab it, and I can’t do it one-handed. Can you help? Can you keep the door open.”
“Yes, I can do that.”
A minute or so later, they are in position. Freddie has the little trap door to the tubing open, the other getting ready to climb inside.
“In case it rips my throat out, the name is Brian May.” the tall guy says. “That way you’ll have the name for the coroner.”
“Freddie, Freddie Bulsara. Is that really a possibility?”
“No, not really, but it does have claws.”
Brian is crawling. The mud looks terribly cold and does a disgusting squelching noise as he moves his feet. Freddie would rather not thing about the stinking layer of liquid that seems to have made its home inside the tubing. Holding the door open is quite enough. The smell alone would almost make him regret accepting to do that much.
There’s a weird grunt coming from the animal. A curse from Brian. A flurry of movement. A undiscernable mix of fur and curls flashes in Freddie’s line of vision. The badger goes past, bumping Freddie in the leg as it runs off.
For a second, Brian just stays there in the mud, looking dejected. He is cover in mud from head to toe, and also he doesn’t seem to have been bitten or scratched he looks absolutely frozen and miserable. Freddie just starts laughing. A second later, Brian follows. They can’t seem to stop, as a drizzle starts to fall on their head, making the place even colder.
After a little while, Freddie helps Brian up from the mud. They finally manage to stop laughing.
They look at each other. Brian is so covered in mud that not even the filthiest of chippy is likely to let him in. And Freddie is supposed to get home. After a last smile, they go on their way.