Post by Fiona McFly on Jul 5, 2017 17:14:02 GMT
Interlude ~ "In Which a Beloved Mentor Springs an Idea out of Nowhere"
4 July 2017 + 1130 GMT
Under normal circumstances, Fiona McFly would be celebrating the 4th of July in her own home.
Yet here she was, on this warm summer's day, sitting inside the Millennium Studios conference room, looking over some of her song ideas as she prepares to choose what track to perform next on her Open Book album. The Northern Irishwoman sighed to herself, realising that making a music album was more difficult than she had imagined.
"Shite, I figured we'd just breeze through the tracklist," she thought as she bobbed and weaved in her leather swivel chair to the tune of Dokken's "Felony," which had been playing on her phone. She was deep into the song as she perrused through the documents, which were strewn over a large oak table, conflicted over which track to record next.
She truly felt like she was getting into the nitty-gritty of what it truly meant to branch out into music.
Yet her meditation is short-lived, however, when her band's drummer Luke Kimble quietly snuck into the room, giving Fiona a neck massage...
LUKE KIMBLE:
Howdy Miss Fiona!
...prompting her to jump and smack him in the arm by accident.
FIONA MCFLY:
Ah! Scared the piss out of me!
The soft-spoken man simply chuckled as Fiona looked around the area, not seeing guitarist twin brothers Donnie and Eddie Mercury.
FIONA:
Where's Donnie and Eddie at?
LUKE:
Donnie rang me a few minutes ago--I'm afraid they're not gonna make it. Came down with a nasty virus this morning, both will be on the mend for a bit. In the interim, looks like it's just us.
Luke took a seat next to Fiona as he sipped from a small bottle of Pepsi.
FIONA:
Well, do you have any ideas in mind for the next track? I'm all open ears.
Fiona showed him what she had in mind so far, and Luke calmly adjusted the titanium frames of his spectacles on his eyes as he panned through the papers, one stack at a time.
LUKE:
"Into the Void" reminds me of a more psychedelic,, progressive, modern-day "Bohemian Rhapsody." "For Love of the Game"...kind of a goofy rockabilly romp at its core.
FIONA:
It's for me husband, his love for sport.
Luke nodded warmly as Fiona tried to show off her double-banded diamond ring...only to notice that it wasn't on her finger.
FIONA:
Oh -dear-...I left me wedding ring at your mum's place this morning.
LUKE:
That doesn't sound too good...
FIONA:
Aye...and I have a feeling Jack's going to razz me about it later on...
Luke eked out a sly smirk when, out of nowhere, the door swung open and revealed producer Nigel Richards, followed by Miss Kimble in her powerchair and the aforementioned Jack Gaither.
JACK GAITHER:
Well, well...lookie what we have here.
MISS KIMBLE:
'Ello, 'ello darlings! Figured Jack and I'd stop in, see what was happening.
Fiona gazed on Luke, his smile growing wider as he and his mother shared a warm embrace before heading towards the back of the conference room with Jack, where they could be out of the way of the drummer's moment.
JACK:
And here, I was thinkin' you were cheatin' on me with that dude over yonder...
Fiona giggled with a slight tinge of annoyance of her husband's perception that she and Luke were more than just "working professionally," as it were.
FIONA:
PFFFFT!!! Perish the thought...he's Miss Kimble's son. I've been trying to help him come out of his shell for weeks.
Jack's eyes widened in shock, for Miss Kimble herself had never told him about her son in the past.
JACK:
Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-....whaaaa?! Miss Kimble had a kid already and I didn't know about it!?!
FIONA:
You...didn't know?
JACK:
Nah! I'm the LAST guy out there to know about anything that's goin' on. Oh, and Fi...
With a mischeivous grin on his mug, Jack pulled out Fiona's double-banded diamond wedding ring and gently placed it back on her right-ring finger where it belonged.
JACK:
...next time, try not to leave it in the damn bathroom in Miss Kimble's place. This here weddin' ring is your life!
Fiona sheepishly bobbed her head up and down.
FIONA:
Aye, right...
JACK:
Ya know, sometimes I wonder if you're gonna be the death of me. After all, I can't count the number of times I bailed ya out of some gruesome situations, much like Link rescuin' the damsel in distress Zelda.
FIONA:
(scoffs playfully)
Oh, c'mon! When was the last time one of your hair-brained stunts actually produced something positive instead of devolving into some cheesy 80s "Kiss -Kiss-Boom-Boom-Bang-Bang" action tele programme that had a cliffhanger?! And DON'T say the Cole Psychiatric Centre!
JACK:
Oyyy..ya got me there...
The convo between Jack and Fiona, high-spirited and all that, was cut short when Miss Kimble chimed back in from the front of the conference area. The pair watched as their mentor pulled out a piece of loose-leaf notebook paper and sat it on the giant table.
MISS KIMBLE:
The reason why I came here this morning is 'cos I wanted to pitch in something for the new album, if you don't mind.
McFly's face lit up...
FIONA:
Absolutely! What've you got?
...leading Regina to point to her folded-up document. The longtime music producer picked it up and took a good, hard look at its contents. He beamed with delight before passing it off to Fiona.
NIGEL RICHARDS:
This...this is bloody beautiful. Except there's no musical idea behind it.
MISS KIMBLE:
It wasn't intended to have one, silly goose!
NIGEL:
Then what was it?
Regina paused for a brief second before continuing, taking a sip from a bottle of green tea.
MISS KIMBLE:
It's called "Fly High." It was a sonnet I wrote 30 years ago--an homage to Mister Rogers, you might say. I wrote it for Luke as a lullaby when he was a little one, but when I started kindergarten teaching I decided to pass it onto the children I oversaw.
Jack nodded, noting that he'd heard it plenty of times as a small child himself.
JACK:
I remember ya used to sing it to us in class before each day came to an end. It was a blessin' that the next day would be just as fruitful as the one precedin' it.
Fiona quietly read the sonnet, shedding a tear as she took off her own titanium-rimmed glasses. Yet she felt a little uneasy about the notion of performing another person's written work...
FIONA:
This...this is incredible. But...I can't, in good conscience, sing this. I didn't write it after all, so it wouldn't be fair--
...yet she cut herself off before finishing her sentence, taking a moment or two to collect her thoughts before blurting out an idea of her own.
FIONA:
Perhaps you should record it, Miss Kimble.
Nigel immediately gave the "thumbs up."
NIGEL:
That's a splendid idea! A proud teacher blessing the children of the world in spite of the perilous times we're living in now. I love it.
Jack, however, was more skeptical about the concept. He slightly raised his hand before chiming in, panning his focus on his wife...
JACK:
Fi, are ya outta yer Vulcan mind?! Like Nigel said, there ain't no musical idea behind the track, and besides that, I dunno if Miss Kimble would be capable of travelin' back and forth between her new place and the studio to rec--
...only for Miss Kimble to sharply cut him off, to the surprise of everyone in the room.
MISS KIMBLE:
Jack, I'll -fucking- do it--even if it meant my demise! Just get me to sing anything, darlings. I'll sing it...
Jaws dropped in complete shock. Fiona covered her mouth with her hand as Jack's eyes widened like UFOs.
The conference room fell silent as all eyes trained upon Regina Kimble. In the many years that Jack and Fiona had gotten to know the former educator, they had never heard her utter a single swear word in front of them. Yet at this point in time, they began to understand the one thing that their mentor had tried to convey...
...that, in spite of the fact that she was living on borrowed time, Regina Kimble was, is, and always will be a fighter to the end. Fiona silently gave a nod in approval, watching as Miss Kimble downed the rest of her drink.
It was, truly, a perfect moment in the annals of time itself.
~TO BE CONTINUED~
Well howdy there pardner.