father's day.

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?

Josh, his brother, and I are crammed in the backseat of a Honda Accord while his dad drives us back from a Father's Day dinner. "Bohemian Rhapsody" comes on the radio as we pull into Josh's neighborhood. Josh's dad tells us a story about going to a record shop and seeing a group of four teenagers sing the song in four-part harmony. The volume gets cranked up. We all sing, though not in four-part harmony and not always even on key.

Mama, life had just begun.
But now I've gone and thrown it all away.

Of course everyone knows the last part of this song, where it's crazy rock opera style. But the beginning starts out so piercing and sorrowful. The whole thing is two beautiful songs in one. No one in the car can sing like Freddie Mercury, and I'd bet you'd have a hard time finding anyone in the city who could. But that's what makes the song the great equalizer. No one can sing it, so feel free to just belt it out. We do - one middle-aged man and three twenty-somethings crammed in the backseat.

I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fandango?

It starts to get really fun as we pull up to the house. Josh's dad does not cut the engine, no one reaches for a door handle. We alternate parts, singing "Galileo" back and forth to each other in silly opera voices.

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye

And then comes the head-banging. Three twenty-somethings crammed in the backseat banging our heads, rocking the car, party time, excellent.

Any way the wind blows...

The song comes to an end and we get out of the car. I wonder if I imagined it all and think about how this sort of thing would never occur with my parents.