For a while he’s been more fussy around me (and more fussy in general since his horrific circumcision) – not tolerant of me holding my face to his. I try music again. He likes “Conquest of Paradise (Theme)” and “Summon the Heroes” from the latter’s title album (of themes used in broadcasts of the Olympic Games) and lets me nuzzle him while he listens, the music putting him into a trance. We then listen to “Freedom Theme” from the ending scenes of BRAVEHEART, and I tell him how the music is about a warrior who gave his life for Scotland, and Robert the Bruce who betrayed him and saw what he had lost when William gave everything for the cause. And how Robert then brought the Scots one morning before the great tyrant of England to battle, and how William’s brother caused William’s sword to fly before the battle. And how the hero reminds me of a greater hero who also gave his life so that we can fly.
(Forget whether any of that is fiction. Forget it. If it claims to be history, don’t forget it, but it doesn’t make the claim. The expressed virtues in the story are the important thing.)