14.

The two ladies sat in the Aquarium cafe, sipping coffee and waiting. The toothache had stopped and their brogues were almost dry.

"Guess there's nothing strange going on after all?"

"Would seem so. Another slice of cake?"

15.

"Whaat?"

"Don't need them this time!"

"But why have them at...?"

"Pure coincidence, a nice outing to Hastings, friends enjoying a day together."

"But what about the mermaids, the riots, the..?"

"Watch, for once a reality may actually perfectly balance itself, all they need is Love!"

The Light held out a finger as one of the most beautiful silver dragon flies appeared. A new reality had been born, and by the looks of it, it was going to be perfect!

"Bloody hippy!"

16.

Eighty bucks an hour for a freakin' interpreter! A further two hundred to a college geek to give up the location of the blogger, but every dime well spent if it brought him closer to the love.

An hour and a very scary taxi ride later, he stood in a rather untidy but heavily soundproofed basement, staring rather unlovestruck at a rather untidy young man.

"Ask if it was him who posted this video, please," he tapped at his phone, the beautiful sound filled the basement as the nonsensical words scrolled on the screen, but with the frequency so heavily dampened there was no other effect on him, just appreciation that something so lovely could be created.

Rapid-fire Lithuanian went on for over five minutes.

The translator nodded, "He say 'yes'."

This was going to be a very long, very expensive, and very weird evening.

17.

"Why are you here?" "To spread the love."

"Do you need anything?" "To spread the love."

"Why do you sing?" "To spread the love."

Gillian was stumped, the spread-the-love answers were beginning to get her down, she needed results, one third of the population had apparently gone insane, the Home Office was crumbling, and the Ministry was threatening to cut her funding if this creature didn't stop.

"Can you stop singing?" "For you who do not need the love, yes."

"Doesn't everybody need love?" "Some are born with love, they hear already."

"Some can't hear anything!" Pointing to her own ears.

The mermaid swam to the multitude of flash cards floating in its tank. Selecting yet another heart shape, it slapped it against the glass. "Hear with this – not those!"

"Why do some not hear?"

The mermaid paused. "They left home, left love."

"Where is home?"

"Home is love. Home is here, home is all, all is love."

She tried another tack, "Do others sing?"

"We all sing! There's nothing we can sing that can't be sung, it's easy!"

"All you need is love?"

"Exactly!"

18.

The Godfather of Heavy Leslie smiled to himself all the way back to Pennsylvania.

So that was it?

The whole world was love.

The whales had been trying to make us hear for centuries, trying to calm our urge to advance, evolve, but we moved ever further away from home, away from love. With each move their song became more melancholy, soporific.

The Dolphins had tried to appeal to our intelligence and sense of fun, trying desperately to halt the rush away from love, make us childlike for a moment, thrilling to be alive, to enjoy the moment, to understand the love.

The merfolk were heartbroken when we turned our backs on home, singing, always singing, searching for those souls who could still love, homesick for something they couldn't even remember.

Solo voices in a vast choir, all we needed was to listen, feel the love and join the choir!

His next album would quite literally change the world. He would Spread the Love.

Bring us all home.

19.

"......the worst defeat in the history of the F.A. Cup! Sally?"

Camera three. That smile. Lovely.

"Thanks Naz, and finally, reports today of thousands of people leaving their jobs and simply walking into the sea. This global phenomenon was thought to be some kind of lemming-like mass suicide. Hundreds of composers, artists, writers and greeting card producers simply dropped what they were doing and went for a swim!"

Roll VTR. Clips from around the world. Masses of people splashing in the surf, smiling, hugging and singing. All of them singing.

"All you need is Love"

FIN

Freewayriding (FWR)

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