Would You Believe It's All True?

Sometimes life is more fantastic than fiction. In a far away land, there once was a singer who was loved by all of his countrymen. His music played constantly on every radio station. The women of the land were enamored of him. The men all wanted to be his best friend, to be as near to him as possible, the better to be like him. In this country, the politicians sought the singer's favor because the singer held the keys to his countrymen's hearts.

It came to pass that the singer's country experienced political upheaval, and there was a regime change. The new government was totalitarian and viciously suppressed any dissenting opinion. They pestered the singer day and night to endorse their regime, but the singer refused. Worse, though in the past he had been apolitical, he began to sing new songs of freedom and hope. In this way, he made himself an enemy of the state.

On the singer's birthday, a day like any other, he went out to run some errands while his wife prepared a meal. Thus, at the height of his popularity, the singer was assassinated. The news traveled instantaneously all across the land. Everybody stopped what they were doing to mourn the singer's death, and to tell their friends, neighbors, and relatives. Spontaneously, people began to walk towards the singer's house, a well known landmark in the capital city. People were amassing in the singer's courtyard even before the police could inform the singer's own household. His body was brought by police escort to his house where his pregnant wife had been waiting for him to return for his noonday meal.

She pushed through the throngs of mourners, desperate to see her husband, and as the realization spread through her body that he was gone, that she was staring at his empty husk, she fell onto the ground and into the throes of labor. So it came to pass that the singer's birth, death, and the birth of his only child occurred on the same day.

Source: "Pop Music" on  Radiolab

I always roll my eyes during movies or books where some exciting event puts a woman into labor, but I guess every melodrama contains a nugget of truth. I have to remember to save this tasty tidbit for a story idea. The child of such a dramatic birth must feel like a child of fate, with some serious expectations on her shoulders.