The Garden of Stolen Seeds

So I just got this idea for a story, a kind of quirky off beat topic that examines the music industry, the interaction between artists and society and the phenomenon of viral trends, before finally ending with a significant twist.

So the story starts with a song that gets released by an unknown singer/songwriter called The Gardener. It starts to gain traction almost as a meme at first because it is immediately clear that every single line in the song is obviously stolen; the whole thing is just a conglomeration of entirely stolen lyrics, each from a different artist, set to music that is also stolen. The only line apparently not stolen is name dropping a website: thegarden.ao8. Initially the website just shows a purple rose. 

Curiosity in the song grows, and it is fairly catchy given that it has hijacked a piggyback ride on unwitting giants, so It is not long before it becomes popular enough that the first artist takes legal action. Almost immediately the website is updated to credit that artist's name and indicate that a portion of the profits will be going to them. Additionally a music video is added, but much like the song it is seemingly nonsense- just a couple of guys chatting in a cafe and writing something on a piece of paper, while the song plays as the only audio. Here and there they seem to call out to a passerby who stops and replies with something. At the end they write something unseen on the envelope, seal it and hand it to the cameraman who takes it into a backroom and leaves it on a table, with the writing face down. The video just keeps playing in silence at that point, indefinitely, and scrolling forward you realize that it is a live stream of the envelope sitting on that table.

A couple other artists follow suit immediately, presumably when their agents realize the cost/benefit of pursuing legal action is actually much more beneficial than first thought, even if the return is relatively low, because no resistance to the action is offered, and those artists are credited on the website as well. Interest starts to build, people drawn by the curiosity, the novelty, the ironic humor of it. As interest grows, more artists join in, some donating their portion of the proceeds to charity, until finally all included artists follow suit. They each promote it on their social media, and the song ends up going truly viral. 6 months later the last holdouts agree to be involved as well, and the song is credited to the full balance of songwriters whose music or lyrics had been included. At that time the live stream, now highly trafficked, proceeds.

The men return and the envelope is flipped. It reads "do not open for 6 months." Already there is a buzz about what it contains. As it is opened the video flashes back to the same guys chatting in the cafe, but this time with the song only softly playing in the background, and their conversation can now be heard. They chit chat about the artists, discussing how long they think it will take for each to claim their rightful credit. Here and there they stop a passerby and ask if they know the date, receiving somewhat confused looks, but accurate and consistent responses throughout as people pull out their phones. In the end they discuss how long it should ultimately take for all to join in, and agree on 6 months. They write on the envelope, which is hidden exactly as before, and it is placed once more on the backroom table. The video is identical to the first one, the only difference being the emphasis of the sound. The video cuts back to the envelope on the table, the page fully displayed with the accurate list of each artist and when they joined.

The Internet is abuzz with the accuracy of the predictions, claims to it being a hoax and how it might be accomplished due to its seemingly impossible accuracy and, with everyone now eyeing for additional Easter Eggs like hawks, regarding the additional piece of paper clearly visible, still folded inside the envelope. It is not long before a movie is announced. By this point, each artist is enjoying a significant boost to their fame for being involved in this quirky gem that has now become a sensation, and each jumps at the opportunity to be a part of the upcoming movie. The whole world wants to know why the predictions were so accurate, the artists included. The men featured in the music video, celebrities in their own right now, remain coyly silent on any spoilers, but have this to say: "There is more to come. Watch!"

Finally the date for the movie comes around. The crowds flock in anticipation on opening night. The curtains all pull back in each respective location and the opening scene is once more in the cafe with the two men, met with wild cheering. They pull out the second piece of paper and smile at each other, unfolding it. The scene cuts back to an interview displayed on a tablet of the first artist to have joined the credits list, sharing a deeply honest perspective of why he initially decided to do it, and how his motivations changed over time, and ultimately why he decided to donate his proceeds to charity, causing the domino effect amongst the others involved. As it ends the two men watching just stare at each other in genuine shock, and then down at the page which is simply titled "Charity List." They both look at the man holding the camera and from behind the screen you hear "Just write what you saw." The men spend several minutes recalling and writing which celebrity chose to donate to which charity, as the man off screen periodically calls out to passersby "Do you happen to know the date?" With confused looks and in many cases phones pulled out to confirm they respond with the same date as the one stated in the music video. As the men continue their work their shock seems to give way to an understanding of what they are a part of, and by the end of it, when the cameraman says "Now on a second piece of paper just write down the dates when each artist said they joined the credits list. And just have fun with it." they smile at each other as they fold the piece of paper and place it in the envelope, before pulling out the second page. The music video begins right as it had before without a single cut. When it finishes the scene cuts to the Charity List unfolded and laid out now on the table.

The crowd is stunned into silence, unsure of what to make of what they just saw. The series of artist interviews, beginning with the last holdout to join the cause, are each touching in their own right, but all the while there is an additional tension in the audience for the sense that something truly unprecedented and inexplicable might be going on. The last interview comes up, and it is a familiar scene, one of the first artist giving the exact same explanation as had been seen on the tablet.

The interview ends and the cameraman hands the tablet to another man who hits a few buttons and then hands it back without the original cameraman ever being seen "I'll have that raw footage sent to you in about 5 minutes." The cameraman starts walking out of the building without stopping the shot. He simply talks as he walks. "That's the thing about time artifacts, while they do not match any conventional understanding of the flow of time, they do not necessarily break causality either. This is the movie I am going to show to those men on that first evening in the cafe and, to my knowledge, it is the only one I am going to show them. Does this mean there were not a number of loops similar to this one where some of the artists included did not block the song entirely, or something about the song just never took off, or even where the course of events caused by the buzz surrounding that second sheet of paper caused an artist to speed up or slow down or even change their decision as to which charity they would donate their proceeds to? I haven't the perspective to say, but the possibilities spark what feel like endless possibilities in my mind. Does me walking from point A here and now to point B on that first night remove the artists' choices regarding when and how to join in these efforts, or deciding on when and why to donate to which charity? Absolutely not, and you have seen proof of that here firsthand. Did any one of you sense any of the hypothetical 'edited cuts,' I've mentioned that may have existed somewhere and somewhen in this time loop that it is soon to be obvious that we have all been in? Has your sense of here and now remained consistent in this process, or has it possibly even sharpened in clarity, by these circuitous paths through time that you are witnessing unfold?" A notification pings on a second tablet the man is holding. He pauses to confirm it is the footage for the camera before stepping through a set of stage doors.

The cameraman emerges out of the backroom of the cafe. The two men are sitting and chatting with each other, and stop as they see him emerge. He continues "Time travel can presumably be used for many things, perhaps it even has been in these ways elsewhere and otherwhen. Personally I looked out at a world broken but full of potential, full of billions of lamps under beds and in cupboards and shining through the various warped prisms this world convinces us to focus our light on, and considered how brightly the night sky might shine with these lights, as they are, rearranged to every rooftop and hill. What meaning would an enforced sense of control have for the one pulling the strings? By my measure it would be as meaningless as dust in the wind. I would live and die as a clanging symbol, granted most likely one clanging in a fancy mansion, but still having squandered my gifts, and always with that sense of what could have been. I may not have ever understood love, despite my many efforts, but I know that love cannot be compelled; love cannot be forced by a man to fit a particular mold, and without this maddeningly ineffable quality nothing else matters. So, with love, I present this film to you." The men just stare at the man behind the camera, until one finally asks "Wait, did you put a wig on in the backroom? Why is your hair longer?" The other one chimes in "What's all this then about time travel? I thought this was going to be something about our impressions on artist interviews?" "It is. Don't worry about all that, you will see far more amazing things than some hair growth before this scene is through." He sets the second tablet on the table between them. "But before we begin, would you mind stating for the record today's date?" With the date confirmed, the man hits play and the first interview, of the last artist to join the cause, begins.

Soon into that interview the scene playing for the movie theater fast forwards through everything they have just seen and then cuts to a scene on the beach at sunset. After a few serene waves crashing on the sand and some seagulls calling out from somewhere down the shoreline, he says "In terms of the song itself, I do not claim to have written any given line, others have done that. I do not claim to have coined any of the words used for said lines either, those were established long before my time. Neither did I create the notes on my own, nor the underlying concept of arranging sounds in a pleasing and dynamic way that we now call 'music.' I am simply The Gardener, I tended to the garden already planted, watered, and grown. I cultivated the arrangement available in my own way, like those before me, and those to follow. If I am to boast in anything, it is that I have been blessed with the unique opportunity to tell this story through my own lens, and hopefully see firsthand the spark it lights in the bright eyes of each individual in each crowd who is inspired to share their own light with the world, themselves emerging from theaters all around the world, now feeling as though they stand in a garden of good, ripe soil.

'1 Corinthians 3:6-11
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.'"

With that the film ends. With that the credits roll.

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