Days in the Life

Part Four

We stayed in the yard talking for over an hour, just chatting on about some of the other less-significant events of our lives. I don't think I'd ever had such a wonderful time catching up with someone after years had gone by. He was still the same old Paul, the sweet and patient listener who could still come up with the off-the-wall comment every once in a while when things became too intense. Even being apart for all those years, we’d been through so many of the same things that somehow we never really were alone during those rough times.

We could have easily talked on for days without stopping to catch a breath, but, unfortunately, ten o'clock arrived all too quickly. Pam and I had to leave right away and go back to the hotel so I could pick up my suitcases, then race to the airport for our flight home.

James and Pam had their tearful good-bye alone in the living room of the house while Paul walked me outside to the car. "Well, what do you think the two of them will do?" I asked, buttoning my coat up.

"I can't say," Paul replied as we stopped in front of the garage. "Our relationship obviously didn't survive the barrier of an ocean and a few thousand miles of land."

"Yeah, but they're lucky. Pam can get on her computer and talk to him instantly. We never had that luxury."

"Very true," he laughed. "I would hate to see the phone bill for hours of long-distance calls to the States."

"Well, Mr. Smarty, I have seen a phone bill with two-hundred dollars worth of international calls, and it wasn’t a pretty sight…and that was 1965 currency!" I laughed. "My mother almost hit the ceiling when she opened the bill in February, but then she remembered that we were going to be reimbursed for all expenses.

"But these kids have it better. If one of them wanted to move to the other side of the Atlantic so they could be together, it's much easier for them to do that now than it would have been for us."

"Oh, yes. Pam doesn't have a tendency to carry as much emotional baggage as I did when I was her age," I replied. "That's one thing that scared the hell out of me as I got closer to graduation, the fact that I'd have to leave my parents and my baby sister."

"Laurie?"

"Hmm?"

"If you had it to do all over again…you know, if we were both back in Pine Lake right now and I'd just asked you…what would you do?"

"The truth?"

"Yeah."

"Well, to be honest…I'd probably give you the same answer," I said. "Only this time, I'd have all these years of living behind me and I'd have seen that my life would turn out happily even if I didn't marry the last bachelor Beatle."

Paul laughed. "I came to terms with that about a month after I left you. The others and I got really busy with Sgt. Pepper after a while, and, bang! Suddenly life had meaning again."

"Yeah, it did work out nicely, didn't it?" I grinned. "And now, especially, I'd rather give my baby girl a chance at having such happiness rather than try and recapture something that was just never meant to last."

"Absolutely," he said, nodding.

James and Pam emerged from the house just then. James was going to drive us back to the hotel, and we were going to take a taxi to the airport, so he and Pam got into the car first.

Paul and I looked at each other. I was so happy that I could have burst at that point!

"Now, you have my phone number and my email address," he said as we embraced when the kids weren't watching. "You get in touch with me once in a while, you hear me, luv?"

"You too," I said, tapping his nose with my finger. "I'm not about to spend another thirty-three years with no contact from you."

"Of course not!" he grinned.

The Mercedes pulled backwards out of the garage just then, and Pam reached across the front seat to beep the horn. "Mom, we're never going to make it home," she said impatiently. "I know you love Paul and all, but we've got to go."

Thank God I had my back to her, because I had to struggle so hard to keep from bursting into laughter over the irony of her statement! Paul bit his lip to keep from laughing as well.

"Well, then, Miss Donaldson," Paul said, "this is goodbye, then."

"No, it's not…it's 'talk to you later,' Sir Paul," I corrected, nodding. "And don't call me 'Miss Donaldson,' you cheeky Scouser. I told you that the cute flirty routine doesn’t work on me anymore."

"Well, pardon me, Miss Silver Spoon," he kidded, lightly punching my arm. "Little Miss Lap of Luxury in that big house in Pine Lake…you're always going to be Laurie Donaldson to me…oh, be sure to say hello to your mum for me."

"I will," I said, backing slowly towards the car as I returned to reality and not some bizarre parallel 1965 dimension. "And you take care of yourself, will you?"

"Naturally…you do the same," he said with a smile. "See you later, then."

"Yes…see you later," I said, quickly getting into the car and closing the door.

James put the car into gear and we drove through the open gateway onto Cavendish Avenue. I looked through the back window and waved to Paul, who did the same in return before the gates closed and swallowed up my view of him.

Pam unfastened her seat belt once the orange warning sign at the front of the plane shut off. We were far above the English landscape now, on our way home.

"O-kay," she murmured, her eyes sleepily half-closed. "I’m knackered… time for some sleep."

"You never sleep on planes, Pam," I commented quietly as I clicked away silently on my laptop computer. Just about all our fellow passengers in the 757 were snoozing peacefully. "What makes you think--"

"Mom, I'm so exhausted I could sleep on a bed of needles in the middle of a tornado right now and be perfectly at ease," she whispered, adjusting her small airline pillow and reclining her seat back a little. "Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you have a nice time with Paul?" she said, opening her eyes fully for a moment. "I know you always liked him a lot…The two of you seemed to get along really well."

"Yes, we did," I said as she closed her eyes again. "We certainly did."

"You know, it's too bad he's going out with Meather Hills…er, Heather Mills," she remarked. "James and I were laughing that the two of you could've made a really cute couple."

She turned away from me, already halfway to dreamland. I smiled, ceasing my typing for a moment. "Yeah, but wouldn't that be weird? Your mother going out with your boyfriend's dad?"

"Hey, it's a free country," she murmured. "It'd be fun…we could have had a double wedding."

I snickered. "Goodnight, Miss Carlisle," I said firmly, sitting back in my seat and staring at the glowing computer monitor.

"’Night, Mom."

If she had stayed awake, I would have certainly told her the entire long saga of Paul and the Beatles visiting me when I was even younger than her and kept her up for the entire flight…but she needed some sleep. I toyed with the enter key on the computer keyboard for a moment, collecting my thoughts.

I would tell her…not at that moment, and not in a long, drawn-out speech, but instead, I would write it all down, starting from the beginning. I watched the cursor on the screen blink on and off for a moment, then began to type.

I left that seat on the overcrowded plane and floated back through time…and I was walking through the ankle-deep fluffy white in River Forest in my school clothes, carrying all my homework, anxious to get back to the cozy house that I loved so much and didn't even realize it yet…during that time when the world seemed so big and open and full of possibilities…the time when my life would change for the better by the Beatles…

After a long, snowy morning ride home on the train bound for Pine Lake, I had quite a surprise waiting for me at the house on Cold Creek Street...four visitors that would change my life forever...

The End

Well, everyone, that's it! You've FINALLY made it to the ending of the Laurie Donaldson saga.

I would like to say a very big THANK YOU!!! to everyone who stayed with me over the two years that it took to compose "Days in the Life". It's because of you, the audience, that I kept going with the story, even at times when I felt like I wanted to throw the keyboard out the window. I've received countless emails with suggestions and kind encouragement from readers all around the world, and those messages really meant a lot! I'm so glad you enjoyed the stories, and I hope you'll tell everyone else to come and read them, too.

Once again, thank you so much for reading through the whole story. Feel free to email me with your thoughts.