Chapter One: A Beginning
Liverpool, 18th June 1960.
Prudence found herself preparing everything for the big party that was going to be held at her house that evening. The day before had been her birthday and, as neither her father nor her brother, Will, would have been able to attend had it been held then, her mother and she decided to put it off.
She was wearing a lovely, sleeveless pink dress with a white collar and a matching wide belt. A pair of white high heeled sandals embraced her feet, making her look even taller than what she actually was. Her fair hair was held by a white headband and teased in a way that the tips were standing up in graceful flips.
As she delicately arranged some flowers in a vase, the phone rang. She ran to it and picked it up.
“Hello?” she said as she played with her pearl earing.
“Pruddie?”
“Oh, hey, Geo! How are you?”
“Fine, luv and ye?”
“Fine, fine. Are you coming or what?” Prue asked, sitting down on the little sofa beside the phone.
“Um, well… actually—“
“Is John with you?”
“Yes, and—“
“The party starts in an hour. Be punctual!” she excitedly exclaimed. She could not wait to have her friends there. It was planned to be a fantastic party! All the members of her family were supposed to come, and her brother was going to bring his fiancée Victoria and also a friend of his.
George sighed. He hated it when somebody interrupted him but he knew she did it because she was really enthusiastic about her birthday bash. “Listen, luv. We can’t go.”
“Huh?!” all her expectations fell to the floor and she hoped she had misunderstood.
“Sorry, I feel terrible. But, you know, we went to your house yesterday and today, well, today…”
Prue understood. “Today’s that McCartney’s bloody birthday, right?”
“Well, yeh…” George sighed silently. He knew what her reaction would be before he dialed her number. Her anger at Paul was chronic, and the fact that he announced that it was because of him they were not going to her birthday, he was sure it had multiplied itself by twenty.
“So you and John pick him over me?”
“No, it’s not that,” he sighed again and this time Prue heard him.
“George!”
“Sorry, but I’m friends with you both! The right thing is to go to both birthday parties.”
“He’s throwing a party?” she asked, her voice sounding strangely high-pitched.
“Not really. We’re going to the Jac.”
“Oh, I see.”
“I’m sorry, Prue…”
“It’s ok, Georgie, have a good time, yeh?” Prue gave a hint of a smile, a bitter smile, dedicated to the special birthday boy.
“Ok, Prue, and happy birthday again.”
“Yes.”
“Well, luv, bye.”
“Bye. And George,” she called.
“What?”
“I love you anyway.”
She heard him laughing heartily, and then, after another quick “Bye”, she hung up the phone. Prue remained sitting on the black, leather upholstered sofa, looking down at her sandals and thinking about how glad Paul might be now that he had ruined a special part of her day. She narrowed her eyes and huffed sonorously. How could it be possible? Directly or not, he always managed to spoil everything.
In that moment, her mother came in the room with a beautiful centrepiece made of big and velvety white roses, Prue’s favourite flowers, which had been taken from their own garden. After placing it neatly in the centre of the table, she turned around and saw her daughter. She frowned, noticing how disappointed and angry she looked.
Katherine approached her and stood before her. She put her hands on her hips and waited until Prue looked at her. There she saw a strange mixture of sadness and wrath in her daughter’s eyes that surprised her greatly. After pursing her lips for a moment, she decided to ask what the problem was.
“Tell me, dear,” Kathy started in her Londoner accent. She had met Prue and Will’s father, Charles Lennon, in one of her regular trips to London and they immediately fell in love. Her father, William Forrest, had a successful business in Liverpool. He had a naval shipping company, so Katherine and Charles were able to see each other quite frequently before they decided to get married. Katherine’s father wasn’t very happy about the news of his only daughter marrying a lad from Liverpool, but he gave in when he realized that, if she moved in there, the Liverpool offices would be in good hands without the need of him travelling so regularly. Even though Katherine was a woman, her father knew that she was capable of taking care of it. They got married and a year later they had Will in Edinburgh, Scotland, when they were on holidays. Prue came nine years later as a surprise, when they were almost positive that they would have no more kids. “What’s wrong? Some seconds ago you were spreading happiness all over. What happened? Who called?”
Katherine had heard the telephone ringing but Prue had been faster and picked it up first. Perhaps it had something to do with her disappointment.
Prue shrugged. “It was George.”
“George?” Kathy had always liked him, even though she had some strong ideas about the fact that he could really work on his accent. She had successfully taught Prudence and William to speak with the Queen’s accent. When she tried to do the same with Charles, she threw the towel. Liverpool was all over him, but she had to admit she loved it. “What’s the matter, then?”
“They’re not coming, mum.”
“Oh, why not?” she asked, widening her emerald eyes.
The lass shrugged again. “You know, they came yesterday and spent a lot of time with me. Today is another of their friend’s birthday, though, at the Jac, so he said they have to go to both parties. It’s so unfair, really! I really wanted them to be here… now I wonder if Cyn is going with them.”
Cynthia and Prue got on well from the beginning of Cyn’s relationship with John. She was such a pleasant girl, quite demure but she could also be very fun! Intelligence was one of her main characteristics, and she was also one of the best artists Prue had seen in her whole life. She was certain that only Stuart Sutcliff, another friend of John’s, was better than her when it came to painting. And Prue also thought she was very pretty, so she loved it when John introduced her to Prue with a huge smile on his face. However, she was quite disappointed when John made her dye her hair blonde; she liked it better when it was brown.
Kathy tried to hide a smile and sat beside her. It was so delightful to be aware of what things her daughter cared about. She knew that Prue was astute, witty and mature, but she knew that, bottom line, she was still a girl. Well, it was pretty understandable. She was just eighteen years old!
Passing an arm across her shoulders and giving her a protective kiss on her rosy cheek, Katherine said. “I have a hunch that Cyn will be here at the party, darling. You oughtn’t to worry, love. And, well, as for the boys… I think they’re right, love. They have to attend both parties, and they were here with you all day long yesterday and that, in fact, was your birthday! Now they have to be with this lad on his birthday. It’s the sensible thing to do.”
Prue puckered her lips, looking angrier now. Kathy noticed and sensed that the main problem wasn’t George and John not coming, but something else. “Tell me,” she started, “do you know the birthday lad?”
“Yeh…”
“Oh, and who is he?”
“Paul, mum, you know him too.”
“Paul, Paul… mmh, well, it does ring a bell, but I can’t recall how he looked.”
She smiled faintly, “lucky you.”
Kathy laughed softly, “Tell me where I saw him and perhaps I can remember him.”
“You saw him a few weeks ago at John’s. Remember? When we went to visit Mimi and John was with George and another lad in the veranda, playing their guitars and singing this Elvis song you like?”
“The Elvis song I like?”
“Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go... you have made my life complete and I love you so…” Prue sang, “That one.”
“Ooh, yes! Yes, now I remember. John introduced him to us and I noticed there was something on your face when you looked at him.”
“Something like what?”
“I don’t know, but it was not nice!”
Prue laughed. “See?”
“Well, he looked like a nice lad to me. Very handsome, tall, and the most important thing, very polite.”
Prue dismissed her mother’s statement with a wave of her hand. “Mother, please! He’s not polite at all! Just with you, mind you, but with me? You should hear him!”
“Oh, Prue, come on. It’s natural that kids your age fight all the time!” Kathy frowned for a second and then rephrased, “Well, knowing you, it’s natural. You always said that Paul made you loose your marbles, right?”
“Right, and in the bad sense.”
Kathy laughed appreciatively and snuggled her daughter against her as she heard the main door unlocking. She turned her head around and saw her son entering the house, accompanied by his lovely fiancée Victoria and with another friend, a very handsome man.
She stood up and smoothed the blue skirt of her nice suit down as she walked to where her son stood to greet him and the first guests, the heels of her black stilettos hammering determinedly on the wooden floor.
“Darling,” she grinned at Will as she hugged him.
“Mum, how are you?” he asked, smiling too. It had been a long time he had last seen his mother, over two weeks, and he already missed her a great deal.
“Fine, and you?”
“I’m fine.”
She separated herself from him and, with her hands still on the upper part of his built arms, she looked at him from head to toes with motherly eyes. He was exceptionally tall, about 6’5’’, but it looked so good on him. He was very fit and well-built, but not awfully brawny. His hair was of a reddish blonde, lighter than Prue’s and his mother’s, and very silky, so he could comb it the way he and everybody else liked. His eyes were of a shiny, light blue just like his grandfather’s and his Roman nose, medium mouth and white teeth made him a real winner when it came to appearances. And now that he was clad in one of his best black suits, with a blue shirt and navy-blue tie that enlightened his eyes, he really looked like an Adonis. He filled his mother with pride.
Kathy’s eyes went from Will to Victoria and she smiled again. Victoria was another lawyer that worked for the same office as Will. She was a tall, about 5’8’’, red-headed, blue eyed doll. In her 25 years of existence and 3 years as a lawyer, she had done a lot, not only professionally but also personally, and Will loved that about her. They had met each other many years ago and they had a long and complicated story. She was also very smart, for she loved to wear expensive suits and fashionable shoes and handbags, which her fiancé was delighted to buy for her. They made a lovely couple and everybody was happy for them.
“Victoria, how are you?” Kathy said and kissed her cheek.
“I’m really glad to be here, Mrs. Lennon, thank you.”
“Oh, when are you going to start calling me Katherine, huh? I think we know each other enough for that!”
Victoria laughed, “Ok, thank you, Katherine.”
“That’s better.”
Prue walked to them and stayed behind her mother, watching how she greeted everybody and waiting for her turn to greet Will. Finally, her mother started talking about the house with Victoria, who had complimented how nice everything looked for Prue’s party. Then, Will looked at her and his grin was indescribable. He walked a few steps towards her and hugged with all his considerable strength, till he lifted her up from the floor. Prue laughed and tried to hug him just as hard, finding it impossible but fun to try.
“Little sister!” he laughed, as he sonorously kissed her cheek after putting her back on the floor. “Happy birthday, lovely!”
“Thank you, Willy,” She beamed and kissed his cheek too. “How are you?”
“Fine. I’m fantastically fine. I’m really glad to see you and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to come yesterday, I was up to here with work!” he said, putting a hand above his head when he said “up to here”.
“Oh, that must have been a lot of work!” Prue always teased him good-naturedly about how tall he was. That is a character from both families, the Forrests and the Lennons. More from the Forrests, actually. Charles and Alfred Lennon, his brother, were fairly tall, and so was John, but nowhere near Will, his grandfather and his two uncles.
Everybody laughed a little and after Prue greeted Victoria, Will cleared his throat before talking to Kathy and Prue. “Well, ladies, this is Luke Hamilton. He is a very good friend of mine and I wanted you to meet him. Luke, these are my mother, Katherine and my sister, Prudence.”
Luke shook Katherine’s hand as he said, “Pleased to meet you,” and then Prue’s, adding a gracious, “happy birthday,” to the greeting.
“Thank you,” she smiled at him. He looked absolutely attractive to her and, she supposed, to any other woman who looked at him. He was tall, she calculated that he might be around 6’3’’, had dark brown hair, which was really close to being black but was not yet there. His eyes were blue and his eyelashes impressive. His nose was also straight and quite rounded in the tip. The full lips and white teeth completed the fantastic image of his face. He was also well-built as Will, but as he was not as tall, he was not as big! And… he was American. From New York, Prue thought. His accent totally gave him away. His brown suit, tanned tie, perfectly polished shoes and golden wristwatch made her wonder if he was also a lawyer.
“So, Will,” Victoria smiled, “shall we bring them?”
Both Kathy and Prue frowned while Will and Luke smiled.
“Yes, you’re right,” he opened the door and walked outside.
“I’ll help him,” Luke said, with a huge smile.
They both disappeared and closed the door after them. Kathy and Prue looked at Victoria inquiringly, but she just stayed there, poker faced. ‘Oh, that’s why she’s such a good lawyer…’ Prue thought.
After some seconds, the door reopened and Will and Luke appeared with four bags and a huge floral arrangement. Prue’s eyes went wide and she stood there, agape, when she realized those were her birthday gifts. Victoria grabbed a bag from a smiling Will and remained there while Will approached his sister.
“Well, I hope you like these,” he said and gave her the biggest bag. “But one at a time. Happy birthday, sis.”
Happy tears shone in Prue’s eyes as she flung her arms around her brother’s neck before opening any of the presents. She was so happy he was there and she loved him so much.
“Thank you, Will. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said, patting her back. “Now open the bags, will you?”
Prue nodded and looked at the blue and golden bag, obviously from Harrod’s. Will lived and worked in London but travelled a lot and he had surely bought it there before coming to her party. She opened it and withdrew a beautiful red box with a huge golden ribbon on it. Walking to the living room table which was near them, she put the box on it. She took off the lid and saw a neatly folded dress covered by a see-though paper. She delicately took it away and saw the most beautiful dress of her life. She sighed and even more carefully took it in her hands. It was a black dress that reached up to the knee. A delicate row of brown fur covered the collar, as well as the wrists of the long sleeves and the edge of the skirt. It was a dress with feminine curves that would make almost anybody who wore it look outstanding. However, what Prue liked more about it is that it had been made for a grown-up woman, and it contrasted with the other dresses she had, even with the one she was wearing.
“God, it’s so beautiful!” She exclaimed, leaving it on the table and going to kiss Will’s cheek again. “Thank you!”
“You’re welcome. Now here’s another bag,” he said and handed her the medium one.
She opened it and withdrew a smaller box that was also wrapped, but in a green paper. The ribbon was silver this time. She unwrapped the box, took off the lid and there, before her eyes, lay the most beautiful pair of stiletto shoes she had ever seen. They were made of brown newbuck and the tips were of black patent leather. She looked at Will again and her mother approached her. She was a shoe fan and she absolutely had a thing for stilettos.
“They are beautiful, William.”
“Vick here helped me to choose them,” he smiled at his fiancée. “She said they would match the dress fantastically.”
“Yes, they do!” Kathy continued, taking one of the shoes in her hands and admiring it. “I’m glad we are the same size, Prue.”
Everybody had a laugh at that and Prue thanked her brother again.
“You’re welcome,” he laughed. Finally, he handed her the last and smaller bag. “Last but not least. This is my favourite one.”
Prue was smiling so hard that she thought her face would end up wrinkled afterwards. She grabbed the bag and opened it. There was a blue wrapped, nearly flat, square box, which she took out. It had a small white ribbon on it. She unwrapped it and found out that she was holding a fantastic velvet jewellery box in her hands. Her mother and she inhaled deeply at the sight of it.
“God, you didn’t…” Prue breathed as she stared at it.
“Open it,” was Will’s gentle order.
She did and was barely able to see what was inside because the happy tears blurred her sight. But, for what she was able to make out, her brother had bought her a beautiful and fairly thick golden chain with a delicate aquamarine set in a golden base. The first thing Prue was able to think after taking a hand to her mouth was how outstanding it was and the second thing she thought was that this might have cost him a fortune.
Her mother took it away from her hands to admire it and Prue looked at his brother who was smiling shyly; her eyes were full of gratitude.
“That chain doesn’t match your dress and shoes,” Will started, “but it surely matches your eyes.”
Prue smiled and just hugged him tightly again as tears poured from her eyes.
“God, brother, thank you so much. You shouldn’t have, this is just too much for me… but thank you, thank you, really.”
“This stone reminded me of your eyes. They are brighter, though, but the colour is just the same. Enjoy it, Prue. You’re a woman now. You deserve this and much more. I love you.”
“I love you too, Will. Thank you.”
After she wiped the tears away from her face, she received Victoria’s present. It was a cosmetics set, of the best ones, with all kinds of mascara, eye shadows, eye liners, lipsticks, and what not. She hugged Victoria too and thanked her. It was a perfect gift, she hadn’t her own make-up set! Just a few old eye liners and awful lipsticks… this was mod, though!
Luke waited till she finished receiving the other gifts and finally approached her. Feeling quite embarrassed, he held the huge floral arrangement before her.
“Well,” he started, not finding the words. It was interesting to him that being a successful and witty journalist who always knew how to snap at everybody, he was at a loss for words before an eighteen-old girl. The sister of one of his best friends. “This cannot be compared to anything you’ve received before,” he chuckled, “but well, Will said you liked roses so I thought of this. Happy birthday.”
“Oh, you shouldn’t have, Luke. Thank you.” Prue beamed at him and took the arrangement in her arms. She took her time to admire it and noticed the roses were way better than the ones she had growing in her garden. These were twice as big. The arrangement consisted of eighteen white roses and six more which were red and pink, scattered around to give some colour. They were wrapped in a classy silver paper and tied with a red ribbon. She noticed that there was a card attached to it. It was written in beautiful and masculine longhand, which she supposed was his. It read: ‘All the best for this eighteenth year of your life and for all the others to come. Happy birthday, Luke Hamilton. 06/17/1960’. She was confused for a second, but then she remembered that Americans changed the order of the day and the month when they wrote the date like that. It had been a great gesture and she found totally flattering that he had thought of this fantastic gift. She put her eyes on him and she suddenly wanted to hug him. Not being able to bring herself to do it, she used the excuse of her arms being busy holding the arrangement and just approached him and kissed his cheek.
“Thank you,” she beamed sincerely.
He nodded his head in acknowledgement, praying that his cheeks didn’t get flushed. This was one nice girl, he told to himself.
“So? Where’s dad?” Will asked as he sat down on the sofa, encouraging everybody else to follow him.
“He’s upstairs getting changed. You know he’s quite special when it comes to his appearance and being his girl’s eighteenth party…” Kathy chuckled. “Give me these, honey, I’ll put them in a vase with some water.” As she walked to the kitchen, she smelled the roses and smiled. “God, they’re beautiful…”
A little later, Prue’s uncles, aunts and cousins arrived, as well as Cynthia, who had decided not to go to Paul’s “party”, and Emily, a friend they had in common. Her grandparents were not able to come, but they sent their gift from London, a beautiful pair of golden earrings. Now Charles was accompanying everybody and they were having a lovely time. At around eleven, the meal, which had consisted of three dishes prepared by a cook hired for the occasion (Kathy liked to cook, but not for a troop!) and the dessert had already been had and everybody stayed at the table, talking about different subjects.
Prue just watched. Her father and two uncles were talking about politics, as usual, so she decided not to pay much attention. Her mother and aunts were talking about kids and Kathy remarked how glad she was her children were already adults, or almost adult in Prue’s case. Her aunts nodded enviously as they watched their kids running around the house. They were much younger than Katherine, but they just could not stand it anymore. They wanted their kids to grow up!
Emily and Cynthia were listening attentively to Victoria, who was teaching them how to apply make up to their eyes. She advised Emily to wear tons of eyeliner and mascara, “Your eyes are of a dark blue, but you can enlighten them if you do that”. Then she told Cynthia to use brown eye shadow and never, ever apply light blue instead, “You’re way too white for that, and your eyes are brown. I’m sure you want to show you’re pretty, not to hide it!”
Finally, Prue’s attention was grabbed by the conversation between Will and Luke.
“Yes, I know… you see, my father is quite angry with me. The magazine is a success in New York, but no one has heard of it here. And, according to him, that’s my fault,” Luke inhaled deeply on his cigarette and continued after exhaling the smoke through his nose. Had it been another occasion, Prue would have thought that was completely sexy, but as they were talking about a magazine, she wanted to listen. “Perhaps he’s right. The thing is, I’m a journalist, not a damn publicist. I’m in charge of the news; the publicity department is being led by somebody else. But instead of talking to him, Dad blames it on me.” He shook his head and continued, “Well… he says that he sent me here so that he didn’t have to travel so much, but he never asked if I wanted to do it. I’m a reporter, man! I just write news! I love to write, and I hardy ever do it anymore!”
“OK, Luke, but have you thought of a solution to the publicity problem?”
Luke stubbed his cigarette out in a crystal ashtray that was on the table. “I know exactly what has to be done, but nobody listens to me. First of all, we should fire that incompetent Louis Simons who has been in charge of the department since before I arrived in London. My father likes him, that’s why he stays. Dunno why, really. And in the meanwhile, we should advertise in newspapers, telling everybody how chic we are and such. I mean, in America girls love the mag, why not here?” Then he chuckled bitterly and continued, “Besides, my father is quite angry towards me for writing for other magazines. I don’t write for his. But what does he want me to do, to write tips on make-up?”
Will burst out laughing and Luke shook his head as he muttered, “it’s not fucking funny…” Prue smiled too. He was right, and she could see that he was not happy with the magazine he was working for. ‘Family business…’ she thought, ‘it can be a drag sometimes…’
Luke noticed Prue had been listening and when he saw her smiling, he smiled back at her. Prue, encouraged by this, sat at the table and looked at them.
“Oh, didn’t know you were listening,” Will smiled at her as he lit up a cigarette.
Prue nodded. “I was.” Then she looked at Luke. “So you’re a reporter?”
He nodded. “Yes, I am. I work for my father’s magazine, as you might have already heard.”
“I did.” His accent sounded lovely to her, and she wanted to hear more of it. “I’m a journalist too.” He lifted his eyebrows and she blushed, “I mean, I plan to be. I’m just practicing now. I write for a local magazine called ‘Mersey Beat’.”
“You do? Will, you never told me your sister was interested in journalism.”
“I’m more interested in writing narrative, though,” Prue explained before Will could say anything. “I want to write a best-seller someday.”
“I’m sure she will!” her brother laughed. “Sometimes her imagination goes far too high, and she writes it all down on a little notebook. Since she was eight.”
“All in the same notebook?” Luke asked, surprised.
“I’m precise.”
They had a laugh at that.
“I’m interested in writing, too,” Luke said.
“Really?” her eyes grew wide.
“Really.”
They continued talking about books and journalism for about half an hour and were interrupted when Kathy brought the cake in. The little kids were tired and the families wanted to go home already. Prue got up and, after being sung the ‘Happy Birthday’ song she breathed in to blow the candles.
“Wait!” Victoria interrupted. “Don’t forget to make a wish!”
Prue stopped the air from her lungs and thought of a wish. What did she really want for the last half of 1960 and first half of 1961? Wealth? Health?... Love?
Love?
She smiled dreamily. That would be nice.
‘For love, then…’
Now she did blow the eighteen candles as everybody cheered and clapped.
She received kisses from her family and friends and the younger of her uncles even snapped some pictures.
By twelve, the uncles and aunties were preparing to leave. After lifting some sleepy kids from the floor, they said goodbye and left the house with a smile. Prue was happy, she had had a nice time.
Now a doubt got to her. Were George and John having a nice time at the Jac? Was Paul? She looked at the clock, then at Cynthia and Emily, and thought for a second. Perhaps she could find out… couldn’t she? A hint of a smile arose on her face as she prepared the plan in her head.
“Girls,” she said to Cynthia and Emily who were still talking with Victoria, “would you like to see the striking gifts I’ve received?”
“You received many?” Emily asked.
“Yes, many. Want to see them? They’re upstairs.”
“Um, well—“
“Oh, go, girls!” Victoria said, “I’ll go to sit with my fiancé and talk a little bit with him. I feel as if I had ignored him all through the evening!”
Once upstairs, Prue closed the door of her bedroom and smiled, glad she was alone with Em and Cyn to tell them her plan.
“So, where are the gifts?” Emily asked.
“On the bed,” Prue replied, “but that’s not why I told you to come here.” She pointed at the little armchairs she had in her room and told them to sit down.
She had already filled them in how angry she was about Paul stopping John and George from coming to her party. Now she had to fill them in something else.
“What is it?” Emily said as she watched Prue sitting on a chair.
“The lads were going to be at the Jac because of Paul’s birthday, right?”
Cynthia frowned and looked at Emily and then back at Prue, “Yes, so?”
“Well, we could go, right?”
Emily’s eyes grew even bigger, “What?? Are you mad? My mother would kill me!”
“Oh, come on!!” Prue laughed. “Live a little!! You’re not going on your own and nothing will happen. I just want to see what a lovely time they’re having. I’m sure Paul will be really happy to see me,” she added, more than sarcastically.
Cynthia smiled. “I’ll go with you. But just if Em comes. You see, we came together, we should leave together…”
Both girls looked at Emily with expectant eyes that made her really nervous. “Oh, I don’t know!! I mean—“
“Oh, Em!! You didn’t tell your mum either the other day you went out with George!” Prue exclaimed.
“I did not!!” she snapped.
“You did so! He told me!” Prue knew she was betraying George’s confidence, but she had to something to go to that pub. “Come on!! Besides, we won’t stay late! Please!!”
Once downstairs, Prue stood beside the table and Cynthia and Emily were waiting just a few steps behind her. Her parents, Will, Victoria and Luke were having a conversation and Prue felt guilty to interrupt it. But she was going to, anyway.
She cleared her throat and got her mother’s attention.
“What is it, honey?” Kathy asked and everybody else looked at her.
Prue smiled. “Well, mum, the girls and I would like to go out.”
“Go out!?” her father exclaimed.
“Um, well, yes, dad. We saw all the beautiful presents and now we want to listen to some music. Perhaps at the Casbah. I’ve heard that Laughing Joe and his Medicine Band would be playing tonight.”
Will burst out laughing, “Laughing Joe and his what??!”
“And his Medicine Band, brother. They play Rock songs… they’re pretty good!”
“Well, I don’t know, Prue…” Charles said, shaking his head. “It’s quite late.”
“Oh, but dad! We’re old enough!”
“You’re just eighteen!”
“Cyn’s twenty!”
Charles huffed. He didn’t want to offend Cynthia, but she was too young anyway. “Yes, well, that’s better than eighteen, but not enough yet, darling. Why don’t you stay? Victoria was just telling us about the last case she was working on. Very interesting, indeed.”
“I’m sure it is, but we want to go out, dad. Really.”
Kathy had been observing the whole scene without saying anything. Perhaps Charles didn’t realize the real motive of Prue wanting to go out, but she did. She would bet on it that her daughter wanted to go to the Jacaranda to meet George and John. Kathy smiled to herself and instantly knew there was no harm in that. Then she decided to intervene.
“Charles, I’m sure the girls will be fine by themselves. Besides, The Casbah is a nice club. It’s run by Mona Best, her son is a drummer, and she’s a nice woman.”
“Well,” Charles started. He had drunk a few glasses of wine and he didn’t feel like getting into a fight. “If your mother says so, you can go.”
Prue grinned. “So I can go?”
“Yes, darling,” Kathy nodded, “but take care!”
“Thanks, mum!!” she said and started walking towards the door with her friends. Before going out, however, she turned around and waved at everybody. “See you all!! Thanks for coming!! I hope you had a nice time!!”
They all smiled and waved back at her. How much they wished to be eighteen again!
***
Slater Street was quite crowded that night when Prue, Cynthia and Emily walked along it. They were chatting animatedly about the many things they thought the boys were doing in the pub.
“They must be drinking their arses off,” Emily laughed as she withdrew her cigarette pack from her handbag.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Prue joked.
“God, I forgot the lighter,” Em complained.
“I have one here,” Cynthia said and, taking it out from her own handbag, she handed it to her.
“Fancy the faces they’re going to put when we get in there…” Prue smiled dreamily, imagining the surprise she was about to give them. “I can hardly wait.”
Finally, they spotted the pub and Prue started walking faster, she was impatient.
“There, Prue, they’re not going to leave…” Emily laughed as Cyn and herself tried to follow her.
“Just in case,” Prue answered and, when she was finally there, opened the door and entered.
Cynthia and Emily did the same a few seconds after her and they stood beside her, looking around. The pub was also very crowded that night and on the little stage played a band they had never seen before. However, with the laughter and chatter of the customers and the lousy instruments and amplifiers the band had, it seemed as if they were mimes.
“So, can you spot them?” Prue asked them, having to raise her voice to be heard.
“No, I can’t,” Emily and Cyn chorused .
Prue huffed. Cynthia was very short-sighted and wasn’t wearing her glasses, but she knew Emily was twenty-twenty and as for herself… well, perhaps seventeen-seventeen. But there were so many people in there, many of them were standing and some were even dancing!
“Perhaps if we could ask somebody…”
Emily shook her head. She had never seen The Jacaranda so crowded in her whole life. What's more, she had never thought it could hold so many people. This was a bad sign; perhaps they weren’t supposed to find the lads. Or they weren’t supposed to be there at all!
However, the frown fled Prue’s face and a huge grin replaced it when she spotted one of the bands she knew was friends with The Beatles sitting at a table, and she thought that she could ask them. That was, if she was able to make her way there.
“Look,” she pointed at the table. “There are Rory and Ringo. Perhaps we could ask them, right?” Cynthia nodded and Emily shrugged.
It took them about a minute to reach the table, and in that minute they got quite irritable. Finally, when they got there, Prue put a smile on her lips and tried to grab their attention.
“Hello!” she greeted.
Ringo, Rory and the other lads sitting at the table looked up at her. They recognized her instantly as John’s cousin, smiled and greeted her back.
“Hello, how are you?” Ringo asked after gulping down the rest of his pint.
“Fine, and you?”
“Fine…”
“I would like to ask you something. Have you seen John? My cousin?”
“John of The Beatles, you mean?” Ringo asked, knowing fully well that that was what she meant, but wanting to ask her anyway.
“Exactly,” Prue nodded. “They told me he was going to be here, with George and the rest.”
“Yes, I saw them a moment ago. I think they’re sitting over there, near the stage,” he pointed at where he thought they were and Prue turned around to look. The view from there was different, so it took her little time to find the lads. Two tables had been put together and they were sitting at them, accompanied by Stuart, Ivan, Nigel Whalley (a lad who lived near John’s), and a blonde, short-haired girl who was sitting next to Paul. She smiled with victory.
“Thank you very much, Ringo. See you later!”
“See ye, luv,” he winked and went back to the chat he had been having with his own band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
Cynthia and Emily had heard what Ringo said and had also spotted the guys. Prue walked to where they were standing and said, “So, shall we go there?”
Cynthia nodded and they both started their way there. However, Emily remained in her place. She really didn’t want to go. Embarrassment and nervousness were travelling along her veins when she saw George. She liked him, that she couldn’t deny. And a lot.
Prue realized that Emily was missing and turned around to look at her. But when she did, Emily was as pale as a paper and it looked as if she had been turned into stone, since she wasn’t moving a muscle.
“Emily, come on!”
No reply.
“Emily,” she walked to her friend, “you are afraid because of George, aren’t you?”
Em nodded.
“Come on, let’s go. Nothing will happen! You went on a date with him last week, and now you’re embarrassed?”
Em shrugged.
Prue huffed and took her by the arm, determined to drag her to their table if she had to. “Let’s go, Em.”
Finally, the three of them, led by Prue, who walked resolutely and with a triumphant smile on her face, reached the table. The first one to see them was Stuart, who widened his eyes and grinned cheekily. George and John had told him about Prue’s party, and he knew what kind of relationship she had with Paul and how she must have felt about John and George going out with him instead. Now, seeing the expression on Prue’s face, it was easy to see that she had come to add some flavour to the party.
“Girls!” he greeted, “what a surprise!”
“Hey, Stu,” Prue grinned. “I’m glad you’re surprised, how’s everything going?”
When the rest of the people at the table noticed them, more than a mouth fell open. George and John looked at each other meaningfully, and they hid amused grins. Nigel, for his part, only knew Cynthia and wondered who the other two were. Ivan grinned and looked at Prue, who had been his pseudo-girlfriend for a few months, and waved at her. She waved back.
Paul, however, glared angrily at Prue but tried to stay expressionless. He achieved it, except for his eyes. When Prue looked at him, she noticed their hard expression and managed to copy it. They stared at each other for some seconds, till Prue smiled, even though the smile didn’t soften the harsh look in her eyes.
“Hello, Paul, happy birthday,” she said, speaking in a flat monotone.
He raised and eyebrow in fake acknowledgement and kept staring at her as if he thought that would frighten her and make her leave. He couldn’t stand her being there, it was stronger than him. Prue had become his biggest pet hate as years went by. As for appearances, she looked fine. She had dark blonde, straight, long hair; big, aquamarine eyes; turned-up nose; she was tall and slim, but when it came to personality, she could be the most irritating person on earth! However, everybody knew that Prue behaved like that just with him. When Paul complained about the things she did to John and George, they dismissed his idea and explained that, with them, she was always funny, sweet and helpful. To Paul, she was helpless.
Cynthia approached John and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then she looked at everybody else, and said, “I hope we’re not intruding.”
Paul was about to say something, but John stopped him dead, “of course not, sit down here.”
Cynthia sat down between George and John and Emily sat between Cynthia and George. Prue, by her part, sat between John and Ivan. Everybody fell silent. There were many emotions going around in that little table. Stu, George and John were terribly amused by what Prue had done. Cynthia was desperately searching for something to say. Nigel and the short-haired girl were confused since they didn’t know who Prue and Emily were. Ivan was glad Prue was there but a little worried about Paul’s not-so-well-hidden irritation. Prue felt completely victorious; for Paul’s peeved expression was the best gift she could have received. And Paul thought he was rightly annoyed with Prue and also with Cynthia and Emily for accompanying her.
“So,” Cynthia finally said, “Prue, Em, I guess you haven’t met Nigel and Dot before, have you?”
Emily shook her head and Prue said, “No, we haven’t.”
“Well, then,” she smiled, and looked at Nigel and Dot, “these are Prue, John’s cousin and Emily, a friend of ours.” Then looking at Prue and Emily, she continued, “these are Nigel, a friend of the lads’ and Dot, Paul’s girlfriend.”
“Oh,” Prue smiled, quite surprised to hear that Paul had a girlfriend. And that she was quite cute. “Nice to meet you.”
Dot and Nigel smiled and so did Em who said, “What a formal introduction, Cyn.”
‘So Paul has a girlfriend…’ Prue thought as she side-smiled. Interesting, she would have never guessed that; it was known by almost everybody that he was with many girls at the same time. She looked at Dot and felt sorry for her; it was obvious that the girl didn’t know anything about his adventures.
***
Back at the Lennon’s, everybody was getting a little tired and sleepy. However, there was something going on restlessly in Will’s head. So, when Kathy stood up to go to the kitchen, he followed her.
“Mum,” he started. “Can I ask you something?”
Kathy was drying some dishes and putting them back into the cupboard when she heard him. “Yes, of course. What is it?”
“There was something in Prue’s eyes when she left…” he said, sitting down on a chair, “it seemed as if she actually had something else to do than just going to see a band. Am I right?”
Kathy lifted an eyebrow, totally delighted by how much he knew his baby sister. “I don’t know, Willy…”
“Yes, you do know, mum. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have let her go. Come on, tell me.”
Kathy left the tea towel on the worktop and smiled at her son. “You’re so sure, then?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“You can read people? That’s what makes you such a successful lawyer?” she joked.
He laughed appreciatively, “No, mum. I’m a successful lawyer, but this goes beyond that. I know you because,” and he lowered his voice so Victoria wasn’t able to listen, “you two are the most important women in my life. So tell me.”
Kathy beamed at him. He was so sweet, he deserved to know. “Well, kid, yes, you’re right. Your sister had something to do, and she went out to do it.”
“What thing?”
“You see, George and John were supposed to come today.”
“Oh, were they?” he frowned. He didn’t mind if George had come, but he was really glad John hadn’t.
“Yes. But they didn’t come because they had some other birthday party to attend. They were here all day long yesterday, and today it was one of their band-mates’ birthday, so…”
“So they didn’t come here.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And Prue was quite angry. She doesn’t like that boy. The birthday lad, I mean.”
“So she went to spoil the party??” he laughed.
“No, I don’t think so,” Kathy chuckled. “I think that she just wanted to make herself present.”
“And they’re at the Casbah?”
“No, at The Jacaranda.”
“Why did she say she would be at the Casbah, then?”
Kathy smiled, amused. “Perhaps so you didn’t follow her track.”
“Well, then mother,” he stood up and kissed her forehead, “that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Please, be nice and get Vicky’s room ready, yeh? I’m going to ask Luke to come with me.”
His mother frowned. “Oh, Will, just let the girl be. She’s ok, nothing will happen to her.”
“No, I know. I just want to check on her, I won’t bother her or anything. And if she sees me and asks, I will tell her that I didn’t know she would be there. Supposedly, she is at the Casbah now, isn’t she?”
“William…” Katherine complained.
“Oh, come on,” he hugged her, “I’ll be a nice brother.”
When they walked back into the dining-room, Will told Victoria that his mother would prepare a room for her to rest whilst he showed Luke around.
“Oh, fantastic,” she smiled. “I’m quite tired.”
When Kathy asked Luke where he was staying and if he wanted her to prepare another guest room for him, he dismissed the idea politely and told her he was staying in a hotel. After Luke thanked both Mr. and Mrs. Lennon for their kind hospitality, they said goodbye and off they went.
Will’s green Jaguar E-type was parked on the other side of the street. Will sat on the driver’s seat and Luke on the passenger seat. Before adjusting his seat belt, Will took off his coat, loosened his tie and threw it to the back seat along with the coat and undid the first two buttons of his shirt.
“What are you doing?” Luke asked.
“Getting casual,” Will smiled.
“Getting casual? Where are we going?”
“To The Jac.”
“‘The Jac’??”
“Yes, it’s a pub. I have something to do over there. Don’t—“
“Should I get casual too? What do you have to do?” Luke interrupted, amused.
“Yes, you should get casual too and,” he started the ignition, pressed the clutch, went into first gear and pressed the accelerator, “I’ll tell you on the way there.”
***
Back at The Jac, Prue had gone to the bar for something to drink. When she came back to the table, she noticed that the girls were nowhere to be seen. Sitting down again on the chair between Ivan and John, she left the glass of Sprite on the table and looked at her cousin.
“Where are the girls??” Even Dot was missing.
“Oh, they left,” said John casually.
“They left?”
He nodded as he inhaled deeply on his cigarette, “Emily said something about being very tired and insisted Cyn that they should leave.”
“And they left without saying anything to me??”
“Evidently,” Paul nodded.
“Cynthia didn’t want to,” John said, “but then Emily said she would talk to you tomorrow and Dot was also tired, so the three of them left.”
Prue felt kind of bad for having been abandoned by Cynthia and Emily. She couldn’t understand why Emily had said she was tired; she didn’t look tired at all. But then, she remembered that Emily’s mother was very firm when it came to her outings. On the other hand, Prue suspected something else might have happened. She looked at George and saw he was sipping on his drink, totally absent-minded, whilst the conversation among the guys still went on.
“George,” she called. “Did something happen with Emily?”
Suddenly the other conversation tailed off and, surprisingly, everybody set their eyes on George, waiting for an answer, just like Prue was. He looked at her and at everybody else, feeling on the spot and not quite liking it. Then, his cheeks gained a little bit of colour and after clearing his throat, he shook his head.
“No? Are you sure?”
He would have wanted Prue to disappear into thin air. She was so insistent and he wasn’t sure he wanted to say why Emily had really left.
“Yes, Prue, I am sure. Nothing happened.”
Everybody knew he was lying, though. Prue arched her right eyebrow, elaborating her reply. But before she could open her mouth to say a word, somebody else did.
“Really, George. I don’t know why you’re wasting your time on that chick. One minute she’s nice, and a minute later she’s nasty on you again,” Paul shook his head. “I dunno, there are so many birds out there…”
Prue saw red. How could he talk to George about her friend like that? He didn’t even know her! He didn’t know what Emily was going through! Prue was positive that Emily had a HUGE crush on George and that made things even more difficult for her. Em was shy, and having him around was terribly exciting for her, so exciting that it made her run away. And there he was, arrogantly talking nonsense.
“Excuse me,” Prue burst, looking daggers at him, “tell me, what do you know about Emily?”
Paul looked at her, suddenly feeling amused. She had a completely imperturbable behaviour towards everybody that evening, and it was fantastic to see her finally loosing her cool. He smiled cockily and, laying an elbow on the table, he replied, “I just know what I see. Let me remind you that you weren’t here when she left. I was, though.”
“So what?”
“‘So what?’,” he chuckled. “George was talking to her and then she stood up and ran away, alleging she was tired. Sorry, but if she had done it to me, I wouldn’t be sorry at all.”
“Good for you, but she didn’t do it to you. Therefore, I would really appreciate if you kept your ideas to yourself.”
Paul mirrored her arched eyebrow and snapped, “That very same thing would be much appreciated if it came from you.”
“I’m sorry but you’ll have to look for something else to appreciate, because there’s no way you’re making me shut up. And let me tell you something else, you know nothing about women, so it would be great if you thought twice before advising your friends on that.”
John and Stu had been smiling since this argument started, but with that very last statement, they totally lost it. Roars of laughter came from both of them, not because they agreed with Prue, but because of the way she had said it. Ivan and Nigel were just looking at Paul and at his contorted expression and then at Prue, whose little smile showed nothing but triumph. George, by his part, found nothing amusing in the situation. His cheeks were of a bright red and he prayed for it all to stop.
However, God was far from hearing his prayers.
“What do you know about women, then?” he retorted angrily.
Prue’s eyes grew wide. “What!?”
“Yes, what do you know about them? You can talk freely, I can see no one of them around.”
“You can’t see any woman around?”
“Not sitting at this table.”
“Then what am I, huh?”
Paul smirked. “Do I have to reply?”
“If you know the answer, yes.”
“You’re no woman, girl.”
“I’m no girl either. Besides, I’ll be a woman someday. You’ll never be able to.” Then she smirked and added, “even if you tried.”
That made even George laugh. Paul could feel rage building inside of him and raising up like a blazing fire. His eyes aquired an incandescent glow as all kind of snappy replies flashed through his mind. But then, his steely determination took over him, and he obtained again the control of the situation: he was not going to give her the satisfaction of seeing him losing his temper.
“Oh, does my rimmel show that much??” he jokingly exclaimed in a high pitched tone.
“Yes. You should receive one of my sister-in-law’s make up classes, because it’s awfully applied.”
“That was the voice of experience talking, right, luv?” Paul smirked.
She nodded. “I knew your eyelashes weren’t naturally curled.”
“Oh, baby, stop looking at me like that, you’re going to make me flush!” he chuckled, quite sarcastically, though.
“Well, that will spare you the need to apply blush.”
George and John seemed to be close to having a stroke by the way they shook with laughter. Paul puckered his fleshy lips as he realized Prue had won round one.
“Well, back to our main problem,” he changed the subject, “I think that what this gal ‘Em’ needs is some action, Hari, and this man here will teach you how to get in her knickers right in the first attempt,” he said, pointing at himself with both of his index fingers and smiling smugly.
“What? What man? Weren’t you the one applying mascara to your eyelashes whilst trying to be a girl?”
“I feared you were quite thick, but I didn’t know you couldn’t tell a joke from a real statement, Prudence,” he mocked her posh accent perfectly.
Prue was swaying in the boxing-ring, but she was surely not going to fall this time. This cheeky Paul would be K.O. before he could find out.
“Of course I can, Paul, the thing is that I was never joking… and I’m positive you weren’t either.”
Paul smiled, his right fist clenching tightly under the table. “It took you quite a while to elaborate that, Prue, I think you’re getting even slower.”
“I’m just warming up.”
Paul burst out laughing, “Then I can’t wait to see you when you’re hot.”
“I don’t think I’ll need to get to that point with you, Paul, you’re way too easy to beat.”
“Easy, I am? Well, then, tell me what you think Geo has to do to nail this birds’ ass.”
The chat that the rest of the gang was sharing was abruptly interrupted when Paul’s extremely-out-of-place reply was heard. As it was to be expected, Prue wasn’t stricken.
“You’re a pig Paul. Both in personality and appearance.”
After that extremely low blow, Paul lost the celestial control he had over his wrath and decided he would not stop until he saw that pest in tears.
“If you don’t like what you’re seeing you can very well turn around and leave, Prude.”
“Or perhaps you could turn around and leave, so that way I won’t be seeing you either.”
“Ok, hon, I’m getting a bit tired here… now tell me, fair and square, what the fuck is your problem?”
“I have no problem, Paul, you’re the peeved one here… what’s up, chobby, your underspants are too tight you can’t feel your balls, or is it that you just don’t have them?” her tongue was sharp like a sword.
“Why don’t you reach out your hand and have a feel?” Paul believed he had never been angrier with a girl in his whole life.
Prue snapped instantly, “Why don’t you feel yourself and tell me; I’m sure you’ve already done it many times before.”
“Ok, mates, come on, stop it,” George shook his head. “This is helping no one, you know?”
Paul focused his eyes on George. “You’re right,” he finally admitted.
“George, I’m going to tell you what you have to do,” Prue stated, looking at her friend. Again, she gained the attention of everybody at the table, who looked at her with a mixture of scepticism and interest. “Emily is a shy girl. She’s barely sixteen, luv. I’m sure that she likes you and you like her too, don’t you?”
George nodded.
“Then, take it easy and talk to her. Ask her out, perhaps to the movies or for an ice-cream, and, it’s very important for you to forget about nailing her arse,” she said, rolling her eyes. “There’s no way Emily is one of the whores your little friends here are used to.”
“What kind of advice is that?” Paul asked, completely ignoring Prue’s last line.
“One that is totally efficient for men with brains apart from dicks.”
“Follow what she’s advising you, George, and you’ll die virgin.”
“Follow what I’m advising, George, and I asure you that you won’t.”
“Hey, Prue,” John called softly, gently pulling a lock of her hair.
“Hmm?” she turned to look at him.
“Your brother is here,” he said with a frown.
Prue beamed and searched the club with her eyes till she spotted him. He was standing near the bar, also looking around for her. He found her and waved at her. She waved back and stood up.
“Well, people, I guess I’m leaving. Despite what I thought, I got a ride back home.”
“Your brother came to pick you up, then?” John asked.
“I don’t know, but he’ll take me home, I assure you that,” she grinned.
Then she turned to Paul and smiled phonily. “And a little piece of advice for you too. Beware how you behave with girls, because they’re not for playing like guitars are. One day, you’re going to meet somebody, spoil it and you’re going to be very sorry. I’m honest and you’d better listen to me because it is the only piece of advice I’ll ever give you.” And then she winked at him.
“I don’t think I asked for it, but thanks anyway,” was his sarcastic reply.
“You’re welcome. Well, I guess I’d better go now,” she turned around to see if Will was still there and he was. Accompanied by Luke. Her eyes grew wide and so did her smile. “Oh, my brother’s not alone.”
“What? He came with his boyfriend?” John asked.
“No, with Luke.”
“His lover?”
“His friend,” Prue said scoldingly. “And what a friend…”
“Weren’t you leaving?” Paul said as he exhaled the smoke of his cigarette through his nose.
“Yeah, you’re right. See you later.”
She started walking away, trying to find her way through the people who were standing and dancing. But then, John called her and made her turn around.
“What?” she asked.
“We forgot to tell you. In a little over a month we’re leaving for Hamburg.”
“What!!?”
For Hamburg?? They were leaving for Hamburg???
“Yes. Go now, we’ll talk to you later.”
“Oh, ok. See you.”