Hey, hey! So, I'm in the middle of writing the sequel to "Her Majesty", but I'm having trouble coming up with a definite plot. So, in the meantime, here is this little story being put together simply for your enjoyment. :]
If you have any ideas you would like to throw out at me for the sequel, feel free to do so! :D
Just Annabelle.
"Run!"
Ringo grabbed Anna's hand and they took off down the street. She and him were walking towards the train station with George and John to meet Paul so they could make a gig not too far away. But they had been spotted and it didn't take long for a crowd to form. All four of them were laughing at the matter, but they ran as fast as their feet would take them. At one point George tripped over his own two feet and hit the concrete then Ringo tripped over him. John and Anna burst out in laughter, but kept running; making the other two have to catch up. They cut through part of the train station and found three telephone booths where they pretended to be on the phone. When the crowd had passed, George knocked on John's door. Anna peeked out from behind him and gave the okay and they hung up the receivers and walked away, walking to the other side of the building. The lady on the cash register noticed their faces and was about to scream, but John put a finger to his lips and checked the outside streets. The crowd had passed, but someone had noticed him and they were turning around. He darted out the door with Ringo, George and Anna behind him. They found themselves at the dead end of an alleyway they looked around, still laughing at the situation.
"George, get up there!" John said, helping George get on top of a rather tall brick wall, "You next, Annabelle."
"What?" she protested, but John took her by the waist and lifted her so George could help her to the other side. She laughed as John and Ringo pushed on her feet and George pulled on her hand and shoved her over the top onto a cart on the other side. Ringo came after her, then George and John. They jumped off when the cart started moving and they spotted more fans. Ever since they'd gotten back from Germany, Liverpool had gone crazy over them. John urged them along and they simply ran and ran and ran.
"Look! There's a photo booth!" Anna smiled, taking George's hand, "Can we, please?"
He turned his head and spotted the fans, "Yeah, sure, let's go."
George led her to the booth, checking behind them every few seconds, watching the crazed fans come closer and closer. John and Ringo were behind them, doing much of the same as they all piled into the booth. As the screaming crowd ran by them, they snapped four posed for the camera and when it was done, John and Ringo peeked out on either side and jumped out waiting only seconds for George and Anna to clamber out before breaking into a run again, making a break for the train.
"Where's Paulie?" Anna asked.
"Don't know. He was supposed to meet us." Said George.
But once again the crowd spotted them and they quickened their pace. There were two people up where they were supposed to enter the train and the one with the facial hair shoved the other inside before pulled off his goatee and mustache.
"Paul!" Anna smiled. She could usually keep up with the boys, but she slowly felt herself falling behind and slipping into the crowd. George took her hand and she almost tripped and fell. John and Ringo laughed at her and the situation they had found themselves in as they jumped onto the car. Paul was waiting for them and hopped on after Anna just as the train began to move. They waved out the window and Paul took Anna's hand, leading her and the other three down the narrow corridor and into one of the cabins a little ways down. There was already a man sitting in the seat closest to the door. Paul took a seat next to him and Anna fell in the window seat with a smile. John, Ringo and George sat opposite of them.
It was quiet a moment and Anna couldn't help but laugh and John and Paul just had to join her.
"Paulie, look!" Anna pulled the photo booth picture from her pocket and showed it to her boyfriend. George nudged Ringo, gesturing to the old man across from him. Ringo looked and got John's attention, nodding his head to the man who looked over at Paul as he laughed. He nodded to him and they didn't say a word as Paul turned his attention back to Anna.
"Hey, pardon me for askin', but who's that little old man?" John leaned towards Paul.
"Uh," Paul hesitated looking both at Anna and the old man, "what little old man?"
John pointed to the older man, "That little old man."
Paul looked at him, "Oh, that one. That's my grandfather."
"Your grandfather?" said George.
"Yeah."
"That's not your grandfather."
"It is, you know."
"But I've seen your grandfather. He lives in your house."
"Oh, that's my other grandfather, but he's my grandfather as well."
"How do you reckon that one out?" John said.
"Well, everyone's entitled to two, aren't they?" Anna smiled, "And this is his other one."
"We know that, but what's he doin' here?"
"Well, my mother thought the trip would do him good." Paul explained.
"How's that?"
"He's nursin' a broken heart." He looked up at the old man with large, puppy dog eyes.
"Oh, poor old thing." Anna said, looking at him with caring eyes.
"Hey, mister," John said, "are you nursin' a broken heart?"
"John!" Anna smacked his knee, but Paul's grandfather didn't say a word.
"He's a nice old man, isn't he?" John leaned towards Paul again with a whisper.
"He's very clean."
"Swap with me," John stood and he and Paul switched seats. John turned to the old man, "Hello, grandfather."
"Hello." Said the man simply.
"He can talk then, can he?"
"'Course he can talk." Said Paul, "He's a human being, isn't he?"
"Well, if he's your grandfather, who knows?" Ringo laughed. Anna put a hand over her mouth to hold back a giggle.
"I saw that!" Paul tapped her leg.
"And we're lookin' after him, are we?" said John.
"I look after meself." The old man shot.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Paul stood, pulling a comb from the inside pocket of his coat, combing his hair in the mirror above them.
"He's got you worried, then?" Anna took his seat, looking up at them.
"Him," he looked down at her, "he's a villain, a real mixer and he costs you a fortune in breach of promise cases."
"Get on." George said.
"No, straight up."
The door suddenly opened and a man with a handful of things stepped in, "Hiya."
"Hi, Shake!" Anna smiled at their manager's assistant.
Paul sat in the seat opposite of hers, "Hello, Shake."
"Hello, Shake." George took the bottle of Pepsi Shake was giving him.
"You got on all right, then?" Sake asked, leaning on the door frame.
"No." John said with a serious face.
"Oh? Well, we're here."
Anna laughed, "Yes, Shake. We got on just fine. Thank you for asking."
"Not a problem. Norm'll be along in a minute with the tickets." He said, and then he noticed Paul's grandfather looked up at him. He leaned down to George and Ringo, "Hey, who's the little old man?"
"It's Paul's grandfather." Said Anna, leaning across George and Ringo.
"Oh, aye, but I thought-"
"No, that's his other one." John and the old man looked like they were in the middle of a staring contest.
"Oh, that's all right, then."
"Clean, though, isn't he?" John smiled up at him.
"Oh, aye. He's very clean."
"Mornin', lads." Norm squeezed by Shake, "And Belle."
Anna laughed. Norm had always called her Belle ever since she helped out in the studio one day by adding some cowbell to a song, "Good morning, Norm."
"Hi, Norm." the boys replied.
"Thank God you've all got here." Said Norm, "Look, I've had a marvelous idea. Just for once, let's all try to behave like ordinary respectable citizens. Let's not cause any trouble, pull any strokes or do anything I'm gonna be sorry for especially tomorrow in that television theater, because-"
He stopped noticing that none of them seemed to be listening to him. Anna and Paul were playing some kind of game by the window, Ringo was piddling with his camera, George was too busy eating his sandwich, and John was pretending George's coke was cocaine. Norm turned to John, "Are you listening to me, Lennon?"
He put down the coke bottle and looked up at him, "You're a swine. Isn't he, George?"
"Yeah, a swine." He stuffed another bite of food into his mouth.
"Thanks." Said Norm. Then he spotted Paul's grandfather, "Hey!"
Everyone looked up at him, knowing exactly what he was going to say, "Who's that little old man?"
"Well, who is he?"
"He belongs to Paul." Said Ringo.
"Oh, well. I'm going down for a cup of coffee. Anyone coming?"
"We'll follow you down." Said Anna.
Paul's grandfather stood, "I want me coffee."
"You can come with Shake and me, if you like."
"Look after him. I don't want to find you've lost him." Said Paul.
"Don't be cheeky. I'll bind him to me with promises." Norm looked to the old man standing in the hallway, "Very clean, isn't he? Come out, granddad."
The three of them left and Anna took the old man's seat next to Paul, who took her hand and laced her fingers with his. She pulled her knees up to her chest as another man came in and put his things on the rack above the seats and sat next to Ringo. He looked around and spotted Paul and Anna across from him and gave them a look. Paul just smiled and gave him a good morning and the man went back to his paper. It was quiet a moment, none of them sure what to say and the man stood, closing the window and sat back down. Anna gave a pouty look, but shrugged her shoulders. Paul and Ringo exchanged looks.
"Do you mind if we have it open?" Paul said.
"Yes, I do." Said the man.
"Yeah, but there are five of us, and we'd like it open not if it's all the same to you, that is." John batted his eye lashes.
"It isn't. I travel on this train regularly, twice a week, so I suppose I have some rights."
"So have we." Said Anna.
"Sorry, love." The man returned to his paper and she gave Paul a look. He shrugged, but then her face lit up. She stood and grabbed a small radio from above Ringo's head, plopping back down in her seat with her feet up. She switched it on and the boys smiled.
The man put his paper down, "And we'll have that thing off as well. Thank you." He leaned across Paul and switched it off.
"But-" Anna looked taken aback.
"An elementary knowledge of the Railway Acts would tell you that I am perfectly within my rights.
"Yeah, but we want to hear it. There's more of us than you."
"Now, now, Annabelle, let me deal with this." Paul patted her hand and turned to the man, "Yeah, but we want to hear it." He repeated, "There's more of us than you, and we're a community, a majority vote. Up the workers and all that stuff."
Anna couldn't help but to laugh. Now they were just toying with the man.
"Then I suggest you take that damn thing to the corridor, or some other part of the train where you obviously belong." He turned to look at John, who was leaning towards him.
"Give us a kiss." He said. The man looked appalled.
"Hey, now," said Anna, "look, mister, we paid for our seats, too, you know."
"I travel on this train regularly, twice a week."
"Knock it off, Annabelle." Said John, "You can't win with his sort. After all, it's his train, isn't it, mister?"
"And don't take that tone with me, young man. I fought the war for your sort."
"I bet you're sorry you won." Said Anna.
"I shall call the guard."
"Ah, but what?" Paul smiled, "They don't take kindly to insults, you know. Come on, let's go have some coffee and leave the kennel to Lassie."
They all stood and Paul took Anna's hand, waiting for the other three to step out of the cabin. Anna stuck her tongue out and closed the door behind her.
"Wait guys, come here." Paul whispered, "Line up, here."
They all put their head on top of one another when the man wasn't looking
"Hey, mister," Paul almost yelled, "can we have our ball back?"
They man looked up and looked disgusted as they all made some kind of face at him before dispersing in different directions, Ringo, John and Anna going the wrong direction of the diner car. They chuckled at their mistake and John got an idea for one last laugh. He picked Anna's torso and Ringo caught on, picking up her legs. Anna laughed at the man's face as they carried her like that past the cabin, and caught up with George and Paul on the way to the diner car.
