We got out of the car and started walking toward the shopping center. It was very crowded, and people of all ages were bustling about carrying shopping bags. There were even some pregnant women, or women pushing babies around in strollers.
"Um, George, did those babies just die recently?" I asked, horrified.
"Could be, but most likely they were made 'ere." Wow, so I guess women can reproduce in the afterlife, thankfully. This made me very happy because I thought I'd never be able to have kids or a family, which was pretty important to me. Then, another thought hit me.
"Is there school here?"
"No, but you can still get an education if you'd like to," he responded.
"But how do I get an education without going to school?"
"There's a program here called the EIP, which stands for Education Implant Program. If there's anything you ever want ta learn about, you just schedule and EIP appointment at the local hospital. It's probably going to sound a bit weird, but they actually implant information into your head. It's a painless procedure and it only takes about ten minutes. I was completely against the idea at first, but I slowly warmed up to it."
"So basically, you have to get brain surgery just to learn about the 7 Kings of Rome?"
"Pretty much. Gear, huh?
"Hell yeah!" Then I started singing "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd. "We don't need no education." George looked at me and asked, "What's that song yer singing?"
"Ever heard of Pink Floyd?"
"Reckon so, but I've never really given 'em a listen."
"Then let me just tell you that you're missing out on a boatload of great music," I said. George put on a hurt face. "Of course nothing will ever top the Beatles' and your music." George smiled with mock satisfaction and said, "I was only jokin', but are the Beatles really considered the greatest band ever? I've only heard rumors."
"Absolutely. You guys literally laid the foundation for every single band that came afterward. Even the Stones looked up to you."
"Mick?" he laughed. "I doubt that."
"He said so himself, you know."
"Did 'e now? Well, I suppose I believe you," he said smiling.
We walked into the first store that was filled with dresses, pants, and shirts. I looked at it all for a second, overwhelmed because I was never any good with shopping. But after about a half hour, I was in the dressing room while George tossed me shirt after shirt.
"Don't I get ta see you in any of them?" he asked as I was trying on a green dress. The dress was very 60's style, with a higher neckline and a Peter Pan-style collar.
I sighed, feeling self-conscious. "Alright." I replied. I zipped up the dress and opened the door slowly.
George's eyes widened and he said, "You look beautiful, Julia. I mean, not that you don't always look beautiful, I mean-you know..."
"Thank you, George," I smiled widely and he stopped stammering. He just blushed and then I went back inside the dressing room to try on a few more things. I couldn't believe that George had just called me beautiful! I couldn't stop smiling as I changed back into my "Mist" clothes. No, wait! George still has a wife back on Earth! And his son, Dhani! I can't just fall in love with him; what would happen when Olivia shows up? Sadly realizing that it wouldn't be the best idea to be in a relationship with George, I gathered my things and walked out of the dressing room. George noticed my expression.
"What's wrong?" he asked in that beautiful Liverpudlian accent of his.
Obviously, I couldn't tell him what was going through my mind so I simply responded, "Uh…it's nothing."
He nodded understandingly and we made our way to the next store, which happened to be a shoe store. All of a sudden, a girl of about 13 or 14 years came sprinting toward us, and by "us" I mean George. She tackled him and I immediately started to try and pull her off him. I have to admit, she was pretty strong for 13.
Eventually, a security guard showed up and together we pried the girl off of George. She finally let up and stomped away. George stood up, and I had to say he was quite a sight to see. His mop top was completely disheveled, and bits and pieces of fabric had been ripped off his clothing. He still looked completely adorable, of course.
"Thank you, sir," George said to the guard.
"No problem, George," he responded, smiling.
"You two know each other?" I asked, somewhat bemused.
"Let's just say this isn't the first incident we've had concerning the Beatles," the guard chuckled. I laughed and George and I continued with shopping.
"Didn't you say that crazy fan girls weren't a problem here?"
"Hey, for yer information, I said they usually weren't a problem."
"Do you think that girl actually died when she was 13?"
"She probably just changed her appearance. Bu then again, you never know," he said.
At about two o' clock, I decided that I had spent enough of George's money, so we hauled the bags back to the car.
It only took about ten minutes to drive to the bank, and soon enough we were pulling into the small parking lot. Despite the size of the parking lot, the bank itself was huge. Looking at it, I immediately thought of Harry Potter, for the building was white with columns holding it up. It was very old and crooked, with ivy running up the right side and it was leaning to the left so much that I thought it would topple over any second. We walked inside and I was surprised to see normal men in suits sitting behind the desks; I expected goblins.
At the front desk sat a man in a suit and tie, with his hair neatly combed back. He sat in a black swivel chair behind a dark mahogany desk. George nudged me forward, and I looked at him nervously. "Go on, they don't bite," he said.
I walked up to the desk and the man looked up from his computer. "How may I help you?"
"Um, I would like to open a bank account?" I tried to sound nonchalant, but it sort of came out like a question. He looked at me with grey eyes and spoke in a harsh British accent.
"Very well. Name?"
"Julia Taylor Brown."
"Date of birth?"
"June 11, 1995."
"Date of death?"
"December 8, 2012."
"Any deceased family members?"
"Uh…" I frantically looked at George. He stepped up and said, "Her grandparents, but they didn't leave her any money." The man took in George's disheveled appearance, clearly trying to see if he was lying or not. After a few moments, he said, "Very well. What are your parents' names?"
"Louise and Michael Brown."
"Siblings?"
"Maria and Lucy."
"Are any of these people deceased?"
"No."
As I said all of this, he was typing the information into the computer. Then, he handed me a rectangular, silver stick about 5 inches long that had a tiny screen on it. On the screen it said €2,000. They use euros here?
I took the stick out of his hand and asked, "How do I use this?"
"Whenever you would like to make a purchase, you simply hand the stick to the cashier and he or she will deduct that amount of money on it. Like a debit card."
"Okay, thank you," I said. I turned back to George and he said, "I'm starving. Do you want ta get something to eat?"
"Sure," I replied, feeling a bit hungry myself. Plus, I had heard rumors of George's constant hunger.
We drove over to a small café. As we went inside, I asked George, "What do they serve here?"
"Anything you could ever wish fer, but ye really want ta try the fish n' chips. It's a traditional English dish, ya know."
"Any food in the world?"
"Yep," he said happily. I laughed. "You must love that." George laughed and we sat down at a small booth. A waitress came over to us and took our orders.
"How long will it be?" asked George.
"It's a bit crowded today, so I'd say…up to 5 minutes," the waitress responded.
"Alright, thank you," said George.
I looked at George incredulously. "Five minutes?"
"Well usually it only takes about one minute, but it seems to be a bit crowded today."
"You people are practically spoiled here!"
"Hey, I'm not complaining. Starving children like me can't afford to wait 5 minutes."
I giggled. "Starving children like you? You had 3 eggs for breakfast, plus bacon and sausage."
"Like I said, starving," he replied with a smirk.
"You're a bottomless pit, you are," I said smiling.
"So I've been told." As George said this, the waitress came over with two plates of fish and chips. George licked his lips and began eating. It was actually delicious, despite the fact that I'm not a big fan of fish. George finished eating a few minutes before me, but once I finished we left the restaurant and headed home.
The minute we pulled into the small driveway, George bounded out of the car into the house and yelled, "Bathroom!" Great, now I would have to carry all these bags on my own.
After ten minutes I had successfully hauled each bag inside and upstairs into my room, so I plopped myself down on the couch next to Stuart.
"Hey Julia, would you like to come to our performance tonight?" John asked as he walked in from the kitchen.
"You guys still preform?!" I exclaimed excitedly. John gave me a look as if to say "Well, duh."
"Well how was I supposed to know?" I asked defensively. "For all I know you guys could have gotten tired of music and decided to become surgeons or something."
John and Stuart burst out laughing. "Surgeons? John can't even unwrap a bandage!"
"Hey! I unwrap bandages perfectly, thank you very much!"
"Well, I was joking about becoming surgeons, but do you guys actually still write music and stuff?"
"'Course we do. Music's the only thing I have to live for…well you know what I mean. Stuart's even gotten better on bass."
"What about a drummer?" I asked.
"Anyone who's willing to volunteer."
"Bet you get tons of guys wanting to play drums for you."
"Actually we don't. Dunno why, though," said John.
"They're probably just too intimidated to play with the one and only Beatles," I said smiling.
"Oh no, we're not the Beatles anymore."
"You're not?" I said, confused.
"Nope," said Stuart seriously. "We decided to call ourselves the Quarrymen again." Just then George came back downstairs.
"'Ey! I though we were still gonna call ourselves the Beatles!" said George.
"Aw, we were only pullin' Julia's leg, George. Of course we still call ourselves the Beatles. Haven't you been payin' attention to the programs?"
"I'm too busy putting up with you." "He's too busy putting up with you," said George and Stuart at the same time.
"Great minds think alike!" said Stuart, grinning. John just rolled his eyes playfully and flipped on the TV. Nothing else but the news was on, so he settled on that.
"New reports have come in saying that more and more people are showing up in the Mist instead of being sent straight to Administration. Because of this, the guards are sending every fifth person back to Earth in fear that the Mist will become overpopulated with the Undecided. Stay tuned for more information in ten minutes."
"Every fifth person!" I exclaimed, horrified. "That's terrible! What if I never get to see my parents again? Or my sisters? Or…" I stopped when I noticed John giving me a look. "Sorry, John, I'm just tired and frustrated."
"I know," he said understandingly. We watched the news for a little while longer. Then John blurted out, "So what should we have for dinner?"
George and Stuart just shrugged, but I volunteered my services. "I can cook if you guys want. Plus, I haven't properly thanked you for letting me stay."
George's face lit up like a child at Christmastime and he said, "That would be great, Julia! Ooh, what are you going ta cook? How long will it take? When…"
"GEORGE!" shouted John, Stuart, and I at the same time. Then I said, "You know, you practically just had lunch, how can you possibly still be hungry?"
"Because he's George, that's why," said John.
I walked into the kitchen and went through the cabinets to find quite a few boxes of cornflakes, but I also happened to find some pasta. Jackpot!
I boiled some water and put the pasta in, while simultaneously making tomato sauce. When everything was finished, I called in the boys. They all came rushing in and I carried the bowl of pasta to the table.
"Wow Julia, this is actually quite good," said Stuart with his mouth partially full. I just smiled as I ate my share of pasta. Once everyone was finished, I did the dishes while the boys warmed up for their performance. I couldn't help myself from smiling as I dried the last plate. I was finally going to see the Beatles, if not all of them, perform live!