When we arrived at the hotel, there were still a few hours left before that night's gig and so the boys went upstairs laughing and joking around as usual, although everyone was a tad less cheerful thinking about resuming with the everyday trips and flights, and never ending packing and unpacking.
The hotel's only photocopier was broken, so Brian apologised a hundred times, saying that he feels bad forcing me to walk around with my twisted ankle, but then thrusted a bunch of documents that he needed duplicated into my hands and asked me to go out and get it done elsewhere. I did that, and afterwards dropped by a little Indian shop; it attracted my attention because of all the colorful ribbons framing the doorway and fluttering in the wind. When I came back to the hotel I was still holding a box of incense sticks in my hand. I always liked it when people's homes had peculiar smell to them, and I was getting fed up with this clean scent of hotels. I came up to the suite which I found to be empty, dropped my bag at the end of a sofa, and just as I was about to light one incense I heard sudden laughter, belonging to at least three people, coming from the bathroom, even though the door was closed. I walked up to it and lifted my hand, but it froze as soon as I touched the doorknob; something stopped me from violating the little oasis in the bathroom when I realised who were inside. I didn't want to be the ever prying girlfriend, and even lesser was my desire to deny them a moment of peacefulness and normality hidden away from the whole world that's been raving about the fabulous Beatles non-stop for the past couple of years.
"...consider sending a strand of Brian's hair, in case they want to perform voodoo on it," George's voice spoke, although it sounded somewhat muffled as he was chewing something.
"Them flakes already have some of mine," Ringo laughed out, and I thought that I really shouldn't be listening to them like that, hiding behind a door, and I retreated to the middle of the living-room. I turned on Paul's little radio to announce my presence, but they didn't seem to hear it, and to me their voices seemed ten times louder than the music, as if my ears had decided to hear only them.
"You're right!" John interrupted Ringo. "I was so angry, I think I might've invented a few new swear words," he chuckled bitterly.
"Bloody animals."
"Maybe we should have gone for bald heads," George mused out loud.
"Ciggy ciggy," Paul uttered in a childlike manner. "They'd have cut out a piece of his scalp anyway."
"Last pack," Ringo announced. "Maybe Jo could buy some later."
"Can she walk alright?" John asked casually.
"Oh there we go," Paul cackled.
"What?"
"You two go about supposedly hating each other's guts, but it's pretty obvious that you adore her, my boy," Paul explained gleefully.
"Spot on," George agreed. "You should stop flipping your wig, John."
"Oi, keep your spider queen to yourself, Georgie," John's voice was laced with cheerful offhandedness.
"How many of those have you got there?!" Ringo exclaimed, inquiring about something unknown to me.
"Just like a few more," George's voice dragged.
Then John yelled out something about submarines, and I heard splashing water, and George said something about rattling jewelries, and Ringo and Paul burst out into 'She Loves You'.
"Nah, it's a bit of all right," a few moments later George's voice surfaced the roaring laughter and incomprehensible chatter that the bathroom had been filled with.
"Eh, go ring 'em up for some milk," Ringo said to someone while I could hear George and Paul's voices spelling out random words, like 'Beatles' and 'soap', and 'adhesive', letter by letter.
"Isn't it Paul's turn?" John asked, clearly not wanting to be the one to do it.
"E- N -T… No way, it's yours! A - N..."
"Georgieee?" John began sweetly.
"Buzz away, Johnny, buzz away," George replied cheerfully, completely disregarding John's further persuasion.
I could make out Paul's voice next, but I didn't quite catch what it was that he was saying as I shuffled my attention to the voices coming from the corridor. I turned to the suite door which swung open and Mal popped his head in, quickly scanning the room with his eyes.
"Have you seen the boys?" He asked without stepping inside, and I could hear Brian talking to someone out in the corridor.
"Uh, anything important?" I hesitated, making up my mind about what to say.
"Er Brian has someone who wants to meet them, some," he glanced over his shoulder and looked back at me slightly confused. "Business people, I guess."
"No," I said very slowly as I lifted my hands to light the incense. "I have not seen them."
He closed the door and the voices on the other side moved away. I turned around and walked to the bathroom door, this time opening it without hesitation.
Paul was sitting on a closed loo, John and Ringo were in the bathtub with their legs hanging over the edge, and George was on the floor leaning his back against the side of the tub. They all fell silent and lifted their surprised, yet smiling faces to look at me at the same time, while I simply stepped to the sink, and jabbed the lit incense stick into a bar of soap.
"Keep it down, Brian's looking for you," I informed them, and left, closing the door behind me.
I made a point of going downstairs to the kitchen and asking for some milk to be brought up to the bathroom of the Beatles' suite, much to the staff's confusion. In doing that, I realised it wasn't merely my willingness to carry out my duties as the band's helping personnel, nor the desire to please George or the others. For the first time, I seemed to have recognized them as simply four young men, boys almost; four friends who were the simplest of people, and who most likely enjoyed moments like the one taking place in the bathroom more than they could have expressed, which they much deserved.
I never did say a proper thanks for all the reviews, and for reading the story. It really is a great motivation to keep on writing when I know that someone's looking forward to reading my words, and it's a joy to be able to brighten someone's day, even just a little bit. So there, thank you ever so much.
Any sort of comments/questions/suggestions are always very welcome!
