Short Story 1: July 6, 1957
It was a gorgeous summer afternoon in July. The year was 1957. Paul McCartney walked out of his house carrying his guitar. 'What a beautiful day', he thought. 'It's perfect for the concert'. He walked along happily to the bus stop. When the bus arrived, he got on, paid his fare, and sat down.
About 15 minutes later, Paul arrived at St Peter's Church in Woolton. He walked to the back of the church and bumped into his friend, Ivan Vaughn.
"Hello, Ivan. How are you?" Paul greeted his friend.
"I'm fine, thank you, Paul, how are you?" Ivan replied.
"I'm fine, thanks", Paul replied. "Shall we go see who's playing right now?"
"Sure", Ivan replied.
Paul and Ivan walked over to the seating area in front of the stage and found some seats in the second row.
After a while, the announcer came on the stage and announced, "The next group is a local band from Liverpool. Please put your hands together and give a warm welcome to the Quarry Men!"
The crowd applauded politely and on stepped the Quarry Men. They had an excellent performance, and Paul laughed when he realised that their lead singer was singing the wrong words to "Come Go With Me" and "Twenty Flight Rock".
After the performance was over, Ivan invited Paul to come backstage to meet the Quarry Men. Paul happily accepted his friend's offer, and the two boys headed backstage. Ivan went over to talk to one of the boys, who Paul recognised as the lead singer of the Quarry Men. Paul followed him over, and Ivan introduced the two boys to each other.
"Paul, this is John Lennon. John, this is my friend Paul McCartney".
John and Paul shook hands. "Nice to meet you". said John. "Likewise", Paul replied.
Paul and John talked for a while and Paul showed John some guitar chords. Paul also impressed John with his knowledge of the lyrics to "Twenty Flight Rock". After the concert was over, John invited Paul back to his house for tea. John also introduced Paul to his Aunt Mimi. While John and Paul were talking, the telephone suddenly rang.
John answered it. "Hello?"
"Hi, this is Pete Shotton. I'm having a party next Saturday and I was wondering if you could come."
"Sure", John replied. "May I bring a friend?"
"Yeah, the more the merrier", Pete replied. "The party is from 7pm to midnight at my house.
"I'll be there. See you then. Bye," John answered.
John hung up the phone. "That was my friend Pete Shotton. He's having a party next Saturday. Would you like to come?"
"I'd love to, but I'll have to ask my dad first", Paul replied.
The week flew by extremely quickly, and before Paul knew it, it was Saturday night. Jim had already given Paul permission to go, although it took Paul a really long time to convince him.
Paul got ready for the party, and after telling Jim where he was going, he set off for John's house. Paul knocked on the door to Mendips (John's house), and Mimi opened the door.
"Hello, Paul. How are you?" Mimi asked cheerfully.
"Fine, thank you. How are you?" Paul replied.
"I'm fine, thanks. Shall I go get John?"
"Sure, that would be gear," Paul replied.
"John! Paul's here!" Mimi yelled upstairs.
"Coming!" John answered.
A few minutes later, John appeared.
"Hello Paul", John said cheerfully.
"Hello John. Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, let me just put on my shoes." John went over to the closet, pulled out his shoes, and put them on.
"All right, let's go, Paul."
John and Paul walked in silence to Pete's house. When they got there, John rang the doorbell. A few minutes later, Pete opened the door. John and Paul walked in. There was a huge crowd of about 25 people dancing in Pete's living room. Paul went over to the dance floor and started dancing with a group of people. John headed straight for the makeshift bar in one corner of the living room.
After dancing for an hour, Paul got tired and went over to the makeshift bar to get a drink. As he walked over there, a girl bumped into him and accidentally spilled her drink all over Paul's shirt. They both fell over and hit the ground with a thud.
Paul hit the ground first. The girl landed on top of him. Paul helped the girl up, then arose himself.
"Are you all right?" Paul asked with a worried look on his face.
"Yeah, I'm fine", she replied. Then she saw his shirt, which now had red punch all over it. "Oh no! Your shirt! I'm so sorry".
Paul smiled. "It's all right. It'll come out in the wash. Don't worry about it, luv."
"No, I insist. Let's find a loo to wash off your shirt."
Paul couldn't argue with that. "All right", he replied.
Paul and the girl walked to the loo. While they were washing the shirt, Paul found out that her name was Claire and that she lived down the street from him.
"Really? Then why have I never seen you before?" Paul asked, bewildered that he had never seen such a beautiful girl before.
"Because I moved in last week." Claire grinned.
"Where are you from? You have a really gear accent." Paul asked.
"I'm from the United States, which would explain my 'gear' accent. By the way, what does 'gear' mean? I've heard a lot of people say it, but I have no idea what it means"
"It means neat, or wonderful... or, erm..." Paul paused.
"Go on", Claire said.
"Marvellous. I can't think of a better way to explain it. I suppose that's cos I've never met anyone who didn't know what 'gear' means," Paul finished, blushing.
"Oh, I think I get it now," Claire reassured him.
"So, where in America are you from?" Paul asked.
"I'm from California," Claire replied.
"Where in California?," Paul asked.
"I doubt you've ever heard of my hometown. Most people outside California have never heard of it," Claire replied.
"C'mon, I really want to know, even if I haven't got any idea of where your hometown is," Paul pleaded.
"All right, all right, I'll tell you. I'm from Woodland," Claire finally replied.
Paul's face went completely blank. "Oh," he said. "You're right, I haven't ever heard of it."
Claire smiled. "Well, now you have".
Paul laughed. "Right. Shall we get back to the party?"
Claire finished scrubbing. "Sure."
Paul and Claire went back to the party. They danced for a really long time together, and also talked with other people.
When the party finally ended, Paul and Claire found John and they all left together. Paul and Claire dropped John off at his house, and then the two of them continued their walk together.
When they got to Claire's house, Claire gave Paul her phone number and a long goodnight kiss. After the kiss, Paul said goodnight and walked home in a daze.
When Paul got home, he found his dad, Jim, in the living room reading a magazine.
"Hello, Paul", Jim greeted his son.
"Hello, Dad", Paul replied.
"How was the party? Did you meet any girls?", Jim winked at Paul.
"The party was fine. I met this wonderful girl named Claire who lives down the street from us", Paul said.
"Oh, yes, I remember seeing the moving truck at that house, but I had no idea that the family had a daughter", Jim said merrily. "Are you going up to bed soon, son?"
"Yeah, Dad, I was just about to go up because it's getting late", Paul replied. "Good night, Dad".
Jim bid Paul good night and Paul went upstairs, still thinking about Claire.
A few days later, Paul was on his way to the music store when he ran into Claire at the bus stop.
"Hello, Claire", Paul greeted her.
Claire looked up. "Oh, hi Paul. How are you?"
"Fine, thank you. How are you?"
"Oh, I"m just fine. Where are you going?"
"I was going to go buy the latest Buddy Holly record at NEMS. Would you like to join me?" Paul asked nervously.
"Sure, but what's NEMS?" Claire looked puzzled.
"NEMS stands for North End Music Stores. They sell records there", Paul explained.
"Oh. Do they have rock and roll records there?" Claire asked.<>br
"Yeah, they do. They've got all kinds of records. It's really gear," Paul replied.
"I'd love to join you, Paul, although I also need to stop at the store to get some bread for my mother. Is that all right with you?", Claire asked.
"That's fine. I don't mind at all," Paul answered.
So Paul and Claire went to the store, where Claire bought the bread her mother wanted. Then they went over to NEMS and looked at records together. Paul was surprised to learn that Claire not only liked all of the same groups as he did, but had a giant record collection of records that no Liverpudlian had ever seen, much less heard about.
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