I Saw Her Standing There Chapter 3/?
“Ugh.” Alice sighed, twisting on the sofa to find a better place. The old sofa had seen better days and they desperately needed another, but funds were tight. It was more common for them to curl up in bed with a video tape, normally one they had watched until it was in danger of being worn out, than to watch television much. Company never stayed with them, as the hotel Nell worked at was close by and she could offer a decent discount on rooms. Only in dire circumstances did one sleep on that ratty old thing.
Like after the miserable fight that she was locked in with Nell, Alice mused as she squinted at the clock on the wall. “Half-two” She sighed. It was Nell’s day off, so there wasn’t even a reprieve of going to sleep in the bed they normally shared until it was time to get up for work. She knew better than to hope her boss would be all that understanding of her taking off another day for this personal nightmare.
She got up and wandered down the hallway. She knew sleep was a lost cause now and really wanted to talk. Go to work with even the littlest bit settled. She hesitantly knocked on the door to the room she normally shared with her partner.
“Nell? You ‘wake?”
“Yep.” Wide awake by the sound of her partner’s voice; cold and distant but not a bit of the normal sleep grog.
“Can I come in and talk? Just a bit. I’ve gotta leave for work in five hours. Surely we can get something settled in that time.”
“Door is open.”
Alice pushed the door open, sighing internally at the small bit of relief she got from even being allowed in the room. They’d gone all day since Nell had stormed off avoiding one another. Never in the same room together, hardly a word spoken. It had been horrible. Nell refused to believe anything that Alice may have had to say on the issue, and Alice grew increasingly hurt that Nell wouldn’t even consider that it was truth. Especially because it was the truth- no matter how bizarre it seemed, and Alice knew it was strange to think of, she’d thought it was strange plenty while living it, it was the truth, and because they’d been together long enough , with Alice having been completely, and sometimes brutally, honest. She had hoped her partner would give her at least somewhat the benefit of the doubt.
She wanted to say all that, but what came out of her mouth was a meek “I hate you being cross at me.”
“I don’t like being mad at you.” Nell quietly stated. Still cold, and there was still about a yard of space between them. “I just don’t like being lied to.”
“I’m not lying. Maureen Starkey was my first female lover. She’s apparently very poorly and I’ve been distracted by thinking of her. I haven’t thought of her in two decades or more.” Alice pleaded.
“You certainly know how to stick to a story.” Nell scoffed.
“Have I ever given you one reason to doubt me?!” Alice drew herself up to her full height, shoulders back and voice only slightly raised - she was all too aware of the thin walls- as she started to feel slighted by her partner’s cold words and tone.
Nell just shook her head. “It’s too unbelievable, Al. It really is. Think of how I’m hearing it: My girlfriend, my partner, my best friend in the world, has a past that includes being ‘the other woman’. Not only that, with the wife a Beatle. It’s just too bizarre.”
“It wasn’t…I didn’t … how can I make you believe me?”
“I don’t know…any pictures of you two…” Nell looked up as Alice shook her head. “Give me something, Al. Anything.”
“All I’ve got is the letter. It’s in the living room. I haven’t even read the whole thing yet. I’m scared of the memories it brings up.” Alice confessed her hesitancy to have read the simple letter.
“If you really think there is something to that letter that will make me believe all this…” Nell trailed off. She looked at her partner, really trying to believe her. Alice held her chin up and didn’t waver under Nell’s steely grey eyes. She knew she was telling the truth, it had just been hard to process it all coming back to her as it had so very suddenly.
Nell sighed. “I’ll get it. If it’s got you as worked up as you’ve been… maybe there is something to it all. Come on. In to the living room with us.”
Alice lead the way, eyes wide with nervousness that this wouldn’t be proof enough, and a deep unease at all the memories that she was sure would come flying back to her once the rest of that letter was read.
The walk, which seemed unnaturally long that morning, was also painfully quiet. The living room and bedroom weren’t but a dozen feet apart but it felt miles to Alice. Upon entering the living room, Alice quickly found the letter at the foot of the sofa. She held it out without a word to Nell. “There”
Nell took it and her grey eyes flitted back and forth, reading the letter. Alice read over her girlfriend’s shoulder. After the introductory paragraph where Maureen lay out that she was ill, the letter changed to a brief description of their past involvement.
“You weren’t but a seventeen year old gatebird, looking to have just a moment of Ritchie’s time. I was a nineteen year old mum of one and wife to a man of public perfection and private flaws. But more than that, you and I, we were friends, and then lovers, then we left off horribly. I never forget that shivering soaking wet girl that I invited in for tea. Nor the moment you unfortunately met Ritchie, your idol for so long, in a completely drunken state. I was scared I’d never see you at my gate. Who’d come back? But you did. And then things between us changed. For better and then unfortunately worse. I always wish I’d reached out after Ritchie and I divorced- not for anything, but friendship. In any case, the past is the past. I have no expectation you remember me- it has been over two decades and I must confess I’d blocked it all out for a while so if you’d done the same I wouldn’t be offended- but as I mentioned before, I’m ill, fighting Leukemia and I’m in for a bone-marrow transplant. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but this is my last best option. I can’t leave things unsettled. If you remember even the slightest bit, could you please come and visit here at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. I had Ritchie- he and I grew to be friends a few years following our divorce- . I understand completely if you didn’t but at least a phone call. I wish to speak with you again, just incase things don’t work out for me health-wise.
Our time together was special and I hope you are very well and happy.
Yours very sincerely,
Maureen
Nell sighed, biting on her lower lip. “She included a phone number and room and all that. She really does want to see you, Al. It’s still incredible, but I… I need time to consider this, but you’ve always been honest. It’s hard to wrap my mind around. How’d you even meet her, to get invited in for tea?” Nell seemed still a bit skeptical but she looked a bit less angry.
“I was a ‘gatebird’. I hung ‘round outside of their gate at their home in Surrey- Sunny Heights- almost all my free time. It was a compulsion. It got to the point where their nanny and gardener knew my name. And Maureen and Ringo were always quite friendly to us all, spoke to a few of us regular ones a bit, but one day I was the only one there. It started pouring down- it had been in the forecast but I wasn’t gonna miss a chance to at least have a minute to talk to Ringo. Maureen had just come home and she took pity on me. No one else was there. She invited me in. I nearly fainted on the spot.” Alice’s whole face grew fond with memories as they came flooding back to her, some for a second time in less than twenty-four hours.
“It’s…I …God, Alice. I knew you were a fan but … who’d have thought. And how’d it go from that to…” Nell trailed off, transfixed. It seemed so farfetched, but she was going to give her girlfriend the benefit of the doubt.
“I don’t know if there ever was a set time, a set moment we knew we were in an affair, but after that first evening, we hit it off. And after…” Alice trailed off, a memory of that day that was less than pleasant coming back and all but slapping her across the face. She visibly flinched.
“Al?” Nell hated this side of her girlfriend, the side that grew locked in her own head. “After what?”
“Well…let’s just say, when they- y’know the proverbial ‘they’- say don’t meet your idols they’ll only disappoint you? I learned that hard.” Alice sat down on the sofa and Nell joined her.
The afternoon wore on, going into early evening, and the conversation between Alice and Maureen lasted through an entire pot of tea, growing more and more friendly and Alice growing more and more comfortable. Maureen regaled Alice with story after story of life in her apprentice hair-dresser days.
“Did the pensioner lady get her 5p off?” Alice asked, as she drained what was probably her fourth cup of tea and finished another biscuit. It made Maureen smile to see the younger woman so comfortable.
“Y’know, I don’t remember. I just remember the fact that she was livid and certain she was entitled to getting her hair cut for less than others simply because…” Maureen shrugged. “I guess because she’d managed to not die? I never did understand that mentality.” She laughed and Alice joined in. And didn’t stop abruptly, instead it was a natural fade. She was growing more comfortable.
“Good to see you’re getting more comfortable, Alice.” Maureen reached out and patted the other woman’s hand. “See, Ritchie and I are only human.”
“I see you are.” Alice smiled. “Erm…your loo? Where is it?”
“Down the corridor, to the left. I’ll be in main room, just off that corridor, it’s about time for Doctor Who, and I don’t get much chance to watch it. You’re welcome to join me.” Maureen smiled, a genuine inviting grin. Her brown eyes honest and intent on having some company. Alice was realizing that Maureen must have gotten quite lonely in the big house with Ringo off until all hours and though there was Zak, and Maureen seemed to want to be involved, there was Stella doing a large bit of the day-to-day stuff.
“I might do that. If you’re sure you don’t mind.” Alice didn’t want to assume anything.
“Not at all. Now go to the loo before you burst- you’ve had four cups I think. I have to let Tiger out of her prison. She should be calm enough.”
Alice ducked out of the kitchen and found the door she was looking for. She went and used the loo, taking a moment when she was finished to splash water on her face after washing her hands. She was still very star-struck and it was all so exciting but a few deep breaths and she felt she could handle watching a bit of telly with Maureen Starkey.
She wandered into the main room off the front entrance, finding Maureen sitting on the sofa with the poodle Tiger next to her.
Alice stood in the doorway for a bit before Maureen spoke up.
“Y’know you don’t have to hover. Come and sit down. I won’t bite and Tiger ain’t half as vicious as she looks”
Alice gingerly sat down on the opposite end of the sofa, feeling a bit nervous again. It was one thing to have tea, another to watch telly with the wife of her idol. It was really getting to be a bit friendly and it was overwhelming again.
“It’ll be warmed up in a bit.” Maureen stated about the television. Alice merely nodded, growing quiet again.
“You’ve gone mute on me again.” Maureen turned to Alice with a small encouraging smile. She patted the other girl’s knee. “We were getting on famously in the kitchen. Shouldn’t make a bit of difference that we’re sat in the main room.”
Alice tried to find her voice but at that moment the front door creaked open and Tiger jumped down off the sofa, her yips going from curious and guarding to welcoming.
Ringo’s voice echoed through the corridor to the main room “Down, you. Yes, I’m home. Mo! I’m home. Is there tea ready?” His words came out slurred and loud.
Alice grew even smaller and paler, but to her surprise, Maureen’s face fell and she looked just as nervous. But she got up. “I’ll be right back. You stay right here, love.” The older woman flashed a small, almost unnoticeable smile and left the room.
Well, physically. Her voice carried like Ringo’s did.
“Richard Starkey! Could you ever come home not completely off your head on drink? You reek of scotch or whiskey.”
“I had a hard day. Can’t a fellow have a drink to unwind?”
“A drink!? You’ve had a bit more than ‘A drink’, Ritchie. If you’re gonna get that plastered, I’d rather you not come home that night. You’ve still got that flat in the city, go and sleep it off there.” Maureen was struggling to be rational.
“It’s my home, I can do what I like.” Ringo’s voice was heavily slurred and getting angry. It was something that Alice would have never thought of him. A whole flood of emotions coursed through her. Confusion, a bit of worry, a bit of amazement, but mostly disappointment. She sat stock still on the sofa, trying not to listen to what she shouldn’t hear. But the Starkey’s were evenly matched for volume that night.
“ Yes it’s your home, but it’s mine as well. Part of the whole marriage thing. And I have company. I’d like fair warning if you’re going to come in absolutely bladdered. I could have had her gone. She doesn’t need to see you like this.”
“Your friend’s probably seen worse. All I’ve done is have a few drinks, Mo.”
“She’s seventeen and a fan of yours what I invited for tea.” Maureen sounded exasperated.
Alice took that as her cue to go. She felt like crying. She didn’t expect Ringo perfect but she didn’t expect him to be a drunk that was angry and apt to yell at his wife. It was a hard course in reality for her. She got up and numbly walked to the front entrance way. “M-Maureen? I think I’ll be off. I need to catch a bus before it gets too dark.” She spoke solely to Maureen, as she stood by a dumbfounded Ringo who smelled of Scotch and cigarettes.
“I can get you a car, I’ll pay for a cab.” Maureen’s face offered the apology she couldn’t voice just then.
“It’s fine. I can make it, I’m a big girl.” Alice gave Maureen a watery grin. “Good to have properly met you, Maureen. And you as well, Ringo.” Alice gathered her coat, and umbrella and made it out the door. She could hear Maureen starting to really lay into Ringo as she silently shut the door, and ran out the gate of Sunny Heights, only giving into an urge to cry when she was safely home in her small bed.
“So yeah, the first time I met Ringo Starr, he was drunk and loud and angry. It wasn’t what I expected.” Alice shrugged as she finished recalling the whole tale to Nell, who was transfixed still.
“What a horrible way to meet your idol for the first time.” Nell gave her girlfriend a kiss, her eyelids starting to droop. This argument had severely cut into much needed sleep. For both of them.
“It was eye-opening in a lot of ways.” Alice stood up. “I have to go to work, I don’t think my boss will appreciate a second day called out.” She kissed Nell tenderly. “ Get some sleep.”
“Not on this sofa.” Nell laughed and the two headed back to their room. Alice picked out an outfit and was about to duck into the bathroom to get a shower when Nell, who’d curled up under the covers, spoke up. “Don’t call her yet. I want to be there when you do. For moral support. Really, just moral support. I believe you, Alice.”
Alice ran back to the bed and kissed her partner lovingly, happy tears in her eyes. “You do? Oh thank God! Of course, I’d love your support. If I decide to call her that is.”
Nell just nodded. “If. Of course.”
Alice knew she’d further disappointed Nell, but didn’t have time to get into just then. “We’ll talk more when I get back, over dinner.”
“All right.” Nell’s grey eyes once again focused on her partner trying to sense deception, but once it was obvious that Alice wasn’t lying, Nell slipped off to sleep as Alice slipped into the shower.