Too Much Rain, Chapter 26
Jul. 11th, 2014 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yes_2dayJohn wins friends and influences people at Linda's party, while Linda gets interrogated by friends.
THIS IS FICTION, and SO IS MY CHARACTERIZATION OF DANNY FIELDS - don't know the guy, know next to nothing about him. Just made it all up.
Chapter 26
It was one hour into Linda’s party, and the conversation - lubricated by drink - was filling every crack and corner of the time. Paul had been listening with polite and dutiful patience to first Danny Fields’ anecdotes and stories, and then Lillian Warren’s painfully detailed explanations of all the improvements she had made in the local Sussex animal rights’ community. He had laughed at the Unitarian clergyman’s jokes, and got updated with the farming issues the Sussex farmers were facing these days with some other guests. Linda had finally set up the buffet, and people were lining up to eat. Paul saw John across the room deep in conversation with Danny Fields. That ought to be interesting, he thought. I hope John behaves himself.
John was saying, “I really enjoyed the Ramones - Yoko and I went to see them play in the Village once.” John was well aware of Fields’ role in promoting and managing the Ramones, and was an expert at stroking the egos of industry folk.
“I was sorry to hear about you and Yoko breaking up. That must have been painful.” Fields’ expression displayed ersatz empathy, which John quickly noted.
“We had a fairly amicable split, as such things go,” John said calmly, not allowing a single vibration of his voice to sound stressed. “Our relationship had long since run its course by the time we finally called it quits. We’re both happier this way.”
Fields didn’t quite know where to go from there. But he was nothing if not pushy, and true to his New York roots he didn’t give up easily. “So, I don’t see anyone here with you tonight. Are you between relationships?” (He was actually prying, trying to get to the bottom of all those rumors he’d heard. Of course, it was all for Linda’s sake…)
John looked down his aquiline nose at Fields, and allowed a few uncomfortable seconds to pass. This would convey to Fields that it was a presumptuous question. John then said, “I don’t like to talk about my relationships. I’m not keen to marry again, that much I’ll say. I don’t think I’m cut out for it.” This was almost word for word the answer he had given to the Playboy reporter a week earlier.
Fields didn’t feel comfortable raising any further questions about the rumors he’d heard. He was hoping to corner Linda about them later. He was relieved when Lennon turned away and wandered off towards the buffet table.
Earlier, Gray Parsons had sat down next to Paul on a sofa, and then only afterwards noticed who was next to him. He couldn’t get up and walk away; that would be unforgivably rude. So he had turned to Paul and said, “It’s nice to see you again.”
Paul smiled one of his patented Macca grins and said, “Yes, it is, isn’t it?”
Parsons cleared his throat. He may as well say what he had come here to say. Linda had told him to raise the subject with Paul, and it was clear she would not go along with his idea unless he had Paul’s approval and involvement. “I’ve been thinking that a very good business could be established making vegetarian frozen meals, if Linda’s name was on the product.”
Paul stared at Parsons for several moments as if he was trying to figure out the man’s angle. Parsons could feel himself being judged, and it irked him, but he retained a pleasant demeanor. Paul finally spoke. “Have you mentioned this to Linda?”
“Yes, we’ve spoken about it before. She seemed quite interested in the idea, but she was anxious to know your opinion on the subject. I have done quite a lot of research, and I do believe it is a viable business.”
Paul felt as though he had been hit in the gut. Why hadn’t Linda mentioned this to him before? What was going on? It felt as though his relationship with Linda was sliding out from under him. Instead of reacting, Paul was quiet. He considered Parsons’ suggestion, and then said, “I’ll contact John Eastman and we can all discuss this proposal in a business environment.”
Parsons was relieved to hear that the idea was going to be seriously considered, but he felt the slight slap of Paul’s subtle remonstration about his bringing the subject up during a private dinner party. A moment later, Paul moved away. Paul’s eyes had been devoid of any warmth, and his hand was cool and the clasp was weak. Clearly, Paul was not pleased that Parsons had taken it upon himself to discuss a potential business with Linda behind Paul’s back. Parsons interpreted this as more of Paul’s perceived controlling ways. It didn’t occur to Parsons that discussing a business with a man’s wife that required the use of the husband’s name, and doing so behind the man’s back, might be considered inappropriate by an objective third party.
Linda, meanwhile, had finally found a moment to sit down in the kitchen and have a cozy talk with Lillian. Lillian saw the circles under Linda’s eyes, and noted that Linda had gained some weight and looked older and far more strained than she had done when she lived in Sussex. Lillian had drawn the incorrect conclusion that Paul was responsible for the move to London, and that it had happened over Linda’s objections. Lillian was determined to get to the bottom of her concerns about Linda’s welfare, and persuade her to move back to Sussex. She, too, like Linda’s friends from New York, had wrongly interpreted the McCartneys’ super-close marriage to be down to Paul’s controlling ways, rather than a genuine desire shared by both of them to keep their family life private.
“How is life treating you here in London?” Lillian asked, leaning in closely so only Linda would hear.
“It’s fine,” Linda said. “James likes his school here, and he doesn’t get bullied. That was the major reason why we moved here.”
Lillian was surprised to hear this. “I thought it was Paul who wanted to move back to London.”
Linda looked curiously at Lillian. “I guess he did want me to move back to London,” she said slowly, “but he would never have insisted upon it. In the end, it was my decision. My daughters had moved to London for work, and I was missing them. Paul had to work in London because that was where John lived, so he was spending only half his time with me, and we missed each other. And then James was having a hard time at school. It made sense for all of us to move. It was a whole family decision, really.”
“Are you happy, Linda? Is Paul treating you right?” Lillian was thinking of the rumors about Paul and John Lennon when she asked this question.
Linda was indignant. “Of course he treats me alright! We just got back from a 3-week holiday alone in the Caribbean! Lillian, what’s this all about?” Lillian was taken aback. She knew Linda was a deeply loyal person, but there was a ring of truth in Linda’s voice. Lillian should have felt better to know that Linda was fine, but instead she was disappointed that Linda was not thinking of moving back to Sussex any time soon.
John had been selecting items from the buffet table when he was approached by a slinky-looking man dressed in an expensive suit and wearing a noisome cologne. John could tell the man was lingering next to him trying to work up his nerve to introduce himself, so he decided to turn on the charm and introduce himself.
“This food looks great, doesn’t it?” John asked the man. The man nodded eagerly in response. “Hi, I’m John,” he added.
“Yes, I know,” the man said.
“And you are?” John prompted politely. Obviously the man was fan-flopping.
“Garsons…I mean, heh,” the man chuckled sheepishly, “Gray.”
“Do you have a given name?” John was having fun. By now he had finished decorating his plate, and he gestured that they should both find somewhere to sit down and chat.
“Gray is my given name, my last name is Parsons.”
“Ah - ‘Garsons’ - I get it! Very clever!” John smiled warmly while he pretended that the man’s misspeak was deliberate.
“So what do you do, Garsons?” John asked. This was way fun.
Parsons didn’t know if John was being friendly or insulting. “I edit and write cookbooks, and have a number of food-related businesses.” Parsons had dressed up his resume a bit for Lennon’s sake.
“Cookbooks,” John repeated. “Is that how you know Linda?”
“Yes, I’m editing her latest one…”
“She is an amazing cook,” John said. “So are you a chef or something?”
“I do have a Cordon Bleu certificate.” Parsons exaggerated. He had the lowest certificate. Not that this mattered to John, who had no idea what a Cordon Bleu certificate was anyway.
“Is it important - that Cordon Blue-thingie?” John’s eyes were dancing with mirth. He knew when he was having smoke blown up his ass, and he also knew how to blow it right back.
“It is the French master chef course,” Parsons said, sinking deeper into his fluffed up resume.
“Ah - French! Well, that must mean something special,” John mused, deeply amused by his own line of bullshit.
Parsons was looking at John sideways. He couldn’t tell if he was being made fun of, or if this was just John Lennon being nice to him, and pretending interest. One thing Parsons had picked up by now was that John was not really interested in his cooking career. He decided to change the subject.
“So I understand that you and Paul have a new record soon to be released?”
“Yes - in a few weeks,” John said. “Are you a fan?”
“Oh, yes, I love your music,” Parsons said. It was calculated to express that it was John’s, and not Paul’s music that he favored. John noticed this and was not amused. Now he began to feel that his twitting of this twit was no longer just a way to amuse himself at a boring party, but was now a righteous cause.
“Paul and I are appreciative of the compliment,” John responded with what passed for (just barely) a sincere expression of gratitude.
Parsons didn’t know what to say now, since John had included Paul in on the thank-you. Would it be too rude to point out that the compliment was meant only for John? “I especially prefer your writing style,” Parsons clarified, ill-advisedly.
“How can you tell the difference?” John asked with false innocence. “Paul and I can barely remember who wrote what lines. It always surprises us when others insist that our writing styles are noticeably different.”
Parsons’ smile back was sickly. He had no way of getting out of this morass and was firmly stuck in this mess of his own making.
John saw this and felt avenged. But he wasn’t through yet. “So, how long have you known Paul?”
“I met him through Linda, and we’ve only talked a few times.” Parsons was going to be careful about what he said from now on. He cleared his throat and added (he couldn’t help himself), “But we are going to meet with John Eastman about a business proposal Linda and I have.”
John’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. A business proposal that he had with Linda? That ought to go over like a lead balloon with Paul. “So what is this ‘business proposal’?”
“Frozen vegetarian meals for sale in markets,” Parsons said. “They would be Linda’s recipes, and her name on the boxes.”
John thought about this and wondered if Linda really had anything to do with this proposal. Still, he suspected Paul would be none too thrilled to have this man stirring up Linda’s independence. “You know, Linda won’t do anything unless Paul is there with her,” John said carefully in a warning tone.
“Yes,” Parsons said nervously, realizing that he had said too much. Again. “That is why I spoke with Paul about it this evening.”
“Umm,” John said, watching the man’s face with suspicion. “Just don’t get too ahead of yourself, that would be my advice.”
Parsons took this to mean that if he did, Paul would come after him in some way. His dislike for Paul was clearly visible when he said, “Husbands who control their wives are small people. I don’t see why Linda can’t have a part of her life completely to herself.”
John was finished being amused. Now he was pissed. “Paul doesn’t control Linda, Garsons,” John said sharply. “My warning was aimed at the fact that Linda is intensely loyal to Paul and also to her brother, and she will always want them behind her in any business deal. She isn’t going to wander off alone into some business with someone she barely knows. You will not know this, since you are neither rich nor famous, but people are constantly proposing business ideas that feature us giving them the use of our names. It’s always their little attempts to siphon off a bit of our fame for themselves. As a result, we have become very suspicious of all such approaches.”
Parsons was struck dumb. His hands were shaking, and he leaned over to put his plate down on a nearby table. He was embarrassed and insulted, but afraid to say or do anything for fear of an even more vicious attack from Lennon. To his relief, John got up and said,
“I’m going to get more food, and I’m sure Linda wants me to mingle more.”
While John had been wrangling with Parsons, Linda had been finishing her perplexing conversation with Lillian.
“We miss you in Sussex, Linda,” Lillian had said softly.
Linda’s heart melted and she smiled. “I really loved living there when the children were young, and we were all doing the carpools and the parties together. It is one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through - watching my kids leave the nest. I’m proud of them, and glad they are independent and building their own lives, but I miss my girls so much. And now James is growing older - he’ll be 15 soon! He says he wants to do a lot of surfing this summer, and John and Paul will be touring, so James and I will be living in Sussex for the last several weeks of summer.”
Lillian’s face lit up. “That’s fantastic! We’ll have to get everyone together!” But mainly Lillian was thinking of “several weeks” of having Linda to herself. But this brought up the subject she had hoped to raise with Linda, although with the partiers all around her she had found it more awkward to do so than she had expected.
“Linda, for sometime now I’ve wanted to talk to you about these rumors in the tabloids about Paul,” she finally managed, her voice low and discreet.
“Yes?” Linda asked, immediately feeling her defense shield come up.
“Well, you know what they’re saying about Paul and John Lennon. They’ve been saying that for years, but at first I couldn’t put any weight in it, but now - still?”
Linda sighed heavily. “Yes, of course I know. You can’t hardly miss it, can you? It’s only because they’re putting another album out, and they’re touring again. When the spotlights go on, all the crackpots get stirred up. It’s kind of like turning on a light in a room and watching all the cockroaches scurrying for cover.”
“I take it then that there is no truth to it?” Lillian asked delicately. Linda could not know that Lillian was praying for the rumors to be true.
“They love each other very much, Lillian. It would be weird if they didn’t. They grew up together, went through so much craziness together. They have this deep creative and emotional bond. I’d say the relationship is deeper than any other pair of male friends I’ve ever come across. But Paul is my lover, and his love for John is different than his love for me.”
“Do you feel left out of it?” Lillian was just curious, now.
“No, I don’t, and I’ll tell you why. I met Paul more than 10 years after he and John had been partners and best friends. John was a staple in Paul’s life, and I never knew him when that wasn’t true. In the ‘70s, when they were estranged, this was very painful for Paul, and I came to understand how deep that bond went by watching how the pain never died, even after 10 years. So, that part of Paul that is John’s - I never had it to begin with. It was part of him, like every other part of his personality, and I accepted it then, and I accept it now.” Linda hadn’t realized that her voice had gotten a bit louder until she heard Danny’s voice.
“Can I join in?” He asked eagerly. He was standing in the kitchen door, having tracked Linda and Lillian there.
Linda felt worried. She wasn’t sure what Danny had heard. “Yes, of course, Danny, come in and join us. Want a cup of coffee?”
“I’ll get it myself,” he said, as he did so. He then sat down across from Lillian and next to Linda. “You were talking about Paul and John,” Danny said, “and I have wanted to ask you about all those rumors.”
“Linda has just told me the rumors aren’t true, but what is true is that they have a very close bond. I asked her if she felt left out of it, and she said no.” Lillian was pissed off that this man had interrupted her private moment with Linda. She had met Danny Fields a few years before, when he’d come to visit Linda in Sussex while Paul was on tour with John the last time, and had gotten a bad vibe off him. Consequently, she wanted to protect Linda from Danny’s prying.
“The rumors are everywhere, Linda,” Danny said flatly. Linda was used to his brash New York approach, but Lillian was strictly British and aghast at the man’s crassness. “It’s the talk of New York.”
Linda laughed. “Well, that will last all of 15 minutes. ‘New York’ has a new scandal to hash over every 15 minutes.”
“Seriously, though, Linda, don’t you worry that it is true?” Fields was determined to drag his friend into reality if it killed him. He ignored Lillian’s grunt of disapproval.
“Do you imagine I wouldn’t know if it were true?” Linda asked playfully, giggling at the idea of it. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Danny. I’m a New Yorker too.”
“But when they’re on tour together, and you’re not there, how do you know what goes on?”
“Honestly!” Lillian protested.
“It’s okay, Lil,” Linda said softly. “Danny is like a bull in a china shop, but he means well.” She turned to Danny and said, “People gossip. The gossip takes on a life of it’s own. It gets to the point where you’re forced to prove that the gossip isn’t true, whereas the burden of proof ought to be on the person who made up the gossip in the first place! Paul and I decided a long time ago not to respond to gossip of any kind. We never have, and we never will. We refuse to be put in a position where we have to prove a negative. And John has been in that position many times before, and he has the same approach. There’s nothing we can do to stop the gossip, so we just live our lives and try to ignore it. I really would appreciate it if you - our friends - would ignore it too.”
Danny was actually convinced, based on Linda’s comments, that the rumors weren’t true. He was inclined not to believe them anyway, because he knew that Linda had been a very sexual person and a person who had her head screwed on right, and she wasn’t going to live in a loveless, sexless marriage. She wasn’t interested in great wealth, or the fame she had accrued in her marriage to Paul, so the only thing tying her to McCartney was her love for him and their children.
Lillian, too, was convinced, although she was severely disappointed. That put paid to her fantasies about living in Sussex with Linda while Paul was with John, and the McCartney marriage would serve as cover for them all.
Linda realized she’d spent too much time hidden in the kitchen, and got up and said, “I need to be getting back to my other guests.” Lillian and Danny reluctantly followed her back to the sitting room, where the other guests were all circling.
John saw Paul talking with an older couple, and decided to join them. He just popped up next to Paul with an expectant face, and Paul said to the minister and his wife,
“This is my friend John,” and John gallantly bowed his head and offered his hand first to the woman and then to the man. “And John, these are friends of Linda’s and mine from Rye, Samuel West is the minister at the Unitarian church, and Joan is his wife.”
“So what were you talking about?” John asked, prompting them to continue their conversation.
“The church needs a new bell tower,” Samuel said.
“Of course it does,” John said quickly and too cheerfully. The Wests looked at each other in doubt. Was that sarcasm?
Paul cleared his throat. He turned to John and spoke slowly. “We were talking about the village fete, and how the community could raise sufficient funds to pay for it.” Paul was staring at John pointedly: behave yourself!
“Why don’t you just pay for it yourself, Paul?” John chirped, his eyes alight with mischief. “You’re made of money, after all. Everyone knows that.”
“Oh no!” Mrs. West cried. “The community needs to pay for it! It needs to be a parish project!”
“Maybe just matching funds, that’s all that we could accept,” added Mr. West hopefully.
Paul smiled at the Wests comfortingly. “John is just teasing me,” he said softly. “He likes to throw the cat in among the pigeons. I have always found it most effective, when he does this, just to pretend as though nothing is amiss.”
John guffawed loudly. He turned to the mystified Wests. “He knows me too well,” he said. “He’s Mr. Moneybags, and I can’t let an opportunity to rib him about it go by…”
The Reverend and his wife chuckled at this comment, but uncertainty and awkwardness glowed around them like an aura.
Thinking he'd completely derailed the Wests’ plot to ensnare Paul in their fundraising scheme, John bid them adieu and wandered over to where Linda was standing, talking to some of the guests. There was an older woman standing just to the side and a little behind Linda, and John had noted that the woman had been shadowing Linda all night. What’s up with that? He wondered. He decided to peel her off Linda for a while and get to the bottom of it all.
“So who are you?” He asked bluntly, after he walked up to her and faced her directly. He shot a quick wink at Linda. She saw what he was up to and gave him a warning look: behave yourself! John managed to look hurt by Linda’s accusing gaze.
“I’m Lillian Warren,” the woman said in an equally blunt style. She stood there stolidly, challenging John with a direct stare. John’s eyebrows went up. Oh goody! Someone to play with! This party is turning out to be a fucking gold mine!
“Well, Lillian Warren, how do you know our beloved Paul and Linda?”
Lillian didn’t like the smartass tone, and she wasn’t going to take any guff off this Lennon person. “I am a near neighbor of theirs, down in Sussex,” she said in a firm, no-nonsense voice.
“How near?” John asked. Somehow he made the question sound like a prod.
“I have a cottage just outside of Rye, and their farm is just down the road.”
“Hmm, strange. I lived there for about a year and a half a while back, in the windmill. That farm is huge - many acres. I didn’t think anyone was ‘near’ to it.” John stopped for a moment, theatrically posing in thought as if he were trying to remember. “I don’t remember you at all from that time.”
Lillian had known that Lennon had set up in the windmill after his divorce from Yoko Ono, but she had never been introduced to him during that period. She was not stupid or slow on the draw, however. She had immediately taken from John’s comments that he doubted her closeness to Paul and Linda, not only in terms of physical proximity, but also in terms of friendship. “Linda and I ran the local animal shelter organization,” Lillian announced, puffing herself up. “We spent many hours together organizing it.”
John said, “Organizing an organization must take a great deal of hours,” John opined. “So, what, did you find homes for stray cats and dogs?”
Lillian was insulted. This man was an oaf! What on earth did Paul - who was an animal lover himself - see in this asshole? “It is a bit more sophisticated than that,” Lillian said sharply. “We dealt with hunters going after the local game and endangering the wild animals. We made sure that farmers didn’t dispose of their old and sick horses - we have a sanctuary we set up. We are extremely active and well organized.”
John was amused by the woman’s lack of a sense of humor, but he began to suspect there was more to the woman’s psyche than just a shared love of animals with Linda. He suspected she was a fellow gender bender. Forgetting for the moment that he despised the fact that others were always poking at him about his relationship with Paul, John decided to do a little poking himself.
“So, are you married Lillian?” John asked politely.
“No.” Lillian was glaring at him.
“Neither am I,” John said flirtatiously.
Lillian gave him a sour look. What on earth was he up to now? John continued,
“So you’re ‘playing the field’ just like I am, eh?”
“At my age I wouldn’t dream of ‘playing the field’, whatever that means,” Lillian scoffed.
“So there’s a man in your life, is there?”
“I didn’t say that, and no, there’s not, if it is any of your business.”
“Oh, you got me there,” John said, pretending to have been hit by an arrow in his heart. “I am terrible about minding my own business. It must be because no one else minds their own business when it comes to me.”
Lillian - against her better judgment - felt herself softening a little. “I’m sure that must be horrible; all those awful people telling lies about you, and publishing it for everyone to see. I was just commiserating about that with Linda.”
“Oh?” John’s ears pricked up. “What was that all about?”
“These irresponsible rumors about you and Paul. Honestly, it’s as if they have no sensitivity about how this would impact Linda!”
John noted that Lillian’s only concern was how the rumors affected Linda. He was cheered up a bit that his suspicions were on target. “It’s not ‘like’ they have no sensitivity, Lillian,” John said, “They really do not have any sensitivity. Not about Linda, not about Paul or me, and not about our children. We’re just cardboard cutouts to them, or characters in a soap opera, and they believe that by choosing to be performers and songwriters, we have ‘bought in’ to being treated like this.”
“Well, Linda didn’t choose to be famous,” Lillian huffed.
“Well, yes she did. She knew what she was getting into when she married Paul. No one twisted her arm. It’s the kids who had no say in the matter, actually.”
This shut Lillian up. She had no reply. John continued cheerfully,
“The three of us - Paul, Linda and me - we do our best to protect the kids from gossip, but there is only so much you can do. They’re all old enough to hear about it or read about it themselves, so it’s just one of the burdens they have to bear for having the temerity to be Beatle children.”
Lillian nodded in wan agreement, although she was not at all sure how the conversation went off on this tangent. She decided to bring it back to dead center. “In any case,” she said, “Linda handles it all so marvelously. She is a very strong woman.”
“Indeed she is,” John agreed. “She’d have to be to put up with our Paul and me.” He chuckled as he said this, but he was watching her eyes for a reaction. What he saw was a hopeful gleam. Score!
“The way you say that makes it seem that she is married to the both of you,” Lillian sniffed, thinking how awful for Linda that she had to have this boorish man hovering around all the time.
“She is, in a way. We’re a package deal. Always have been.” John was feeling euphoric that he had punctured the woman’s confidence. At times like these, he was not a nice person.
“You weren’t a ‘package deal’ when she married Paul,” Lillian differed.
“Weren’t we?” John asked lightly, his eyebrows raised as if to ask her to explain.
“The two of you were barely talking for years,” Lillian pronounced.
“Ahhh, talking…,” John said, pretending to finally get Lillian’s point. “You’re right about that. But then ‘talking’ isn’t really how Paul and I communicate, you know. We inhabit each other’s minds, so it really isn’t necessary for us to even be within shouting distance in order for us to communicate.”
Lillian was shocked at John’s comments. He was trying to make her believe the rumors were true! Fortunately, she’d already had the truth from Linda, and Linda was no liar, so she couldn’t imagine why Lennon was teasing her this way. “Well,” Lillian finally muttered, “that’s interesting. But I’m still not sure Linda saw it that way. She had a real marriage, and they have been inseparable.” Her loyalty to Linda was sticking out now like a sore thumb.
“Except when Paul and I are in London and she is not, and except with Paul and I are on tour…” John pointed out reasonably. “Linda and I have had to learn to share Paul, you know, and it hasn’t always been pretty. Didn’t she tell you that?”
“No she didn’t! And I don’t know why you are filling my head with all this nonsense. Do you find this funny?”
John pretended to look ashamed. “I’m bad, I know it. But I thought that since you and Linda are so…close…she would have confided in you. Apparently I’m wrong.” With that, he smiled in a friendly way and said, “I’m going to track Paul down, and see what he’s up to.” He turned on his heel and was gone, leaving Lillian bruised and bleeding in his wake.
Later that night, after Paul had assisted Linda in clearing up the party mess, and stacking everything neatly in the kitchen for the next day’s clean up, he and Linda sat down like a limp puddle on the sitting room sofa.
“Well, I’m exhausted!” Linda declared.
“Me, too,” Paul chuckled.
“Where’s John?” Linda asked.
“I sent him home over an hour ago. He was getting plastered, and was starting to be indiscreet.”
“Indiscreet?” Linda’s face reflected her concern.
“Oh, he was unintelligible, so I shouldn’t worry about it if I were you. I just walked him back to his place, and tucked him up in bed. He was sound asleep within seconds.”
Linda giggled. “He was quite the butterfly tonight, flitting from one guest to the other. He seemed to be in a very good mood, laughing and joking with everyone.”
Paul chuckled half-heartedly, because he had not trusted John’s good humor. “Personally, I think he was up to no good. He gets in these moods…”
Linda said, “Oh, you’re too hard on him. He was a perfect angel.”
Paul looked at her skeptically. “He was quite rude to Reverend and Mrs. West,” Paul said. “He suggested they were trying to get me to pay for the bell tower rescue.”
“Well, weren’t they?” Linda asked. “They usually do tend to rope us into these ‘community’ fundraising events.”
“They’re harmless,” Paul said, “and I agreed we would match whatever funds they raise from the community at large.”
Linda leaned over and kissed her husband while patting his thigh. “I am glad it’s over, though. Danny and Lillian were cross-examining me about the rumors.”
Paul was surprised by this. “No one said a word to me about it,” he said.
“They’re all scared of you, Paul. They wouldn’t dare.” Linda was chuckling.
“I’m not scary! Why would anyone be scared of me?”
“You are scary to outsiders, because you put on your heaviest suit of armor in front of them. It is quite intimidating actually.”
Paul had no inkling that this was how he was perceived by people he thought were friends, but he didn’t doubt the truth of Linda’s comment. “It’s that Beatle thing again, working against me. It’s hard not to suspect that they all want to plug into that Beatle magic.”
A few days later Linda received a number of thank you notes from her party guests. She sat down to read them all at once while Paul and John were at work. She was at the kitchen table, with a hot cup of coffee.
“Linda,” read Lillian’s note first. After the first paragraph thanking her for the “wonderful” evening, Lillian had gotten right down to brass tacks: “After you and I spoke, John Lennon came to talk to me. He was horribly rude. Is he always like that? He asked a series of questions about my personal life, implied that I was lying about our friendship, and then proceeded to inform me that you had to ‘share’ Paul with him! He was trying to make me believe those horrible rumors are true! I just thought you should know, because you may not realize that he isn’t really your friend…”
Linda sighed as she read this. Oh, dear. Of course, Linda knew that Lillian had no sense of humor, so she wasn’t really surprised by this.
She picked up Gray Parsons’ thank you note next. He got straight to the point: “John Lennon was quite rude to me about our proposed business venture. He was trying to warn me off. I don’t know why you allow him in your circle. He does not appear to have your best interests at heart, and is loyal only to Paul.”
Oh, dear, Linda thought. But then, Parsons was quite arrogant, and probably John’s own arrogance was more than a match for his. Linda could see why Gray and John would not get along.
She picked up Danny Fields’s thank you note last: “Linda, John Lennon was a little rude to me - meeting him was quite disappointing!"
Linda sighed. When would she ever learn never to question Paul's take on John Lennon?
THIS IS FICTION, and SO IS MY CHARACTERIZATION OF DANNY FIELDS - don't know the guy, know next to nothing about him. Just made it all up.
Chapter 26
It was one hour into Linda’s party, and the conversation - lubricated by drink - was filling every crack and corner of the time. Paul had been listening with polite and dutiful patience to first Danny Fields’ anecdotes and stories, and then Lillian Warren’s painfully detailed explanations of all the improvements she had made in the local Sussex animal rights’ community. He had laughed at the Unitarian clergyman’s jokes, and got updated with the farming issues the Sussex farmers were facing these days with some other guests. Linda had finally set up the buffet, and people were lining up to eat. Paul saw John across the room deep in conversation with Danny Fields. That ought to be interesting, he thought. I hope John behaves himself.
John was saying, “I really enjoyed the Ramones - Yoko and I went to see them play in the Village once.” John was well aware of Fields’ role in promoting and managing the Ramones, and was an expert at stroking the egos of industry folk.
“I was sorry to hear about you and Yoko breaking up. That must have been painful.” Fields’ expression displayed ersatz empathy, which John quickly noted.
“We had a fairly amicable split, as such things go,” John said calmly, not allowing a single vibration of his voice to sound stressed. “Our relationship had long since run its course by the time we finally called it quits. We’re both happier this way.”
Fields didn’t quite know where to go from there. But he was nothing if not pushy, and true to his New York roots he didn’t give up easily. “So, I don’t see anyone here with you tonight. Are you between relationships?” (He was actually prying, trying to get to the bottom of all those rumors he’d heard. Of course, it was all for Linda’s sake…)
John looked down his aquiline nose at Fields, and allowed a few uncomfortable seconds to pass. This would convey to Fields that it was a presumptuous question. John then said, “I don’t like to talk about my relationships. I’m not keen to marry again, that much I’ll say. I don’t think I’m cut out for it.” This was almost word for word the answer he had given to the Playboy reporter a week earlier.
Fields didn’t feel comfortable raising any further questions about the rumors he’d heard. He was hoping to corner Linda about them later. He was relieved when Lennon turned away and wandered off towards the buffet table.
Earlier, Gray Parsons had sat down next to Paul on a sofa, and then only afterwards noticed who was next to him. He couldn’t get up and walk away; that would be unforgivably rude. So he had turned to Paul and said, “It’s nice to see you again.”
Paul smiled one of his patented Macca grins and said, “Yes, it is, isn’t it?”
Parsons cleared his throat. He may as well say what he had come here to say. Linda had told him to raise the subject with Paul, and it was clear she would not go along with his idea unless he had Paul’s approval and involvement. “I’ve been thinking that a very good business could be established making vegetarian frozen meals, if Linda’s name was on the product.”
Paul stared at Parsons for several moments as if he was trying to figure out the man’s angle. Parsons could feel himself being judged, and it irked him, but he retained a pleasant demeanor. Paul finally spoke. “Have you mentioned this to Linda?”
“Yes, we’ve spoken about it before. She seemed quite interested in the idea, but she was anxious to know your opinion on the subject. I have done quite a lot of research, and I do believe it is a viable business.”
Paul felt as though he had been hit in the gut. Why hadn’t Linda mentioned this to him before? What was going on? It felt as though his relationship with Linda was sliding out from under him. Instead of reacting, Paul was quiet. He considered Parsons’ suggestion, and then said, “I’ll contact John Eastman and we can all discuss this proposal in a business environment.”
Parsons was relieved to hear that the idea was going to be seriously considered, but he felt the slight slap of Paul’s subtle remonstration about his bringing the subject up during a private dinner party. A moment later, Paul moved away. Paul’s eyes had been devoid of any warmth, and his hand was cool and the clasp was weak. Clearly, Paul was not pleased that Parsons had taken it upon himself to discuss a potential business with Linda behind Paul’s back. Parsons interpreted this as more of Paul’s perceived controlling ways. It didn’t occur to Parsons that discussing a business with a man’s wife that required the use of the husband’s name, and doing so behind the man’s back, might be considered inappropriate by an objective third party.
Linda, meanwhile, had finally found a moment to sit down in the kitchen and have a cozy talk with Lillian. Lillian saw the circles under Linda’s eyes, and noted that Linda had gained some weight and looked older and far more strained than she had done when she lived in Sussex. Lillian had drawn the incorrect conclusion that Paul was responsible for the move to London, and that it had happened over Linda’s objections. Lillian was determined to get to the bottom of her concerns about Linda’s welfare, and persuade her to move back to Sussex. She, too, like Linda’s friends from New York, had wrongly interpreted the McCartneys’ super-close marriage to be down to Paul’s controlling ways, rather than a genuine desire shared by both of them to keep their family life private.
“How is life treating you here in London?” Lillian asked, leaning in closely so only Linda would hear.
“It’s fine,” Linda said. “James likes his school here, and he doesn’t get bullied. That was the major reason why we moved here.”
Lillian was surprised to hear this. “I thought it was Paul who wanted to move back to London.”
Linda looked curiously at Lillian. “I guess he did want me to move back to London,” she said slowly, “but he would never have insisted upon it. In the end, it was my decision. My daughters had moved to London for work, and I was missing them. Paul had to work in London because that was where John lived, so he was spending only half his time with me, and we missed each other. And then James was having a hard time at school. It made sense for all of us to move. It was a whole family decision, really.”
“Are you happy, Linda? Is Paul treating you right?” Lillian was thinking of the rumors about Paul and John Lennon when she asked this question.
Linda was indignant. “Of course he treats me alright! We just got back from a 3-week holiday alone in the Caribbean! Lillian, what’s this all about?” Lillian was taken aback. She knew Linda was a deeply loyal person, but there was a ring of truth in Linda’s voice. Lillian should have felt better to know that Linda was fine, but instead she was disappointed that Linda was not thinking of moving back to Sussex any time soon.
John had been selecting items from the buffet table when he was approached by a slinky-looking man dressed in an expensive suit and wearing a noisome cologne. John could tell the man was lingering next to him trying to work up his nerve to introduce himself, so he decided to turn on the charm and introduce himself.
“This food looks great, doesn’t it?” John asked the man. The man nodded eagerly in response. “Hi, I’m John,” he added.
“Yes, I know,” the man said.
“And you are?” John prompted politely. Obviously the man was fan-flopping.
“Garsons…I mean, heh,” the man chuckled sheepishly, “Gray.”
“Do you have a given name?” John was having fun. By now he had finished decorating his plate, and he gestured that they should both find somewhere to sit down and chat.
“Gray is my given name, my last name is Parsons.”
“Ah - ‘Garsons’ - I get it! Very clever!” John smiled warmly while he pretended that the man’s misspeak was deliberate.
“So what do you do, Garsons?” John asked. This was way fun.
Parsons didn’t know if John was being friendly or insulting. “I edit and write cookbooks, and have a number of food-related businesses.” Parsons had dressed up his resume a bit for Lennon’s sake.
“Cookbooks,” John repeated. “Is that how you know Linda?”
“Yes, I’m editing her latest one…”
“She is an amazing cook,” John said. “So are you a chef or something?”
“I do have a Cordon Bleu certificate.” Parsons exaggerated. He had the lowest certificate. Not that this mattered to John, who had no idea what a Cordon Bleu certificate was anyway.
“Is it important - that Cordon Blue-thingie?” John’s eyes were dancing with mirth. He knew when he was having smoke blown up his ass, and he also knew how to blow it right back.
“It is the French master chef course,” Parsons said, sinking deeper into his fluffed up resume.
“Ah - French! Well, that must mean something special,” John mused, deeply amused by his own line of bullshit.
Parsons was looking at John sideways. He couldn’t tell if he was being made fun of, or if this was just John Lennon being nice to him, and pretending interest. One thing Parsons had picked up by now was that John was not really interested in his cooking career. He decided to change the subject.
“So I understand that you and Paul have a new record soon to be released?”
“Yes - in a few weeks,” John said. “Are you a fan?”
“Oh, yes, I love your music,” Parsons said. It was calculated to express that it was John’s, and not Paul’s music that he favored. John noticed this and was not amused. Now he began to feel that his twitting of this twit was no longer just a way to amuse himself at a boring party, but was now a righteous cause.
“Paul and I are appreciative of the compliment,” John responded with what passed for (just barely) a sincere expression of gratitude.
Parsons didn’t know what to say now, since John had included Paul in on the thank-you. Would it be too rude to point out that the compliment was meant only for John? “I especially prefer your writing style,” Parsons clarified, ill-advisedly.
“How can you tell the difference?” John asked with false innocence. “Paul and I can barely remember who wrote what lines. It always surprises us when others insist that our writing styles are noticeably different.”
Parsons’ smile back was sickly. He had no way of getting out of this morass and was firmly stuck in this mess of his own making.
John saw this and felt avenged. But he wasn’t through yet. “So, how long have you known Paul?”
“I met him through Linda, and we’ve only talked a few times.” Parsons was going to be careful about what he said from now on. He cleared his throat and added (he couldn’t help himself), “But we are going to meet with John Eastman about a business proposal Linda and I have.”
John’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. A business proposal that he had with Linda? That ought to go over like a lead balloon with Paul. “So what is this ‘business proposal’?”
“Frozen vegetarian meals for sale in markets,” Parsons said. “They would be Linda’s recipes, and her name on the boxes.”
John thought about this and wondered if Linda really had anything to do with this proposal. Still, he suspected Paul would be none too thrilled to have this man stirring up Linda’s independence. “You know, Linda won’t do anything unless Paul is there with her,” John said carefully in a warning tone.
“Yes,” Parsons said nervously, realizing that he had said too much. Again. “That is why I spoke with Paul about it this evening.”
“Umm,” John said, watching the man’s face with suspicion. “Just don’t get too ahead of yourself, that would be my advice.”
Parsons took this to mean that if he did, Paul would come after him in some way. His dislike for Paul was clearly visible when he said, “Husbands who control their wives are small people. I don’t see why Linda can’t have a part of her life completely to herself.”
John was finished being amused. Now he was pissed. “Paul doesn’t control Linda, Garsons,” John said sharply. “My warning was aimed at the fact that Linda is intensely loyal to Paul and also to her brother, and she will always want them behind her in any business deal. She isn’t going to wander off alone into some business with someone she barely knows. You will not know this, since you are neither rich nor famous, but people are constantly proposing business ideas that feature us giving them the use of our names. It’s always their little attempts to siphon off a bit of our fame for themselves. As a result, we have become very suspicious of all such approaches.”
Parsons was struck dumb. His hands were shaking, and he leaned over to put his plate down on a nearby table. He was embarrassed and insulted, but afraid to say or do anything for fear of an even more vicious attack from Lennon. To his relief, John got up and said,
“I’m going to get more food, and I’m sure Linda wants me to mingle more.”
While John had been wrangling with Parsons, Linda had been finishing her perplexing conversation with Lillian.
“We miss you in Sussex, Linda,” Lillian had said softly.
Linda’s heart melted and she smiled. “I really loved living there when the children were young, and we were all doing the carpools and the parties together. It is one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through - watching my kids leave the nest. I’m proud of them, and glad they are independent and building their own lives, but I miss my girls so much. And now James is growing older - he’ll be 15 soon! He says he wants to do a lot of surfing this summer, and John and Paul will be touring, so James and I will be living in Sussex for the last several weeks of summer.”
Lillian’s face lit up. “That’s fantastic! We’ll have to get everyone together!” But mainly Lillian was thinking of “several weeks” of having Linda to herself. But this brought up the subject she had hoped to raise with Linda, although with the partiers all around her she had found it more awkward to do so than she had expected.
“Linda, for sometime now I’ve wanted to talk to you about these rumors in the tabloids about Paul,” she finally managed, her voice low and discreet.
“Yes?” Linda asked, immediately feeling her defense shield come up.
“Well, you know what they’re saying about Paul and John Lennon. They’ve been saying that for years, but at first I couldn’t put any weight in it, but now - still?”
Linda sighed heavily. “Yes, of course I know. You can’t hardly miss it, can you? It’s only because they’re putting another album out, and they’re touring again. When the spotlights go on, all the crackpots get stirred up. It’s kind of like turning on a light in a room and watching all the cockroaches scurrying for cover.”
“I take it then that there is no truth to it?” Lillian asked delicately. Linda could not know that Lillian was praying for the rumors to be true.
“They love each other very much, Lillian. It would be weird if they didn’t. They grew up together, went through so much craziness together. They have this deep creative and emotional bond. I’d say the relationship is deeper than any other pair of male friends I’ve ever come across. But Paul is my lover, and his love for John is different than his love for me.”
“Do you feel left out of it?” Lillian was just curious, now.
“No, I don’t, and I’ll tell you why. I met Paul more than 10 years after he and John had been partners and best friends. John was a staple in Paul’s life, and I never knew him when that wasn’t true. In the ‘70s, when they were estranged, this was very painful for Paul, and I came to understand how deep that bond went by watching how the pain never died, even after 10 years. So, that part of Paul that is John’s - I never had it to begin with. It was part of him, like every other part of his personality, and I accepted it then, and I accept it now.” Linda hadn’t realized that her voice had gotten a bit louder until she heard Danny’s voice.
“Can I join in?” He asked eagerly. He was standing in the kitchen door, having tracked Linda and Lillian there.
Linda felt worried. She wasn’t sure what Danny had heard. “Yes, of course, Danny, come in and join us. Want a cup of coffee?”
“I’ll get it myself,” he said, as he did so. He then sat down across from Lillian and next to Linda. “You were talking about Paul and John,” Danny said, “and I have wanted to ask you about all those rumors.”
“Linda has just told me the rumors aren’t true, but what is true is that they have a very close bond. I asked her if she felt left out of it, and she said no.” Lillian was pissed off that this man had interrupted her private moment with Linda. She had met Danny Fields a few years before, when he’d come to visit Linda in Sussex while Paul was on tour with John the last time, and had gotten a bad vibe off him. Consequently, she wanted to protect Linda from Danny’s prying.
“The rumors are everywhere, Linda,” Danny said flatly. Linda was used to his brash New York approach, but Lillian was strictly British and aghast at the man’s crassness. “It’s the talk of New York.”
Linda laughed. “Well, that will last all of 15 minutes. ‘New York’ has a new scandal to hash over every 15 minutes.”
“Seriously, though, Linda, don’t you worry that it is true?” Fields was determined to drag his friend into reality if it killed him. He ignored Lillian’s grunt of disapproval.
“Do you imagine I wouldn’t know if it were true?” Linda asked playfully, giggling at the idea of it. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Danny. I’m a New Yorker too.”
“But when they’re on tour together, and you’re not there, how do you know what goes on?”
“Honestly!” Lillian protested.
“It’s okay, Lil,” Linda said softly. “Danny is like a bull in a china shop, but he means well.” She turned to Danny and said, “People gossip. The gossip takes on a life of it’s own. It gets to the point where you’re forced to prove that the gossip isn’t true, whereas the burden of proof ought to be on the person who made up the gossip in the first place! Paul and I decided a long time ago not to respond to gossip of any kind. We never have, and we never will. We refuse to be put in a position where we have to prove a negative. And John has been in that position many times before, and he has the same approach. There’s nothing we can do to stop the gossip, so we just live our lives and try to ignore it. I really would appreciate it if you - our friends - would ignore it too.”
Danny was actually convinced, based on Linda’s comments, that the rumors weren’t true. He was inclined not to believe them anyway, because he knew that Linda had been a very sexual person and a person who had her head screwed on right, and she wasn’t going to live in a loveless, sexless marriage. She wasn’t interested in great wealth, or the fame she had accrued in her marriage to Paul, so the only thing tying her to McCartney was her love for him and their children.
Lillian, too, was convinced, although she was severely disappointed. That put paid to her fantasies about living in Sussex with Linda while Paul was with John, and the McCartney marriage would serve as cover for them all.
Linda realized she’d spent too much time hidden in the kitchen, and got up and said, “I need to be getting back to my other guests.” Lillian and Danny reluctantly followed her back to the sitting room, where the other guests were all circling.
John saw Paul talking with an older couple, and decided to join them. He just popped up next to Paul with an expectant face, and Paul said to the minister and his wife,
“This is my friend John,” and John gallantly bowed his head and offered his hand first to the woman and then to the man. “And John, these are friends of Linda’s and mine from Rye, Samuel West is the minister at the Unitarian church, and Joan is his wife.”
“So what were you talking about?” John asked, prompting them to continue their conversation.
“The church needs a new bell tower,” Samuel said.
“Of course it does,” John said quickly and too cheerfully. The Wests looked at each other in doubt. Was that sarcasm?
Paul cleared his throat. He turned to John and spoke slowly. “We were talking about the village fete, and how the community could raise sufficient funds to pay for it.” Paul was staring at John pointedly: behave yourself!
“Why don’t you just pay for it yourself, Paul?” John chirped, his eyes alight with mischief. “You’re made of money, after all. Everyone knows that.”
“Oh no!” Mrs. West cried. “The community needs to pay for it! It needs to be a parish project!”
“Maybe just matching funds, that’s all that we could accept,” added Mr. West hopefully.
Paul smiled at the Wests comfortingly. “John is just teasing me,” he said softly. “He likes to throw the cat in among the pigeons. I have always found it most effective, when he does this, just to pretend as though nothing is amiss.”
John guffawed loudly. He turned to the mystified Wests. “He knows me too well,” he said. “He’s Mr. Moneybags, and I can’t let an opportunity to rib him about it go by…”
The Reverend and his wife chuckled at this comment, but uncertainty and awkwardness glowed around them like an aura.
Thinking he'd completely derailed the Wests’ plot to ensnare Paul in their fundraising scheme, John bid them adieu and wandered over to where Linda was standing, talking to some of the guests. There was an older woman standing just to the side and a little behind Linda, and John had noted that the woman had been shadowing Linda all night. What’s up with that? He wondered. He decided to peel her off Linda for a while and get to the bottom of it all.
“So who are you?” He asked bluntly, after he walked up to her and faced her directly. He shot a quick wink at Linda. She saw what he was up to and gave him a warning look: behave yourself! John managed to look hurt by Linda’s accusing gaze.
“I’m Lillian Warren,” the woman said in an equally blunt style. She stood there stolidly, challenging John with a direct stare. John’s eyebrows went up. Oh goody! Someone to play with! This party is turning out to be a fucking gold mine!
“Well, Lillian Warren, how do you know our beloved Paul and Linda?”
Lillian didn’t like the smartass tone, and she wasn’t going to take any guff off this Lennon person. “I am a near neighbor of theirs, down in Sussex,” she said in a firm, no-nonsense voice.
“How near?” John asked. Somehow he made the question sound like a prod.
“I have a cottage just outside of Rye, and their farm is just down the road.”
“Hmm, strange. I lived there for about a year and a half a while back, in the windmill. That farm is huge - many acres. I didn’t think anyone was ‘near’ to it.” John stopped for a moment, theatrically posing in thought as if he were trying to remember. “I don’t remember you at all from that time.”
Lillian had known that Lennon had set up in the windmill after his divorce from Yoko Ono, but she had never been introduced to him during that period. She was not stupid or slow on the draw, however. She had immediately taken from John’s comments that he doubted her closeness to Paul and Linda, not only in terms of physical proximity, but also in terms of friendship. “Linda and I ran the local animal shelter organization,” Lillian announced, puffing herself up. “We spent many hours together organizing it.”
John said, “Organizing an organization must take a great deal of hours,” John opined. “So, what, did you find homes for stray cats and dogs?”
Lillian was insulted. This man was an oaf! What on earth did Paul - who was an animal lover himself - see in this asshole? “It is a bit more sophisticated than that,” Lillian said sharply. “We dealt with hunters going after the local game and endangering the wild animals. We made sure that farmers didn’t dispose of their old and sick horses - we have a sanctuary we set up. We are extremely active and well organized.”
John was amused by the woman’s lack of a sense of humor, but he began to suspect there was more to the woman’s psyche than just a shared love of animals with Linda. He suspected she was a fellow gender bender. Forgetting for the moment that he despised the fact that others were always poking at him about his relationship with Paul, John decided to do a little poking himself.
“So, are you married Lillian?” John asked politely.
“No.” Lillian was glaring at him.
“Neither am I,” John said flirtatiously.
Lillian gave him a sour look. What on earth was he up to now? John continued,
“So you’re ‘playing the field’ just like I am, eh?”
“At my age I wouldn’t dream of ‘playing the field’, whatever that means,” Lillian scoffed.
“So there’s a man in your life, is there?”
“I didn’t say that, and no, there’s not, if it is any of your business.”
“Oh, you got me there,” John said, pretending to have been hit by an arrow in his heart. “I am terrible about minding my own business. It must be because no one else minds their own business when it comes to me.”
Lillian - against her better judgment - felt herself softening a little. “I’m sure that must be horrible; all those awful people telling lies about you, and publishing it for everyone to see. I was just commiserating about that with Linda.”
“Oh?” John’s ears pricked up. “What was that all about?”
“These irresponsible rumors about you and Paul. Honestly, it’s as if they have no sensitivity about how this would impact Linda!”
John noted that Lillian’s only concern was how the rumors affected Linda. He was cheered up a bit that his suspicions were on target. “It’s not ‘like’ they have no sensitivity, Lillian,” John said, “They really do not have any sensitivity. Not about Linda, not about Paul or me, and not about our children. We’re just cardboard cutouts to them, or characters in a soap opera, and they believe that by choosing to be performers and songwriters, we have ‘bought in’ to being treated like this.”
“Well, Linda didn’t choose to be famous,” Lillian huffed.
“Well, yes she did. She knew what she was getting into when she married Paul. No one twisted her arm. It’s the kids who had no say in the matter, actually.”
This shut Lillian up. She had no reply. John continued cheerfully,
“The three of us - Paul, Linda and me - we do our best to protect the kids from gossip, but there is only so much you can do. They’re all old enough to hear about it or read about it themselves, so it’s just one of the burdens they have to bear for having the temerity to be Beatle children.”
Lillian nodded in wan agreement, although she was not at all sure how the conversation went off on this tangent. She decided to bring it back to dead center. “In any case,” she said, “Linda handles it all so marvelously. She is a very strong woman.”
“Indeed she is,” John agreed. “She’d have to be to put up with our Paul and me.” He chuckled as he said this, but he was watching her eyes for a reaction. What he saw was a hopeful gleam. Score!
“The way you say that makes it seem that she is married to the both of you,” Lillian sniffed, thinking how awful for Linda that she had to have this boorish man hovering around all the time.
“She is, in a way. We’re a package deal. Always have been.” John was feeling euphoric that he had punctured the woman’s confidence. At times like these, he was not a nice person.
“You weren’t a ‘package deal’ when she married Paul,” Lillian differed.
“Weren’t we?” John asked lightly, his eyebrows raised as if to ask her to explain.
“The two of you were barely talking for years,” Lillian pronounced.
“Ahhh, talking…,” John said, pretending to finally get Lillian’s point. “You’re right about that. But then ‘talking’ isn’t really how Paul and I communicate, you know. We inhabit each other’s minds, so it really isn’t necessary for us to even be within shouting distance in order for us to communicate.”
Lillian was shocked at John’s comments. He was trying to make her believe the rumors were true! Fortunately, she’d already had the truth from Linda, and Linda was no liar, so she couldn’t imagine why Lennon was teasing her this way. “Well,” Lillian finally muttered, “that’s interesting. But I’m still not sure Linda saw it that way. She had a real marriage, and they have been inseparable.” Her loyalty to Linda was sticking out now like a sore thumb.
“Except when Paul and I are in London and she is not, and except with Paul and I are on tour…” John pointed out reasonably. “Linda and I have had to learn to share Paul, you know, and it hasn’t always been pretty. Didn’t she tell you that?”
“No she didn’t! And I don’t know why you are filling my head with all this nonsense. Do you find this funny?”
John pretended to look ashamed. “I’m bad, I know it. But I thought that since you and Linda are so…close…she would have confided in you. Apparently I’m wrong.” With that, he smiled in a friendly way and said, “I’m going to track Paul down, and see what he’s up to.” He turned on his heel and was gone, leaving Lillian bruised and bleeding in his wake.
Later that night, after Paul had assisted Linda in clearing up the party mess, and stacking everything neatly in the kitchen for the next day’s clean up, he and Linda sat down like a limp puddle on the sitting room sofa.
“Well, I’m exhausted!” Linda declared.
“Me, too,” Paul chuckled.
“Where’s John?” Linda asked.
“I sent him home over an hour ago. He was getting plastered, and was starting to be indiscreet.”
“Indiscreet?” Linda’s face reflected her concern.
“Oh, he was unintelligible, so I shouldn’t worry about it if I were you. I just walked him back to his place, and tucked him up in bed. He was sound asleep within seconds.”
Linda giggled. “He was quite the butterfly tonight, flitting from one guest to the other. He seemed to be in a very good mood, laughing and joking with everyone.”
Paul chuckled half-heartedly, because he had not trusted John’s good humor. “Personally, I think he was up to no good. He gets in these moods…”
Linda said, “Oh, you’re too hard on him. He was a perfect angel.”
Paul looked at her skeptically. “He was quite rude to Reverend and Mrs. West,” Paul said. “He suggested they were trying to get me to pay for the bell tower rescue.”
“Well, weren’t they?” Linda asked. “They usually do tend to rope us into these ‘community’ fundraising events.”
“They’re harmless,” Paul said, “and I agreed we would match whatever funds they raise from the community at large.”
Linda leaned over and kissed her husband while patting his thigh. “I am glad it’s over, though. Danny and Lillian were cross-examining me about the rumors.”
Paul was surprised by this. “No one said a word to me about it,” he said.
“They’re all scared of you, Paul. They wouldn’t dare.” Linda was chuckling.
“I’m not scary! Why would anyone be scared of me?”
“You are scary to outsiders, because you put on your heaviest suit of armor in front of them. It is quite intimidating actually.”
Paul had no inkling that this was how he was perceived by people he thought were friends, but he didn’t doubt the truth of Linda’s comment. “It’s that Beatle thing again, working against me. It’s hard not to suspect that they all want to plug into that Beatle magic.”
*****
A few days later Linda received a number of thank you notes from her party guests. She sat down to read them all at once while Paul and John were at work. She was at the kitchen table, with a hot cup of coffee.
“Linda,” read Lillian’s note first. After the first paragraph thanking her for the “wonderful” evening, Lillian had gotten right down to brass tacks: “After you and I spoke, John Lennon came to talk to me. He was horribly rude. Is he always like that? He asked a series of questions about my personal life, implied that I was lying about our friendship, and then proceeded to inform me that you had to ‘share’ Paul with him! He was trying to make me believe those horrible rumors are true! I just thought you should know, because you may not realize that he isn’t really your friend…”
Linda sighed as she read this. Oh, dear. Of course, Linda knew that Lillian had no sense of humor, so she wasn’t really surprised by this.
She picked up Gray Parsons’ thank you note next. He got straight to the point: “John Lennon was quite rude to me about our proposed business venture. He was trying to warn me off. I don’t know why you allow him in your circle. He does not appear to have your best interests at heart, and is loyal only to Paul.”
Oh, dear, Linda thought. But then, Parsons was quite arrogant, and probably John’s own arrogance was more than a match for his. Linda could see why Gray and John would not get along.
She picked up Danny Fields’s thank you note last: “Linda, John Lennon was a little rude to me - meeting him was quite disappointing!"
Linda sighed. When would she ever learn never to question Paul's take on John Lennon?