Three weeks after, in the window-made room of MPL Communications. Eleanor was on the phone.
"So she’s really okay. Dr. Shears, do the possible and the impossible. I need her here alive. Yes, indeed, she’s a nut case when she wants to. I know it better than anyone. Okay, Dr. Thank you."
Eleanor turned down the phone and faced her friends. On that window-made meeting room, Danny, Mary, Daniel, Hari and Sarah Fade-in were cramped, waiting for an answer from their leader. she sighed and faced them.
"Brittany is okay. She’s getting through the cold turkey...but dr. Shears said she'd be fine."
"Did he mention for how long she will have to stay there?", Daniel asked, sternely.
"He did", Eleanor said. She stopped, sighed and went on. "More two months."
"That means we don’t have a bass player to the Reading Festival.", Danny Boy said.
"Exactly. Unless we seek for a substitute, while she’s out."
"Do we have to?"
"We do! Of course we do. We’re promoting a new album, we need to tour. Britty won’t kill us for this. We’re not booting her away, just finding someone else while she’s out."
Eleanor’s way of thinking made some sense. Mary was the first one to speak. "Well, I know a guy."
"Oh, do you?"
"Yep, I do. He’s a hiring musician at Olympic Studios. Jonathan Beston. Plays very well. Like, he’s a bit shy, but it’s alright."
"Do you think he takes the job?"
"Well, I do. Do you want a better promotion to someone than to play one famous band?"
"Talk to him, then. I don’t think there’s nothing more to be added, there is?"
Danny was the first to excuse himself - he had to take Marlene to the doctor, and he was already late. Soon, one by one all of them left the meeting room. Only Hari stood with Eleanor.
"More two months, Hari", she said, in a hiss. "Two months. In two months all of this can be vanished. In two months they can get fed up with us. A lot can happen in this time."
"Let tomorrow be, Ell. Think about today, tomorrow is a consequence."
"Is it?", she sighed. "I have to do those shows at Reading. That’s my only plan for now. Let tomorrow be...If I let TODAY be it’s more than enough!"
Hari laughed at that, and Eleanor laughed along. And, for one of those things that only God can explain, soon both of them were in a unexplainable giggle fit, laughing like two madmen. Eleanor bent like a jack-knife, holding her stomach and laughing, while Hari was thrown back on the chair, seeking for air and yet laughing and laughing.
"Stop, stop, Hari!", Eleanor pleaded, between laughs.
"Stop you first!" , he pleaded.
"I can’t! Stop it!"
"I can’t either!", he shouted, feeling the tears leaking down his face.
"Oh gosh, alright already!", she shouted, finally managing to keep herself serious. "What happened to us, Hari Winstonson?"
"Gee, I don’t know. But wasn’t I needing it!"
"The same!", she said. "Come on, let’s get out at once. The day is far from ending."
"Alright...you know, it’s funny."
"What?"
"Be playing with you. I can still remember when I was your teacher."
"The messiest one, by the way."
"Oh, really. You had a crush on me, why don’t you admit it?"
Eleanor didn’t look to him, then. He sighed, regretting saying that.
"You know, Hari, if James didn’t cross my way, we could have had a good story.", she said, more to herself than to him - but he listened anyway.
London Town greeted the couple, while they walked away from the MPL building. "So, see you tomorrow?", she said.
"See you tomorrow. And, Eleanor?"
"What?"
"Let tomorrow be.", he said, laughing. Eleanor went away, and Hari managed to go to a pub near the building. There he found Rhapsody and Sparkle, commemorating something.
"Hey there, folks.", he said, sitting at their table.
"Hey there, Hari! You just don’t know what this boy told me", Sparkle said.
"Well, let’s say I don’t"
"I am going to ask Sarah tomorrow.", Rhapsody said.
"Ask her what?"
"Ask if she wants to be my wife.", he explained. "She’s the woman of my life. Let’s see if she agrees with that!"
"They’ve been out for a time", Sparkle explained. "If there are two people meant to the altar, it’s him and Fade-in."
"Well, why don’t you look happy? Come on, be brave!", Winston joked. "Seriously now, congratulations, guy. You deserve nothing but the best."
"Thanks!", he laughed.
"And you, Hari?", Sparkle asked. "Do you have a girl of your own?"
Hari sighed. "There was one girl.", he answered. "She was the other half of my sky. But, things didn’t work well between us."
"That’s terrible. What was her name?"
"Yoko."
"Like that Japanese artist? The one married to John Lennon?"
"Yep, exactly."
"Well, what life is, isn’t it, folks. You at least had one girl. And what about me!? I am always the last choice of any bird’s list."
Hari laughed, and as they talked about their old flames, Winston felt his heart beating heavily against his ribs. For the love he still felt, but that he knew it was impossible to happen. Damned was the man who torn our destinies apart, he sighed.
"One scotch, if you please!", Hari yelled to the barman. He turned to the roadies.
"But you know, I am in love again."
"Really?"
"Who's the lucky ckick?"
"It'a widow I know."
"Ah...a widow...You tell me, Hare Hari, is she pretty?"
"She is.", he said, with a little smile.
"Ah...o amor", Sparkle laughed.
"O what?", Rhapsody and Hari asked at the same time.
"It's Portuguese. Amor means love. Did I tell you my father was from Brazil? So it happens that I know a little bit of Portuguese."
"If your old man is from Brazil why does he speak Portuguese?"
"Rhapsody, do you knnow a little that is of World History? The Portuguese conquered Brazil, that's why they speak Portuguese. Got that, numbling fool?"
"How was I to know, anyway, I barely know about English History!"
Hari began to laugh at the two roadies' faces. They were a good reason to be there.
"So you want me to play instead of Britty Willians?"
"For two months only. What do you say?"
"Can’t deny it’s a temptation."
Jonathan Beston was a short, blonde guy with fierce eyes of green. He didn’t look a day over eighteen, but was already twenty-four, the same age as Mary’s. Devoted fan of The Rolling Stones, he was known for being a rather shy fellow. Nobody has ever seen him with a girl, true girlfriend or groupie. He seemed to live for music only.
"Stop thinking, Beston. I need one answer. We got to go to Reading this week."
"I have nothing to do in this time. I take it."
"Wonderful. You can meet the band tomorrow."
Mary extended her hand to Beston. A deal. "So see you tomorrow.", Mary said, turning to leave.
Eleanor, sat down in front of the television, was bothering herself watching some old movies. The telephone rang and she picked it up.
"Hello."
"Turn on the scrambler."
The voice was Mary’s. Eleanor turned on the little machine, that mixed telephone calls - so nobody else could hear what they were talking.
"Done, Mary."
"Good. Listen, I tracked down the bass player."
"And?"
"He’s in."
"Wonderful, wonderful."
"He’s meeting us tomorrow down at Abbey Road. Ell, did Brittany call?"
"Dr. Shears did. She’s still on the darkness."
"Oh my Lord. Well, gotta turn off. See you tomorrow, Ell."
"See you."
She turned off the phone and leaned her head on the pillows. More one step. Just one more step to keep things going. When that highway would end? Why she picked it up, to start with?
Something bigger than life, bigger than fate, bigger than anything else. It was her destiny. She had searched for her destiny, and she knew what she would take when she arrived there. But she didn’t know what would be next!
The telephone rang again.
"Hello."
"Hello Mrs. McAllen. Mary said I could call you now."
"Who are you?", Eleanor asked, a bit shocked by the fact that the man called her by her real name - the name she adopted after the marriage.
"I am Jonathan Beston. The bass player that will substitute Willians. Didn’t Mary warn you I’d call?"
"She didn’t!"
Eleanor analysed the voice. Polite, discreet, almost afraid of speaking. Which man was the owner of that voice?
"Well, she might have forgotten, that might happen...Well, sorry for bothering."
"Nah, don’t. Well, what for did you call me?"
"I forgot to ask her when shall I be at the studio. As I had to talk to you, I thought I should ask you."
"Oh, I see! Well, show up by nine o’. Is there any trouble?"
"Oh no. I’m what people call ‘early bird’. Sorry for bothering you again...and good night."
"Good night.".
Eleanor hang off the phone. Mary’s friend, good player, with a shy voice and over-polite. Who would be that Beston?
Abbey Road was the deadest place by the morning. Only early bird producers, or the ones who spent the whole night there, would show up between six and ten o’clock. It was the time Eleanor used to rehearse, with nobody looking. It was wonderful, and silent - the only thing she needed to write.
Just as she was about to begin, she heard someone knocking on the door. Without looking to it, she ordered "Come in!"
It was Beston. Eleanor raised her eyes to see him, in surprise.
"Hello, Mrs. McAllen", he said, entering the studio.
"So you are Beston", she said, smiling. "You can call me Eleanor, if you like."
"So, Eleanor.", he said.
The conversation died. Eleanor looked to him once again. He was cute. Not a handsome man, just a cute and shy boy. But his eyes...oh, his eyes. Eyes of green, like two emeralds. That promised more than his appeal showed.
Mary entered the studio, running as always. "Good morning all of you...oh, Ell, so I see you’ve already met Britty’s stand-in."
"Yes, it seems I did."
"Don’t worry abbot this shy face, girl, the man is a devil with four bass strings."
"That’s what I want to see.", Eleanor shrugged .
"So, let’s jam a bit. Shall we?"
Eleanor nodded, and sat down in front of the piano again. "I Remember. Know this one, Beston?"
"Yes."
"So, you can start."
And he did start. Eleanor analysed the way he played. Technically perfect. But there was something lacking. There was no soul on it. It wasn’t like Brittany, who’d give all she had playing. Beston was perfect for a cover-up, but only for that. He could never substitute Brittany in that band.
"Alright, you are good.", Eleanor simply said.
"Well, it can get better."
"Better!", Mary shouted, laughing. "Stay just the way you are, Beston. That IS perfect".
"I don’t think so, you know. I am always searching the perfection."
"Poor of you!", Eleanor sighed.
The rest of the day went by like a cloud - rehearsals to the shows in Reading, some social chatting to get to know that Beston better, callings to the clinic. Brittany was better, and now was beginning to ask for her band mates. Eleanor couldn’t help it - when she hanged off, the wife of James McAllen felt as empty as never. Alone at the window-made room at the MPL building, she was about to cry, when Hari entered the room, once again without knocking on the door.
"Eleanor, what’s up?", Hari asked. She sighed loud.
"Want to hear?", she asked, not really wanting to tell.
"I’d not ask if I didn’t want to."
"Oh, boy", she said. "You know, it’s the cover-up boy. That Beston is a donkey!", she cried out. "He can perfectly cover up for Brittany, but... it’s not the same."
"You have to learn how to discharge, sometimes. You can’t have all, all the time."
"Discharge?", Eleanor asked, horrified. "You mean let go? No way! That means give up. And giving up to me is synonymous of death."
"Eleanor, listen up. You can’t be so strict. Sometimes...you have to let go something to stay afloat. You can’t have all at the same time, you see. To let something grow, you got to leave some of what you had behind...it’s not a discharge, it’s a change of views."
Eleanor saw red with that. What was it, Hari preaching lessons? How dare him! He could be her friend, but that didn’t give him the right of acting like a father, like the father she had and hated to remember. Hari sounded like William McGuire, only less overwhelming.
"Now look who’s giving me a sermon. Winston Harrison, professional wannabe!", she shouted hotly, straight at his face.
Hari looked down, surprised and offended with those words. Eleanor was hurt too, but kept on talking. "How can you, that is always going and coming, tell me about keeping? Brittany is my best friend! Do you want me to step back and watch her die?!"
She started to cry, yet throwing words at Winston. Words that were meant to tear the soul like a knife. Word that needed to be said.
"You always leave when we need you. Remember last time? I looked back and you were gone into the haze. Brittany was here for me when I needed her...and now it’s the pay back time. That’s why I am not leaving her. I will never leave someone who needs me. I am not like you, Hari. I want to keep what I have. If that means I will have to drown, then I will drown!"
She left the room, crying. Hari landed on a chair, wondering if she was right. She wasn’t! He never really left her. He was always looking after her, from his place in heaven.
But she’d never, ever understand who he was. She worshipped John Lennon. How could he say that he was there, under the skin of Winston Harrison?
"Maybe it’s time to tell her the truth.", he said to himself. "Come what may to me. It’s time to let her know who the hell I am. She will understand why, then. And she will forgive me for not being here in body, but in soul"
With that decision in mind, and without really thinking about the consequences of telling her who he was, he moved himself to talk to Eleanor. Time had come. He felt no remorse, just that inner pain of let go something you’ve been hiding for a lifetime.
But as he was leaving, one voice called him.
"Hari!"
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