She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

Cautious to Wreckless

As I turned the corner onto my street, I could see a tall figure standing at my door down the road. He seemed to be waiting for someone to answer and welcome him inside. I recognized the thin man as George Harrison, my new boyfriend who I was actually looking forward to spending the day with. Apprehension was still prevalent however as I walked down the sidewalk and waved to the guitarist.

“Oh, hello” he exclaimed when he saw me. His eyes lit up with excitement as he bounced on his heels.

“Hi,” my face immediately felt warm as my eyes met his. I had never felt so shy around someone before. Maybe that was a bad sign? No, it was a good thing I was nervous because then I would be less likely to do something stupid.

“Everything okay? You didn’t forget about our date did you?” George asked me with a concerned expression.

“Of course not!”

“Well, come ‘ead!” George wrapped his arm around my waist with a big crooked grin on his face.

I giggled at his persistence. “Where are we going?”

“To a little cafe around the corner.”

I knew exactly which cafe he was talking about. It was a small, quaint place that looked like it was built in the twenties. Outside of the cafe were always two round tables on either side of the front door. I assumed the tables were there for decoration only because no one ever used them. The inside was filled with booths that were lined against walls while round tables similar to the ones outside were positioned in the middle of the floor. The cafe also had a bar where people could sit on stools and drink their tea and read their papers.

George led me to a table against one of the front windows. A waitress approached us and asked for our orders but something wasn’t right about her. She was acting awkward as if she was being held on trial. She reached over me to fill a glass with water but ended up spilling it all over the table.

The waitress gasped at what she had done. “Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry! You know how sticky fingers can be!” She laughed at her comment. “I’ll clean this up right away!” She took a rag out of one of her apron pockets and mopped up the mess.

“So when is the band’s next gig?” I asked after the waitress had left .

“Uh, what’s today?” He scratched the back of his head while I laughed at his confusion.

“It’s Thursday.”

“Then our next gig is Saturday night!”

“Are you guys going to play any new songs?” I asked swirling my straw in my drink.

“Yeah, we have a few that we’ve been practicing. We'll probably put them on the next record.” I loved the way he said certain words like “record.” He spoke so slowly as if he wanted to take his time in pronouncing every syllable in a word.

“Have you written any songs?” I was trying to seem as interested in the conversation as George was, but I just couldn’t focus. Something was distracting me, but I couldn’t define what it was. Could feelings be considered distracting?

While I tried to remain attentive to the conversation, George babbled on about how John, Paul and the record company had been pestering him to write his own song. He described how John and Paul had each other to bounce ideas back and forth while he simply had himself. If I had actually been listening, I probably would’ve told him I understood how that felt. However I just gazed out the window at a paper bag blowing down the street.  

George was oblivious to my disinterest. He continued telling me about how successful the band was - a fact I was well aware of. He attributed their success to each of the Beatles because despite their differences, they all meshed well together. John had his wit and humor, while Paul had his charm and confidence and Ringo had his goofiness and relaxed, easy going nature. George didn’t mention his qualities because he was far too shy to do that. But I knew then that his talent and persistence were key in their success. Combined all together, they created this unimaginable energy that touched everything and anyone who heard their sound.