Lonely People

Fools On The Rooftop

One of the most common questions I am asked is what did I learn during my musical career. My answer is always the same, expect the unexpected. Everybody takes this as some sort of deep philosophical statement about how you cannot predict the future, but they're wrong. I say this because I spent most of my life with four lads who were as unpredictable as one could possibly be. They came up with outlandish ideas that, even to this day, I question.

"I'm tellin' you, I'm sick and tired of being locked up like some circus animal!" John exclaimed.

In an effort to get away, we all congregated in the largest bathroom we had. Molly, Janice, George, and I were all sitting in the bathtub with our heads propped on the wall and our legs going over the edge of the tub. It was a bit of a squeeze, but we made it. John and Paul were sitting on the counter, with John resting his legs on Paul's lap. Ringo was the only one to sit on the floor.

"It's not like we could sneak out," Paul replied, "They've got cops all over the place."

After the mob at our last show, Brian and Ellen made sure the security was multiplied ten times. Now, we couldn't go anywhere without at least three cops in sight. Sometimes I wondered if they were even in the bathroom, watching us through a peephole or something, like some sort of wonderwall.

"We could go down the fire escape," George suggested.

John snorted, "What fire escape? This building doesn't have one."

"What kind of building doesn't have a fire escape?" I scoffed.

"This one."

I rolled my eyes. Ringo pushed himself off the door and looked at John, "They're not guarding the roof."

"What do ya expect us to do?" Paul asked, "Leap off of it like some superhero or somethin'?"

John snapped his fingers, "No, the lad's got a point."

"What point?" George asked.

"The rooftop. It's outside, and it's unguarded, nobody could spot us there."

Paul sighed, "It's still not leaving."

"Fucking hell, Macca, it's the best option we've got. Take it or leave it."

"I vote we take it," I said.

Molly, Janice, George, and Ringo all nodded their agreements. All of us were so eager to get outside and away from prying eyes, we would take anything, even if it were as outlandish as a rooftop. Paul finally sighed and nodded, "Alright, let's go then."

"I'll get the drinks," John laughed.

He jumped up and flung the door open, vanishing into the dark room outside. I stood up next and turned to help Molly, Janice, and George out, "I'll get the blankets."

"Blankets?" Paul asked.

"It's February," I replied, "You think it'll be warm?"

Paul rolled his eyes at my sarcasm. Ringo grinned, "I'll help you, Mel."

"Ta."

The two of us left the bathroom and began to gather blankets. Ringo took every blanket from the room he shared with George. I did the same from the girl's room and we both took blankets from John and Paul's room.

There were no cops in the hallways or in the lift, which was good for us to get up on the roof undetected. One would think, if you truly wanted to protect someone, you would position guards at the bedroom door. Perhaps our managers were willing to give us a little bit of privacy.