***
'Do you want to go see your mum, John?' He asked, making John's heart race. He was aged 16 and was finally going to meet his mum after so many years of not seeing her.
'Yeah! How much do I need for the bus?' John asked, his mind racing with the possibility of finally meeting his mum properly. How would she take seeing him?
They kept walking, 'we don't need to catch a bus.' John's Australian (or he could possibly be from New Zealand, it is unclear of the relative's origin or name) relative looked confused. 'She only lives past the Golf course.'
John's heart dropped. 'Just over there?' He asked, not truely believing his words. 'You must be mistaken.' He said. 'She lives two buses away, Mimi said so herself.'
'No,' he replied. 'She lives this way, it's about a 10 minute walk.' He shrugged. 'I thought you knew.'
'No.' John scowled, walking behind him for the rest of the journey and not saying a word.
'You can knock.' He smiled. John took a deep breath and walked up to the door, banging loudly on the wooden frame. The door opened slightly to show a woman with red hair, curled slightly in the middle with bright red lipstick covering her tender lips.
'Hello?' She said, not looking at the person by the door.
'Mum?' Was all John could say, he could feel all of his emotions threatening to show. He felt betrayed and hurt, wounded by the lies Mimi had fed him from a young age.
'John?' Julia opened the door in disbelief and ushered him in, pulling him into a tight hug. 'You've grown so much since I last saw you!' She suddenly let go again, her eyes wide. 'What are you doing here? Does Mimi know?'
'No.' John said, simply.
'She can't find out you came here! She can't know that you've been here!' Julia cried, her voice showing clear signs of worry. 'Oh but we have so much to catch up on.' She tried to run into the living room, grabbing John's hand. He stood completely still and overpowered her excitement, grounding them both where they were.
'Why didn't you come back for me?' He asked.
Julia's eyes looked sorrowful. She sighed. 'I'm so sorry, John.'
'Why didn't you come back?' He let a few tears drop from his eyes before he straightened himself back up and manned up. He wiped the tears away and shouted. 'Answer me!'
'Julia? Who is it?' A grubby man walked through the door from the garden. His eyes grew into flames as he saw John by the door. 'You're not supposed to be here.' He folded his arms.
'Oh Bobby please!' Julia screamed. 'I need to speak to him, just for a while.' She said, calmer now and walking over to her clear boyfriend. His eyes narrowed.
'Any funny business and you come get me.' He said.
'Go Bobby.' She said, reassuring him. 'Come on John, come through here.' She showed him to the living room and sat him down on the sofa. 'How did you find me?'
'Why didn't you come back?' He stamped his foot down, his eyes threatening to well up again.
'I wanted to. I did.' She admitted. 'But Mimi told me I couldn't cope, she said she'd take better care of you. I wanted what was best for you. You needed Mimi.'
'I needed my mum.' He said, finally subsiding to tears. Julia grabbed his hand and cried with him.
'I needed you too.' She sobbed. 'But it wouldn't have worked.' She told him, 'I was living with my dad - your grandfather.'
'So?'
'I just-' She decided against telling him about his sister, the sister she sent off for adoption. 'I wasn't in a good place.'
'But then you were.' He crossed his arms, pulling his hand away from her's. 'You found Bobby.' He scoffed. 'How long have you been here?'
'Since you were six.' She shrugged. John's heart snapped.
'Ten years?' He stood up, not believing what he was hearing. 'You've been 10 minutes away from me for ten fucking years?' He growled.
'John - please don't use that language in this house.' She pleaded. 'Julia and Jackie might hear you.'
'Julia and Jackie?' He screamed. 'Who are they?'
Julia looked down at her twiddling thumbs and sighed. 'Your half sisters.'
'You have more children?' John sat back down in disbelief. 'You have two daughters?'
'Yes.' She sighed.
'And you can look after them but not me?'
'It's not like that, John. Really it isn't.'
'Can I see them?' He asked. Julia didn't know how to respond and instead just nodded, feeling John had a right to know them. She pointed out of the window to the garden where Bobby sat with two girls. He made his way out of the house and walked over to them.
'What are you doing?' Bobby asked in a harsh tone, making one of the two girls jump up and look at John. She was a lot shorter than he was.
'Hi.' He said, plainly.
'Who are you?' The eldest of the two girls asked.
'I'm John.' He replied without hesitation. 'I'm your brother.'
'Julia.' She held her hand out. 'And this is Jackie.'
John smiled. And got to know them a little before he noticed it was time to head home, knowing Mimi would be out of her mind with worry. He bid the two girls farewell and nodded to Bobby, who sat with great impatience on the deckchair in the garden. Julia followed him to the door and took his hand.
'Now you know where I am, you can pop round anytime.' She said. 'Please don't tell Mimi about this.'
John looked at her with wide eyes, ignoring her words and looking straight past her concerned face at an instrument in the corner. 'What's that?'
'What?' She looked to where his gaze was and smiled. 'Oh, that's my banjo.'
'You can play?' He asked.
'A little.' She smiled.
'I want a guitar, like Elvis, but Mimi said no.' He shrugged.
'Well,' Julia laughed, 'if you promise you'll pop round later this week, I'll teach you a little.'
'You will?' His eyes lit up.
'Sure I will.' She sniggered. 'Have a safe journey home, John.'
'See you.' He said, walking down the street and across the golf course back to Mendips.
Mimi sat with great anticipation on the kitchen table, staring at the front door. John unlocked the door to see Mimi's glare straight on him. He frowned, still mad at her for lying to him all those years.
'You knew mum lived 10 minutes away but you didn't tell me.' He grumbled, walking directly towards her and slamming his keys on the table. 'You lied to me for 10 years of my life.'
'You haven't been there, have you?' She jumped up. John didn't respond. 'I don't want you going there again.'
'Why?' John screamed.
Mimi took a breath and sat back down. 'Your mother didn't want you, John.' She sighed. 'She has her own family now.'
'Julia and Jackie and Bobby, I know. I know everything.' He laughed. 'She's my mum and you stopped me seeing her.'
'It was for your own good.'
'No, it was for your own good.' He growled ferociously.
Mimi looked hurt by those words and scowled slightly, walking to the oven and pulling an apple pie from the grill. 'Go to your room, I don't want to see you.'
John shook his head. 'I'm sorry, Mimi.' He said before walking to his room. He was mad at her for lying but that comment was uncalled for, she'd done a lot for him over the years and he never truely showed his gratitude. He was all she had left now that Uncle George had gone. She needed him more than ever and he was pushing her away.
John's body sank into a deep sleep as he wavered through his memories of his mother. He remembered the pain it caused him to see her walk away, knowing she may never come back for him. But he had to know her. He had to see her again.
***
'Does Mimi know you're here?' Was the first thing Julia asked when she opened the door to John. She let out a sigh of relief when he shook his head.
'No.' He replied. 'She thinks I'm at Pete's.'
'Shotton?' She asked.
'That's right.' He smiled, taking a seat on the sofa. Julia grabbed her banjo and sat beside him.
'Shall we begin?' She quizzed. John nodded in compliance and grinned a wide smile. 'We'll start with the 'C' chord first.'
John took the banjo in his hands and felt an instant warmth come from the instrument as he strummed.
'Do you like Elvis, ma?' He asked.
'Elvis?' She looked at him through glistening eyes. 'I love Elvis.'
'Mimi doesn't.' He sniped. 'She makes me turn it off whenever I put it on.'
'Mimi always liked the old music.' She said, reminiscing. 'She always had it playing in the bunker during the war, it drived me insane!'
'Was she always so - uptight?'
'Mimi is very old fashioned in her ways, she takes great pride in herself.' Julia told him. 'She has a good heart.'
'She does.' John sighed, feeling a pang of guilt as he thought about the lies he'd told her.
After a couple of hours of learning banjo chords and Julia playing a few short snippets of songs she'd learnt, John stood up.
'I told Mimi I'd be back before sundown.' He told her. 'Thanks for today though.'
'Drop by again soon.' Julia said. 'Please.'
'I will.' John promised, pulling his mum into a hug. He ran out of the door and across the golf course quickly, aiming to get home in half the time it would usually take.
He found Mimi stood in the living room beside the phone. 'Pete's mother told me you never dropped round.' She said. 'You've been with her, haven't you? Your mother?'
'I'm sorry, Mimi.'
'I don't do nicely with lies, John.'
'You've lied to me my whole life.'
'I'm not getting into that now.' Was all she could say, John rolled his eyes.
He braced himself for the worst. 'Mum taught me a few chords on the banjo today. I want to start a band, Mimi.'
'A band? Music won't get you anywhere in life.' She said.
'It'd be fun.' John shrugged. 'Can I buy a guitar?'
'No.' She said. 'You can buy yourself some stationary and some books and you can study for your exams.'
'But Mimi-'
'I said no John. And that's final.'
With that John stormed upstairs, slamming the door behind himself. No guitar? Unfair.
***
John dawdled into school with his tie in his pocket and his shirt untucked, chewing gum with his hair slicked back in a 'cool' fashion.
'Ah, Mr Lennon, it's nice of you to turn up.' The teacher folded his arms and hissed. 'Even if you are an hour late.'
'You've been stood by this gate a whole 60 minutes instead of teaching, I'm not being funny, Sir, but you're no better off than I am.' John sniggered.
'Go to the office.' He growled. 'Now.'
John rolled his eyes and slung his bag over his shoulder in a fed up manner. He knocked on the door and took a seat opposite the headteacher.
'You've been suspended, Lennon.'
***
'Suspended?' Mimi yelled.
'Yes Mimi, suspended!' John laughed. 'It could be worse though.'
'How?' She screamed. 'How could it be worse?'
'I could've been expelled.' He laughed, unwrapping some gum with his bloodied fingers.
'This isn't a joke, John.' She said.
'You've got to admit, it is quite funny.' He giggled.
'You've been missing lessons.'
'I've been having better ones.'
'Guitar will not make you any money.'
'I can at least try.'
'No John. I won't allow it.'
'Too late.' He smirked. 'Mum already bought me a guitar.' He said. 'I'm already alright at it.' He admitted. 'And I've started a band at school. We're called the Quarrymen.'
'Tell me you're joking.'
'I'm joking.' He winked. 'Except I'm not and I shouldn't tell you lies.'
'John Winston Lennon!' Mimi screamed as John raced up to his room and locked the door, collapsing onto his bed in pits of laughter.
Suspension from school meant he could go to his mum's whenever he liked. The joke was really on the school.
This was no punishment.
***
I'm so excited for the next chapter because *spoiler* it's the day John meets Paul! But that will have to wait for tomorrow...
I hope you are enjoying the story so far, leave your opinions in the comment.
Thanks!
HelloLittleReader x
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