Paul McCartney Is My Teacher

Two Of Us

"Her name was Joanne, and she lived in a meadow by a po-o-ond..."

I rolled over in the bed and tapped the snooze button on my IPod. You know how in books you read about yesterday's events just flooding back to you the next morning? Well, that's 100% how it happened- it hit me like a ton of bricks.

It's a lot to handle at 5:00 a.m.

Technically, I didn't have to be up for another hour and a half, but I like to give myself time to wake up and get into the groove of a new day.

I slipped in to the outfit that I'd packed yesterday. I didn't even look at which one I'd taken, but I didn't have many to choose from to begin with. I flicked on the lamp that sat on the bedside table; the outfit is chosen was a shirt displaying a pattern of the "A Hard Day's Night" album cover, with the same blue jeans I wore just about every day. My slip on sneakers sat nearly by the doorway and I slipped them on after getting dressed and ready.

I opened the door slowly, so as not to wake anyone else in the house. With a toothbrush and toothpaste in hand, I ventured out of the room.

I roamed the hallways, carefully looking through each keyhole on the doors that looked like they opened up to potential washrooms. How to find it, in a massive house like this?

Finally I found one. I brushed my teeth, carefully so as not to make anything extra for Ivory or Rosa to clean up later. As I relocated my room, I heard the door open downstairs. I threw my bathroom supplies back into my bag and tiptoed down the stairs, equipped with my backpack.

I placed it carefully by the door and looked out the windows into the streets, where the streetlights were emitting light to the dark, black night.

The door closed rather loudly and I jumped. It was as if someone had unintentionally slammed it. I knew a burglar would be better practiced and that someone considerably clumsy would've done it.

"Robin?"

"Winona, my lord is that you?" I saw Robin on the ground by the back door, a little disgruntled-looking as he fumbled around trying to fix the position of his glasses.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you alright?" I asked, kneeling down to help him again as I'd done the night before.

"Quite alright, thank you Winona. What are you doing up so early? I saw your light on and came to investigate!" He stated, getting louder as his sentence went on as if he were announcing something in court.

"I was only getting ready for school, Robin. No need to worry." I assured him. He looked startled by something- but then, when didn't he?

"What a brave soul you are- to continue to go to school only one day after the death of your poor, poor mother." I only wish that everyone knew that school was the one thing that kept me going...

"Yeah, well..." I trailed off, I didn't have anything to say to that.

"Fancy some breakfast?" He asked, switching the subject like the previous one had been of no more importance than the weather.

"Oh, no thank you Robin." I replied.

"Surely you must eat something before school? Normally Mr McCartney has Ivory create a meal of some sort for him and Ms Senneth, I can offer you something but I'm sorry, it will be no feast." He said it like a warning.

"Really, Robin, I'm fine."

"Well then at least let me give you something of my own creation, just as a small breakfast." I agreed at last to that.

"Alright, what is it?" I asked.

"Follow me, and we shall see!" He proclaimed. I grinned at his...actions, words. Just him in general.

He led me to a greenhouse on the edge of Paul's pond.

"Is this where you live?" I asked. "It looks very nice."

He nodded. "Paul gave this to me as a gift, my home while I work at his home. My home away from home. Except, this is my only home." He added, with a short chuckle at the end.

He handed me something in a sealed plastic bag.

"What's in it?" I asked. It didn't look so hot- maybe if I pretended to be allergic to an ingredient, I could get away with not eating it and avoid hurting his feelings.

"Pumpkin, kale, and ground soy beans." I'd always been one for pumpkin- I'd never had kale or soybeans, but the media was never one to portray them kindly...

It's too early in the morning to lie I decided, and I took a pumpkin-kale-soybean thin from the bag and popped it into my mouth.

Believe it or not, it was delicious.

"That's...really, truly amazing." I told him truthfully.

"You mean that?"

"Of course! Robin, I wouldn't lie to you." I removed another one from the bag and ate it. He looked delighted at the prospect of me liking his thins. "What? Don't Paul and the others like them?"

"They refuse to try them," he admitted. I smiled sympathetically at him.

"Well, maybe I'll convince them." I giggled. We sat there for a moment, just the two of us in silence before I glanced down at my IPod- the time was 6:12. "I think I'd better be going back in." I told him.

"Well, take some for the long and winding road." He told me, tossing me a bag of chips.

"Thanks." I smiled. "See you later, Robin."

I walked back to the house, and I saw the sun beginning to peak over the greenhouse as I looked back at it.

I entered quietly through the back door (unlike Robin) and sat down on the sofa again. I sat there for five minutes at the least, just twiddling my thumbs and looking around the room. It was a nice room, it fit the whole Victorian scheme of the house. Wood, wood, and more wood- and some stone in the darnedest of places. It was quite entertaining to observe, actually.

I heard someone coming down the stairs, and I self consciously straightened my back out. My Grandmother had always taught me to do that, and I still carried it with me after she passed on.

"Hey, Winona." It was Ms Senneth. "You're up early- however, I do recall a discussion with you where you stated rising early to give yourself time. I suppose you weren't kidding." She sighed. "It seems such a short while ago..."

"But that was two years ago." I concluded quietly to myself.

She nodded absent-mindlessly and sat herself down on the couch. "Would you like something to eat?" She asked. I smiled, remembering the wonderful breakfast I'd just shared.

"No, thank you. Robin saw my light on and he came in, it was still early so he showed me his lovely greenhouse and he shared some of his homemade vegetable thins with me." I told her. I think kale was a vegetable, at least. Pumpkin might be a fruit...

"I've never quite gotten the nerve to try those." She chuckled. "I'm astounded that you were willing to."

"They were actually pretty good." I came to Robin's defense. "He told me that he was a bit offended that nobody would try them." Sh raised an eyebrow.

"Well, he certainly never expressed that to Paul or I." She sighed and gazed in the direction of the illuminated greenhouse. "You just read people like a book sometimes, Winona. And you don't even realize..." What did she mean by that?

"Is it time already?" Paul could be heard groaning as he trudged downstairs behind a smiling Rosa.

"Yes, Mr McCartney." She tutted him for being so lazy, and I did my best not to laugh as she winked at me. "Come on now, you've got a little one to get to school as well. Good morning, Winona, Julie."

"Ah, yes..." He trailed off, and I was almost sure he'd fallen asleep standing on the stairs. "Happy Christmas..."

Ms Senneth walked over to him and with Rosa's help she guided him down the stairs. He was sat in a recliner and immediately Rosa made a cup of tea and set it down for him.

"Well, as soon as this one wakes up I think we'll leave." Ms Senneth told me. "Teachers have to be at school significantly earlier."

I only nodded. What an interesting day this would be...