12-08-80

.13.

John and I arrived at the Greenville Little Theatre with wide smiles. We pushed through the crowds to the ticket booth.

"Two-- uh, one, ticket please!" I asked the lady behind the counter. She smiled and handed me the white ticket.

I turned around to see John admiring the crowd with a look of awe.

"People still love our music this much!?" He asked in astonishment.

"Yes, of course!" I laughed and pulled him toward the entrance into the room with the seats. John and I pushed through many people. Young, old, hippish, and non. We reached two empty seats five rows back from the stage. I pulled down John's seat for him. He sat down nervously and then turned back to observe the room.

"What's wrong?" I asked with a smile.

"What? Oh nothing! I'm just....look at all these people!" He laughed.

He was right. The amount of people who had turned out was amazing! Hundreds of people were packing into the auditorium. We had made it just in time! The seats were filled and soon there was only standing room left.

I smiled at his happiness. I've never seen him so enthralled! Soon the lights dimmed and the curtain rose to reveal a set up of instruments. The bustling crowd quieted and paid its dear attention to the man that sauntered onto the stage.

"Hello, everyone!" He waved to us. "Our show is about to start but I wanted to let everyone know that the show will have one intermission and in that time you may buy concessions and merchandise from the front desk. But you didn't come to hear me talk. You came to hear some great music! Now without further ado, here, today, I am proud to present to you the one, the only, The Return!" The rat-like old man pointed excitedly towards the side of the stage where the four guys trotted out onto the stage in black suits. The rat man left the stage as the crowd cheered. The sound was deafening! I couldn't even hear myself. John covered his ears and looked with a grin around at the other people.

"Hello everyone!" Shane Landers, the man who portrayed Paul said into the microphone.

John turned to me and nodded. "Wow, he really does sound like McCartney."

"I told you!" I yelled.

The boys went right into playing 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' John reveled at the music which sounded out with little variation from the Beatles actual sound.

After several songs I looked over to John but he wasn't there. In panic my smiled fell and I searched the room for his face. When I found him he was standing right at the bottom of the stage. He was watching Michael Fulop, the man who preformed as George, intently.

He slowly made his way up onto the stage. John walked a circle around Shane and came away with a smile. Next he came up beside Michael. He imitated Michael's guitar playing. He laughed and moved on. He then visited Adam Thurston on the drums. John ruffled his hair and made a derp face To get Adam to smile. He, of course, failed. Lastly, he came up to Richard Stelling, who was pretending to be John himself. He patted the man on the shoulder and looked out into the crowd to find me. He smiled as we caught each other's eyes.

The song ended and Richard began to speak.

"Well everyone! I hope you are enjoying our playing and such but I have to interrupt it for a moment." Richard said with a scouse accent. "Last year, the lads and I went on a cruise. Was anyone there with us!?" About ten people screamed out. "Good to have you! Well, we're doing it again this year!" Everyone cheered. "Yeah, all of us are gonna be there Me, Paul, George, and even Ringo. And he's to wear his speedo!" Richard joked. Only a few people in the crowd whistled.

"I tell you that thing is quite amazing." Richard said. "It's camouflaged you know." half the people, including myself laughed. Richard kept his cool just long enough to say, "You can see right through it." The room erupted in laughter. John doubled over and swayed as he laughed. He stumbled over a chord and fell. He tumbled off the stage and hit the ground with a hard thwump! I stood on my tip toes to see if he was okay. He jumped up and made his way back to me.

On stage the boys had continued adlibbing.

Shane punched Richard in the arm.

"What?" Asked Richard.

"You can't say that, It's the Sunday crowd you know!" Shane scolded him.

"I know it's the Sunday crowd Paul!" Richard laughed.

John put his arm around my shoulders and cheered along with the crowd. I put my hand over his and leaned into his shoulder. What more could I have asked for? Absolutely nothing!