(Just Like) Starting Over

Man, Paul Looks Like a Woman

The sun shines into the bedroom causing Rita to slowly wake up. She immediately reached out to wake John but felt nothing.

Rita sat up, panicked until she hears a voice coming from the ground. "I'm here." She looked down to see John in his shirt and boxers inspecting her phone. "The vibrating of this... uh, device woke me up." Rita opened her mouth but was interrupted. "Wait, this is not what I think it is?" He looks up at her and smirks. "John!" She slides off the bed and sits next to him.

"What! Everyone has needs." Rita gives him a look, "It's not that kind of toy."

"If it not that then, what is it?" She grabbed the phone away from him. "It's a phone." She pressed the home button on the phone to show him. John moved away from the device, "I've seen a phone," He pointed at the phone. "That is not a phone."

"It's a smartphone. Technology has really advanced since you've been gone."

"So, you just call people with it? I'm guessing it's portable?" Rita nodded. "Well, you use it to make calls, but it's also an encyclopedia, clock, it has a calendar, you can take pictures and record things. You can do so much on this small device."

He looked confused. "How can all of those things fit in there?" "Um, those things got smaller too and they were able to create my smartphone by coding and all that crap." John looked like he understood a little.

"Yeah, it's really complicated. I kinda don't even know how all of it works but I learned." She checked the phone. "Oh, my mom called, gotta call her back later." She sighed. "Maybe, I can get my daughter Jackie to teach you how to use this and also more things as well."

John nodded. "I suggest you take a shower since we have a lot to talk about." She helped John up. He looked at her realizing that she was a bit taller than him. "You're tall." He thought out loud, automatically causing him to cringe. "Thank you, you are too," She patted his shoulder awkwardly and gave him a kind smile. "I'll show you where the shower is, and bring a towel and some clothes for you."

John stood in the living room waiting for Rita to finish up in the bathroom. He walked around in the big shirt and sweatpants she gave him to wear. He stared at the TV in front of him, fascinated by how flat it became. John moved from the television to look at some of the pictures on the wall. There were mostly pictures of Rita and a younger Jackie with the occasional one of them and other family members. He looked at the TV stand and saw a picture in a tiny frame with a younger Rita, she couldn't have been older than twenty, cuddling with a man; who looked to be the same age, they were both dressed in a plaid button-up. "Is that her husband?" He thought.

He was distracted by his thoughts when Jackie entered the living room. "Hi, Mr. Lennon." He jerked his head towards her, frightening Jackie. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." John quickly put the picture back where it was.

"It's fine," She smiled uncomfortably. Jackie still wasn't comfortable with the fact that John Lennon, a Beatle, had risen from the dead and is now in her home. "My mom wanted me to keep you company, while you wait." Jackie walks toward John.

"That my mom and dad by the way, " She picks the picture. "It was them in 1995." Jackie stared at the picture with sadness in her eyes.

"Are they still together?" Jackie put the picture back and looked at him. She shook her head. "No, he died a few years back. Cancer."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He gave her an apologetic look. "It's fine. You didn't know."

"Um, anyway, " She laughed apprehensively. They stood in awkward silence.

John was relieved when Rita walked into the room, "Please John sit. Make yourself at home." She points at the couch eagerly. John obeys her. Rita turns to her daughter, "Can you make breakfast this morning, while I'm talking to John?" Jackie nodded and went into the kitchen.