I Saw Her Standing There Chapter 4/?
Hahaha...just managed before the end of the month and year!
Anyone in their right mind would have stopped going to Sunny Heights after seeing what she’d seen, Alice thought as she rode the bus almost as far out as it would go- three stops from the depot actually, sitting on the back corner of the second level, the only empty seat at that time of day. “Why am I doing this?” She muttered to herself, running her hands through her hair in a sort of desperate nervous habit. The bus stop appeared in the distance and Alice instinctively pulled the chain to signal a stop. When the bus finally lurched to a stop and she squeezed her way down the narrow steps, she noted she wasn’t alone getting off, and many of the passengers getting off were other regular gatebirds she knew by sight if not by name. She sighed and put on her best smile. It was one skill she’d mastered in her time at secretarial school; how to look like nothing was bothering her when really she was a wreck. She’d seen Ringo- her idol, ‘her’ Beatle, the one that made her heart flutter or so it seemed- at his drunkest and most human worst. By all rational thought, all rules of being a fan girl, she should have ripped up all her magazines or at least moved on to another favorite of the lads. But here she was, trekking toward that estate, and those familiar gates. Not quite a full 24 hours after the fact. She chatted with some of the other girls heading up the road, or rather listened as they chatted, she was far too focused on the estate as they grew closer.
“Well, Alice, what do you think?” Another girl, age 12 or so, named Ruth, or so Alice thought, asked.
“Erm…sorry, wasn’t listening for a bit.” Alice confessed.
“I asked, since they’re so famous and rich, do you think Ringo and Maureen have something fancy like oh what’s it called…caviar for tea time? I say they do, but Rebecca says they don’t.”
“I…erm, I don’t think they do. Maureen’s an awfully down to earth type, y’know.” Alice thought back to the conversation she’d had with Maureen over a very normal cup of tea and some shortbread. She hoped she didn’t sound too overly sure, knowing no one would believe she’d seen it with her own eyes.
Apparently Ruth took it as just a guess, and continued to mindlessly blabber on to Rebecca, her older sister if Alice thought about it long enough, with an easy confidence at 15 that Alice envied as she felt so unsure of herself every step along the way.
The group reached Sunny Heights and positioned themselves close to the gates, each regular claiming a spot that was designated as hers, the new comers and day visitors filling the blanks. The regulars chatted among themselves, a community of sorts having formed. Alice every now and again got into conversations but found herself too distracted to do much more than nod or occasionally hum in agreement or acknowledgement that something had been said. She found herself watching the front door far too intently, far more intently than normal. And, she realized with a bit of a start, she found she was waiting more for Maureen’s presence than Ringo. She wanted to make sure the other woman was okay after the events of the previous afternoon; the Starkey’s had been on the verge of quite the argument it appeared.
It made her pensive, and she wondered if she’d get an answer that day. Sometimes neither came out at all. Or at most Ringo would wave from the front porch if he was home. But before Alice could get too lost in her thoughts, the front door creaked open and a small frame stepped out, sunglasses shielding her eyes as she paused on the steps. Alice let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she’d been holding when she recognized Maureen, with her purse on her shoulder.
It may have been the younger girl’s imagination, but she thought she saw Maureen rummage in her purse after a scan of the fence line, then jot something down. But she never went back into her purse, so Alice couldn’t be sure.
Maureen came forward, with a small smile. “I’m always glad to see you girls, but he won’t be home until late again. Well past dark, I think.” She walked the fence line, shaking hands with some of the girls, mostly the new ones, but the occasional regular. She paused at Alice. “Good to see you back again.” She shook her hand hard and Alice felt a small slip of paper being placed in her hand, much like she’d seen done with tips to maître-ds to get better service in films and on telly. Instinctively she knew better than to open her palm and the paper right away, but she softly nodded at Maureen to telegraph she’d gotten it. She wasn’t sure, couldn’t be 100% but she thought she saw Maureen nod back before slipping back from the line and bidding the girls to go home while it was still light out and getting in her car, heading off in the opposite direction.
After a respectable amount of time, Alice bid some of her acquaintances farewell and slipped back to the bus. She was pleased to find that she was alone this time, and with slightly shaking hands, she unfolded the paper which she’d slid into her purse when she was out of sight of the others. Her eyes flitted across the page, the hastily scribbled note laying out a plan that the next day, Alice was to wait in the city at her school for Maureen and they’d return to Sunny Heights another way. It was all Alice could do to walk normally home, she felt so much like flying.
“Alice?” A voice, very distinctly American, broke through Alice’s thoughts, startling her enough to drop the hot coffee cup she held, thankfully a Styrofoam one on the carpeted break room floor.
“Hmm?” Alice blinked rapidly coming back to her senses as she knelt down on the floor, grabbing at the hand towel that hung on the cabinet handles on the way down, sopping up the mess as she looked up at Cathy, the youngest girl in the office, a general administrative assistant. Alice had taken her on as a pseudo-daughter (in another life it could have been that Cathy was her daughter- Cathy wasn’t but 22, fresh out of college, still young and bright eyed and hopeful) and hated to be seen at less than her best by the girl.
“You’ve been sort of…I don’t know…distracted today. And you’re on your fourth cup of coffee since 10 AM. It’s only now noon. Is everything okay at home? With Nell?”
Alice shrugged. “It’s a rather long story, but I didn’t get much sleep last night, I’m afraid.” She sighed, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. She met curious and questioning green eyes and a helpful wet rag being held out just at eye level. Quietly and with a muttered ‘Thanks, much.’ Alice wiped at the spill on the carpet. She drew a few shaky breaths, and tried to stave off the tears that threatened burning at the back of her eyes.
Cathy gave her a pat on the shoulder. “I’m at my desk if you want to talk, or just need a Kleenex”
In her sleep deprived state, Alice’s normally stony veneer of perfect calm and stoicism slipped away at the simple offer. The tears came fast, before Alice had a chance to think.
“Alice? What’s wrong, hon?” Cathy knelt beside her, again ready with paper towel. “Sorry, there aren’t any tissues around.”
“I…it’s…I had a row with Nell- we’ve mostly fixed it but it kept me up and it’s all such a mix up, I can’t get my head straight.” Alice blurted out, feeling oddly relieved to have gotten some of it out. She gratefully took the paper towel and dabbed at her eyes and nose, before continuing on, finding that once the story started, it was hard to stop it. “An old …friend- okay, more than friend, I guess- is in hospital, she and I lost touch when we broke up…it wasn’t amicable… and she’s really poorly, and all she wants is to get together , get some things cleared up. But Nell’s…suspicious. I know she’s been hurt, a lot. Lied to a lot. But it hurts she doesn’t trust me. She wants to be there when I call M..this woman for the first time in decades. It’s supposedly for moral support but I don’t know. I don’t want to have her there.” Alice confessed the last bit in a whisper, a bit like she was scared of the fact that she didn’t want to share every waking moment with her partner of so long.
“Well don’t.” Cathy stated. Alice looked up, questioning in her dark eyes, so Cathy continued. “You go to lunch at 12:30 any way. You have the phone Mr. Perkins gave you to be reachable. Make a call from that. Take your lunch now, I’ll cover for you- all you have to do is tell anyone of these men it’s ‘women’s problems’ and they’ll not ask any more questions. Especially Perkins, he’s so old fashioned. Make your call.”
“But I’m only supposed to use that phone for business use.” Alice stated, thinking of her cellular phone in her desk. It was a luxury for her, but it was paid by her boss so he could reach her when he needed her, or she could reach the office if she was away.
“You receive the mail, it’s billed here, you fill out the checks and mail them off.” Cathy stated like it was the most obvious solution in the world.
“Won’t it make you late on your lunch?” Alice was running out of excuses.
“Brought it. I can nibble at my desk.” Cathy held out her hand for Alice to take. “Go. Make that call. You owe to you and her.”
Alice nodded. “Thank you.” She whispered, before walking quickly out of the break room, stopping only to get her cell phone. The battery was fully charged, she might get a good hour or so conversation. She took the emergency stairs and walked the long route to her car.
Once in there, she pulled the letter out of her glove box and found the number. She looked at the phone, and took a deep breath. She dialed three of the ten numbers, before putting the phone down. She took another deep breath, and made herself dial the number again. She managed eight of the ten the next go around. “Getting closer.” She took one more deep breath, and held it, as she dialed the whole number, only letting it out when she had to punch in the room extension.
The phone rang once, twice, a third and fourth time. Having been taught five rings was enough, Alice was about to consider it a lost attempt when a very familiar, if older and very tired, faintly Liverpudlian voice answered.
“H-hello?”
Alice couldn’t form words.
“H-hello? Anyone there?” Maureen’s voice was getting a hint of frustration to it.
“Erm…M…Maur…Maureen? It’s…Alice. Alice McDougal?” Alice managed to stutter, trying to control her racing pulse, certain it could be heard on the other end, no matter how ridiculous the idea was.
“Alice? You got my letter.” Maureen sounded more awake but still tired and weak. It was a shock to Alice’s memory of the other woman and a chilling reminder of their respective ages and circumstances which made Alice very glad she’d not waited for Nell.
“Yes, I did. I just received it yesterday. I’m sorry to hear you’re so ill.”
“Needn’t be. I’m just glad you remembered.” There was a spark of the younger Maureen in the other woman’s tone of joy and relief mixed in.
“Everything. From our first meeting to our first kiss.” Alice stated. “And everything in between and after.”
“Our accidental kiss.” Maureen seemed to have a jolt of energy. It wasn’t much but there was a definite bounce that hadn’t been there before.
Alice laughed a bit. “My first kiss, with either a man or woman, was accidental in your front room. But it was so crucial.”
For a few weeks, at least once a week, Alice met Maureen at a café near where she went to her classes and rode back to Surrey. They’d talk for hours, about everything. Maureen told Alice-who’d never left England and never gone further North than Ipswich to visit relatives-all about Liverpool, that she often referred to as ‘back home’, sometimes quite wistfully, and other tales about Greece and Austria. Alice listened, absolutely entranced. And after a few visits, she started to talk about her life more. About the girls at school, about her family, about the odd little community of girls (and some boys) that waited outside the gates. Maureen listened to all of it, absolutely attentively and quite often entranced herself.
“Life has become a bubble of sorts for me, and sometimes I only see such a small world.” Maureen offered one day, a bit later on , after a month or so of these visits. It was Stella’s day off and Zak was currently playing in the front room, while Maureen sat with him on the floor, offering him toys. Alice sat on the sofa, watching quietly. “I don’t think my world is so much bigger.” Alice offered. Over the course of the past few weeks, Alice had grown to be comfortable with speaking her mind around Maureen. She tried to ignore the way her heart seemed to flutter when those brown eyes would lock on her and light up when something pleased her. It was just idol worship. That was all.
“Your world isn’t small, love. I have things. I have more things then I’d ever have dreamed of. I was raised in a rough part of Liverpool, I dreamed of just having money to move closer to the city center. Now I can go anywhere. But I miss simple city life. It sounds so conceited, I know, and I don’t mean it that way. I really miss it. I can’t bring a friend home for tea with worrying how or if the press is going to see it. I love hearing about your classes and things. You’ll have opportunities I didn’t have, I’m sure. I’ll Ritchie and I love Zak, and I want more, but sometimes …the grass is greener I suppose.” Maureen trailed off, holding a stuffed toy up for Zak who crawled for it, and nibbled on its head. “Cambridge bound he’s not.” She dead panned.
Alice giggled. “He’s sweet.”
“Change a nappy and you’ll see how sweet he’s not.” Maureen smiled though. Alice found herself momentarily stunned by the older woman’s smile. It was so genuine and sweet and her whole face lit up. It was…attractive.
Alice sputtered and coughed at her own realization. She reached for her tea cup, that she’d placed on the floor , only it was just out of range of her reach. She leaned over and forward, trying to get her cup without moving from her spot much.
“Be careful, dear. You’ll take a tumble.” Maureen warned, or tried to. Alice had already lost her balance and, though the fall was little, the fear of embarrassment of falling in front of Maureen after something so simple and silly was enough to make Alice grip out for something or someone to steady her. Grasping at the short carpet, she tried to right herself, but instead, she ended up falling with a rather loud thud. She rolled to her back and giggled in embarrassment.
Maureen was over her in a second, offering a hand up. She stared down at Alice, dark eyes locked on dark eyes, and in a moment, Alice knew something was different about her. She liked Maureen like she should have liked Ringo. And in another moment, when she was being pulled up, her eyes never having really left Maureen’s, Alice felt a compulsion to close the distance between them, and leaned in. She kissed the other woman square on the lips.
The room was perfectly still. Quiet and still save for Alice’s panicked gasp and Maureen’s eyebrows jumping up into her well-coiffed fringe.
“I-I’m …so- sorry…I shouldn’t have….I ….” Alice sputtered and shook her head, dashing out of the front room before a stunned Maureen could even speak. Alice grabbed her bag from the kitchen table, and was out the back door and off the Starkey property before it was really possible to think.
“You scared me that day, when you ran off like that.” Maureen gently chastised. “I had no idea where you were headed and how you were going to get back without causing a riot if caught coming out of the house.”
“I went the back way. I felt so ashamed.” Alice confessed. “I thought I’d done something stupid beyond repair.”
“You hadn’t done anything wrong. Even if we hadn’t become what we became, you were always a friend. I wasn’t going to ban you from the house for that.” Maureen was starting to sound tired and weak again.
“I panicked.” Alice confessed. “Absolutely panicked. I should let you go though, you sound tired.”
“I…” Maureen sighed. “I am. It’s really draining, this whole process. You’ll call back, right. Maybe come and visit an old friend one day.” Maureen had a way of stating questions as if they were commands.
“I’ll call back. I have to go back to the office.” Alice made her words have finality to them. “It was good to hear your voice again. I don’t hear many British accents, let alone Liverpudlian ones, anymore.”
“Right shame that. It was lovely to talk to you again, it really was. Good bye, lovey.” Maureen sounded nearly ready to fall asleep and before Alice could even say her good bye, the line went dead.
Alice looked at the clock on her car and saw she had to return to work. As she trekked her way back into the building and rode the elevator up, Alice tried to process the whole thing. Finding she couldn’t, she stored it away in a corner of her mind to work on when she got home and strode into her office with the air of someone who had it all figured out, even though it was the farthest from the truth.