Beatles

RINGO'S POINT OF VIEW

November 29th, 2001

The day I lost the love of my life. Forever.

One of the last times I saw him was July. My daughter had brain surgery and I could't stay long. "Do you want me to come with you?" George offered. "What? No, you can't. You've got to stay here and get rid of the cancer." I can't believe I said a thing like that. "So? I've missed you. I don't want you to have to leave me." I was most likely blushing when he grabbed my hand.

"Ritchie, I need to tell you something." He sat up. I got scared and just walked out. That was a mistake. Me, George, and Paul went out...

John, George, and Ringo never left Paul's side, and they stayed outside the hospital room, not talking, but able to feel each others' anxious feelings about their friend. Paul hadn't woken up on the way to the hospital, but there was still a pulse, and now all they could do was hope he'd be all right.
John had something else to think about, too. Even when Paul had been on the edge of losing consciousness, he had still said to John: "Does this mean we're not breaking up?" Was the Beatles staying together really so important to him? Hadn't Paul spent the last couple of years trying to control...

John, George, and Ringo spent the rest of the day running everywhere in town, searching for Paul. They caused quite a stir. Not many people saw the Beatles together in public anymore - even only three of them. People poured out of their houses, and everywhere the Beatles went, they were surrounded with screams and questions: "EEE! The Beatles are back!" "Are you going to play for us again?" "Where's Paul? How come there's only three of you?" It had never occured to John, George, or Ringo how much the fans had missed actually seeing them perform. But everyone they met seemed to feel that, now...

As soon as Paul opened his eyes the next day, he knew something had changed. The air had been bitterly cold last night, but Paul had just lay there, unable to get up and find somewhere more sheltered.
Now, he tried to move his arms and to sit up. He couldn't.
Frowning, Paul tried to move again. And again. His body wouldn't respond. Something had happened to him after all those nights of lying there in the cold. His body wasn't working properly.
Paul's eyes, the only part of him that could still move, widened in fear. When he first decided to run away, he had never thought of this! What would happen...