Be My Baby

Three

January 17th, 1964

The rest of the night was spent listening to Alan's 45 collection, which was absolutely wonderful. He had so many wonderful singles, which to my surprise, many I knew.
Pulling out a black labeled record, he placed it gently onto the stereo, moving the needle to the outer end. After a few seconds of sudden crackling, an song began to play. I immediately recognized the song as Elvis's most popular hit.
The slow piano chords began to hum through the small house, causing a few goosebumps to come out of me. The song to begin with, much like "It Might as Well Rain until September", made me feel lonesome and isolated but at the same time, I couldn't stop listening to it.
"I have always liked the piano in this piece." Alan said. He watched the needle jump up and down with the beat of the song.
"It makes me sad." I admitted, staring out into the unknown outside the window. The snow blanketed the sidewalks with a glistening white shine.
"Can't Help Falling In Love" reminded me a lot of my grandmother. She was my mother's mother. She was born and raised in Naples, and came over when she was fifteen. She was everyone's favorite. Her house smelt of warm Italian cookies every time you visited and she would always buy you chocolates if you were feeling sad. With me being the youngest grandchild, our bond was extremely close and would spend a lot of time together. She was the best Nonna.
When she came here as a teen, she was awestruck by the American music scene. One of her favorite American singers was Elvis. She absolutely adored Elvis and always took me to the local diner so we can play of his singles in the jukebox. Her favorite was this song, and she would always sing it to me whenever I slept over her house when I had trouble sleeping. When I was 14, a drunk driver ran a red light and smashed into her car when she was driving, killing her instantly. At her funeral, they played this song in honor of her.
It was hard to listen to this song without thinking of her and how she was no longer with me. If I only had one more day with her, I would have told her how much she meant to me.
"I can change it if you want." Alan noticed the sad look my face showed. I shook my head.
A yawn slipped out. "I'm going to bed." I stated, not wanting to cry once again. I got off from the couch and made my way to the kitchen.
Alan turned to me. "I was going to head up soon. I guess I'll head to bed myself." He began walking down the hallway with me at his heels. He led me to the room where I mysteriously woke up in.
I sat on the end of the foot of the bed. "Thanks for letting me stay the night." An another yawn escaped me. "I really appreciate it."
Alan turned off the light and the only thing my eyes saw was his silhouette. "No problem Penny. My room is right next door if you need anything. Goodnight and I'll see you in the morning."
"Night Alan." I crawled into bed, covering the quilt over me. I tried closing my eyes, but my mind raced with questions. I didn't know how long I'd have in this generation. It could be a day or a week. I wonder how my parents are reacting back at home. I must have been injured pretty badly.
I also thought about if I should tell Alan about my true identity. He'd probably think I'm insane. Without my cell phone, I can barely prove a point. I had no money nor home in this place. Heck, my parents weren't even born yet and my grandparents were living in New Jersey at this time!
At last, I figured that it would probably be best to tell Alan the truth. Hopefully he would understand. I then thought about my clothes. My Beatles sweatshirt had a picture of them from the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band faze, three years after 1964. And my bracelets definitely looked strange for this time.
The thoughts of how I would tell Alan eventually made me fall asleep.

When I woke, an smell of mint and eggs followed by bacon filled the house up. I got out of bed and stretched and walked into the kitchen. Alan was scrambling eggs and bacon was cooling down on a rack.

"Good morning Penny! How did you sleep?" He asked, his sharp accent awakening me.
I noticed there was a cup of tea for me. "Pretty good. It looks like the snow has finally stopped." I looked outside and noticed how pretty the snow was on the lawn.
"Yeah. I just had to shovel this morning, but I still think everything will be closed today." The eggs were finished and he put a scoop of them onto two plates.
"Oh dear." I sighed.
"Well, anyways, I hope you like eggs and bacon and more peppermint tea!" Alan said.
I laughed. "I love peppermint tea!" I took a sip of it, nearly burning my lips. We walked over to the table and sat down and began eating. The meal was incredible. I always seem to burn bacon when I cook it, but this bacon was a crimson shade and tasty.
"So," Alan began. "I was wondering if you would like to meet some of the band today. Gotta discuss some things with 'em and the airports are still closed. When they reopen I can help you search for an flight."

I felt my stomach grumble with anxiety. "Uh, sure, that sounds good."

He finished his plate and placed it on the counter. "You'll love them! Maybe I can talk to Hilton and ask if we can have a jam session together. Or maybe Eric is around."

I placed my plate next to Alan's. "Sounds like a plan."

I offered to wash the dishes, but once again, Alan washed them. I then sat in the living room as Alan came over and began calling the band. Eric didn't pick up, but Hilton answered on the first ring.

"Hello Hilton! How's the snow over there?" Alan practically shouted to the phone. A good twenty seconds went by before he began chatting again.

"I was wondering what you were doing today? I have a friend over and thought we can come over and jam out. She plays guitar too!" Another pause happened, then a grin appeared across Alan's face.

"Yeah! We'll be there! See you soon mate!" He placed down the phone.

"It sounds like we are going there, huh?" I questioned.

"Hilton says he's excited to meet you! He's a great lad. Very charming." He winked at me.

"All right, how soon?"

Alan glanced at the clock then back to me. "Is an half an hour good?"

"Yeah, that'd be good! I'm going to change." I announced, walking back to the room where I'd slept and changed into my clothes that I can here in. I really hope no one really payed attention to my sweatshirt. My t-shirt underneath was even worse. It was an replica of The Rolling Stones Tour from 1978. The Rolling Stones haven't even had their first number one hit yet here.

            I folded my arms and shuffled my way into the living room. I wasn't in luck as Alan scanned my my sweatshirt.

           "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? What kind of dimension do you Americans live in, putting mustaches on The Beatles?" He looked at John Lennon in his yellow and green uniform.

         I gulped, fixing my eyes on the hardwood floors. "There is something I should probably tell you sooner or later."

"And what is that?" He wondered. "You put mustaches  on The Beatles?"

"I, well, no." I began. "Call me crazy, but I am from the future."