Parenting Paul

Chapter 11: Another Girl or Another Chance?

After finally getting their bags of food, Paul began heading back to his apartment, but he was struggling to carry Heather who was still sobbing softly into his shoulder as well as the McDonald's bags. "Okay, I'm gonna have to put you down.." Paul sighed as he placed Heather to the ground and then readjusted himself so he could hold the food bags properly. Heather, however, wrapped her arms around his hips as he sighed. "Please carry me." she whined as he put the food bags down onto the ground beside her. "What can I do to cheer you up?" Paul asked with frustration as Heather rubbed her eyes. "I don't know.." she soon whispered as Paul listened to cars driving past them as he thought of what to do.

Paul suddenly turned towards the road, then back to Heather as he rummaged through his pockets. "Here, I got something for you.." Paul soon began to pull out a pair of sunglasses. "Put these on." Paul continued as he showed them to Heather. "Sunglasses?" She asked as he nodded. "These aren't just any old glasses..these are magical sunglasses, that if you put them on, no one can see you, unless you either take them off, or tell people it's okay for them to see you.." Paul explained as Heather's eyes lit up as she tried to grab them. "Do they really work?" She asked with concern as she analyzed the pair. "Go ahead, try them on." Paul encouraged as he placed the glasses onto Heather's face. Paul then looked all around, pretending to be panicking, making Heather giggle.

"Heather?! Heather? Where are you Heather?!" He asked as she took the glasses off still giggling, as he swiftly turned to her and smiled back. "Oh, there you are! I couldn't see you with your magic glasses." Paul played along as she giggled and sniffled her nose. She then placed the glasses back on, and Paul began to look around with panic again, which made Heather tap his back. "I'm right here, Paul." Heather soon reassured him as she took the glasses off. "I told you that they worked, now come-on, let's get back to my place, so you can eat." Paul soon said as he grabbed the food bags off the sidewalk, as well as Heather's hand as they continued back toward the apartment.

Once the two walked into the apartment, Martha greeted them, making Heather giggle and run off into the living room. "Heather, wait! You forgot your food." Paul said as he shut the door, and slipped his shoes off. However, Heather laid on the floor while Martha stood over her, licking her on the forehead. "Look kid, I have a phone call to make, I put your food on the table, I'm sorry you didn't get any ice cream, but maybe we can get some this afternoon." Paul tried to compromise as Heather hopped onto her knees. "I'd like to buy some graham crackers too, I like to dip them into the ice cream." Heather said softly as Paul nodded and helped her onto her feet and patted Martha on the head.

As Paul made his way to his rotary phone, Heather climbed up onto the dining room chair so she could eat her lunch. Once she had all of her food placed onto the table, she folded her hands and bowed her head. "Thank Grace, thank God, thank you for this good food, Amen" Heather softly whispered to herself making Paul turn back to her, and shake his head while he dialed on the phone. Paul then watched as Heather dipped her chicken nuggets into the ketchup pouch, while he listened to the phone trill. "Hello?" The phone said with a sweet and shy tone, as Paul turned away from Heather. "Jane? Hey, um...can we talk for a second?" Paul asked with reservation, as Jane sighed on the other end. "Paul, I already told you, it's over, please, just drop it, forget about me..." Jane answered with remorse as Paul turned back to Heather who was now dipping her fries into the ketchup as he pondered his thoughts.

"Jane, please, please give me one chance! I want to prove that I'm capable of being stable within my life...please Jane?" Paul cried desperately as Jane sighed deeply. "Alright, I guess we can chat, but Paul, come over tomorrow as I'll be at dress rehearsal tonight." Jane reluctantly agreed as Paul smiled and hung up the phone as Heather hopped off the chair and walked up to him from behind. "Who was that on the phone?" Heather asked with wonder as Paul turned to her and ruffled her hair, and patted her head. "No one.." He answered as he headed toward the living room and then down the hallway, which grabbed Heather's attention, so she followed him from behind towards a room that was decorated with more Beatles memorabilia, and all sorts of guitars in different colors, shapes and sizes, as well as some other instruments such as drums, piano, shakers, trumpet, trombone, and violin. Lastly, Heather noticed a desk that was filled with notebooks and papers.

"I'm going to write my best love song yet, that'll get Jane to take me back, I just know it" Paul whispered to himself as he sat down on his desk chair, opened a light blue notebook, and began to tap his pencil on his temple to think. Heather, meanwhile, stood by the door and watched as he then began to chew on his fingernails again and tap his pencil faster, except this time, he was now hitting the edge of the desk. "Hmm, I can't think of any lyrics or any tune that reminds me of Jane, that I haven't already done." he whispered with frustration as he scooted his chair back, and bent over to grab a beige plastic binder book that was underneath the desk. Frantically, Paul opened the binder and flipped through the pages, until he reached the section that was labeled London Twickenham Park

This section of the binder, much to Paul's delighted disappointment, was of himself, his dog Martha and Linda Eastman. The photographs tugged and tore at Paul's heart, as he enjoyed and cared about Linda, but desperately wanted Jane to return to him. "Damn it!!" Paul soon yelped as he shut the binder aggressively and chucked it down to the floor, making the photographs spill out of the booklet binder, which confused Heather. Sneakily, Heather bent down to the floor, and crept closer to the booklet, so she could see clearer. "Mommy?" She whispered to herself, as she slyly grabbed one of the photographs of Linda holding her Nikon camera happily, and then folded it, so she could place it into the pocket of her vest. Heather then shifted her eyes up to Paul who now had his head resting on the desk, and watched as his pencil rolled off the table to the floor. "You dropped this..." Heather soon said sweetly as she hopped back onto her feet, and placed the pencil next to Paul's arm. However, Paul did not notice or care that Heather had returned the pencil, which piqued Heather's curiosity.

The two of them, then, remained in that dark, quiet and uneasy room, without anything better to do, except Heather analyzing her new surroundings and caretaker who was seemingly lacking in adult experience or maturity. With great suddenness, Martha, who had been in the living room began to bark and howl, which made Heather swiftly turn towards the hallway, but Paul did not respond. Quickly, Heather ran down the hallway, so she could answer the door, which had repeated knocking on the other end. She then began to pull onto the door knob, so she could open it, and as she did, Ringo stood there looking quite surprised at the sight of this tiny girl standing in front of him. "Woah, he really wasn't lying.." he whispered to himself as Heather watched him and rocked back and forth with the door and herself. "Err...um...hello there." He began with uncertainty as Heather continued watching him. "Hello..." Heather answered as she continued rocking the door making it begin to squeak with each movement.

"Umm, do you know where Paul is?" Ringo asked hopefully, resulting in Heather nodding and marching towards the hallway, which led to the office where Paul was still sulking. Ringo followed her down the hallway, and then knocked on the door frame of the office, which finally broke Paul's daze. "Hey? Umm, are you ok?" Ringo asked as Paul spun around in his office chair to see what the noise was coming from. "Honestly, I couldn't even begin to explain the meaning of the word okay....anymore.." Paul sighed deeply as Ringo watched with concern. "Maybe we should go on a little walk, chat a bit? Maybe get some sunshine, and get out of this dark depressing room...." Ringo encouraged as Heather looked up at him, and nodded in agreement.