Yesterday - A Beatles Fanfic

Chapter The Second

The door of the music shop slammed as the boy practically bounced in. The woman behind the counter looked up in alarm, but relaxed as she recognised the cheerful round face. "Hey Lucy, the Doc around?" He blew a lock of soft brown hair out of his eyes, his school bag slung casually over one shoulder.

The woman smiled. Kids were always so full of energy. "He's out the back."

"Thanks!" He grinned and ran through the shop.

"And Devon!" Lucy called after him. "Make sure he's eaten something!"

"Will do!" He shouted back as he ducked through a small door at the back of the shop, in between a rack ukuleles and drum accessories.

"Hey Doc, how's it going?" He kicked the door closed behind him, making the old man jump at his workbench. The back room was full of spare stock for the store, but also served as Doctor Harvey's workshop and lab. Although he seemed to spend more time there than in his own home. Half strung guitars sat around the place, and a saxophone lay in pieces on a table.

"Ah, Devon! Good to see you lad!" The Doc chuckled as the boy let his bag slide off his shoulder and fall to the ground, and plonked himself into a swivel chair opposite him. The boy was no more than fifteen years old, but the Doc considered him an equal. He was always so willing to lend a hand around the shop, and always showed an enthusiastic interest in the Doc's experiments.

Devon spun around in the chair a couple of times, then saw an untouched sandwich and cup of tea pushed aside. "Jeez Doc, you need to eat something someday soon, otherwise I'll turn up to meet a skeleton sitting at this bench."

Doctor Harvey smiled. "And has this skeleton finished the most important project of his life?" He asked, amused.

"He might have... If he ate his lunch like a regular human." Devon picked up a bass and lazily plucked a catchy riff. "What's so important about that guitar in particular anyway?" He nodded to the instrument that the Doc had been fiddling with for as long as he could remember. It was hooked up to a strange machine and for some reason had eight tuning pegs, when it only had six strings. Other than that, Devon couldn't see what the big deal was.

"Devon," The Doc said softly, bright green eyes shining with excitement. "If I succeed, time would be on our side."

Devon was still confused. "Whaddaya mean, Doc?"

"Time travel, lad! I'm talking about time travel!" The Doc cried with glee. "You see these extra pegs?" He tapped the two tuning pegs at the base of the neck. "If they're turned, it opens a sort of..." He searched for a term the boy would understand, "...channel. The vibrations created by playing could create enough energy to manipulate the very fabric of time! There are weak points everywhere, sort of small holes that make it possible to travel to that point in time with ease. Any other time would need a far greater amount of energy - more than this guitar is capable of producing."

"No way!" Devon cried, "You can't be serious!"

"Oh I'm perfectly serious," Doctor Harvey said, grinning ear to ear. "I have a short list of years with the weakest barriers..." He waved a piece of paper covered in a mess of algorithms and little diagrams. "And this year is one of them!"

"So," Devon asked, "you're saying that if you play that thing, you can jump forward or back to any year on that list?"

"Yes!" The Doc exclaimed. "Simply adjust the pegs to the correct year and it will send you to that year, on the exact date and time you came from!" He paused. "Plus a seven minute delay for some reason."

Devon had completely lost interest in the old bass. "Does it work?" He leaned forward eagerly.

"Well... I haven't tested it yet, but in theory, yes." He ran his fingers through his unruly grey hair. "I believe it should work for the nearest dates. I haven't quite figured out all the formulas for the later years."

Devon could hardly believe it. This was insane! "Doc, we need to test it! This could be the most important invention of all time!" He was practically bouncing in his seat.

"Well, you know what they say..." The Doc placed a video camera on the bench in front of him. "There's no time like the present!"

* * *

More than thirty years later, Devon found himself holding that same guitar. The Doc was long gone, but his life's work wasn't. He still had that tape from the very first trial. He had captured every moment of the great experiment. The Doc had set the tuning pegs to the very same year, anticipating the seven minute delay. What he hadn't anticipated was the effect it had on him.

Devon had watched as the Doc strummed a haunting melody. The air around him had seemed to hum and shiver with energy. Then suddenly, Doctor Harvey appeared to vanish. One second he was there, playing as fast as his bony old fingers could, then he was gone. Devon had never been so shocked and excited in his life! Yet he was also nervous. What if it didn't work? What if the Doc was trapped in the fabric of time forever?

But seven minutes later, the Doc had materialised beside him, still holding the guitar. "Devon, lad! Quick, how long has it been?"

He had quickly checked the time on the recording. "Exactly seven minutes..."

"Yes! That is absolutely excellent!"

"Ah, but Doc..." Devon chewed his lip. "You don't look too great."

Sure enough, Doctor Harvey's usually wild grey hair was not as thick as it had been seven minutes earlier. And he seemed to have acquired a fine new collection of wrinkles. It was almost as if he'd aged seven years in seven minutes.

Now Devon sat with his feet resting on his desk. Classes were long since finished, but he still sat there, just thinking. He fondly remembered how the Doc had simply shaken off his age increase as if it were nothing. "Honestly Devon I feel fit as a fiddle!" He had told him. "What's a few extra wrinkles on an old man like me gonna do anyway?"

Together they had worked on perfecting the instrument for almost a year. They fiddled and tweaked until it was capable of travelling to almost any weak point in time within a century either side of the present. The only problem which persisted was the fact that the traveller aged seven years in appearance by going forward in time, and became seven years younger by going back. Fortunately, this meant a return trip would restore them to their rightful age.

When Doctor Harvey passed away, Devon was in his late twenties. Suddenly he found himself wondering what to do for the first time in his life. He still visited the music shop frequently, but it just wasn't the same. Doctor Harvey had been the grandfather he'd never had. He'd been a teacher and a friend. Together they had visited places that the world had forgotten. Places that the world hadn't imagined yet. The novelty of transforming from a tall lanky teen to a chubby faced ten year old or chiselled young man hardly ever got old.

But now when he picked up the instrument, he wasn't filled with the same wonder and excitement. Only fond memories and sadness.

It was time for the time travelling guitar to find a new home.