Future

John Lennon

"Hey, you! You there! You're one of them, aren't you?"

John Lennon tried his best not to turn around, but his curiosity got the best of him, and he snapped, "What?"

The short man ran up to him. "Those Beatles."

"Yeah, so?" Typically, John would not have been so rude to a complete stranger, but his patience evaporated sometime within the past few hours of interviews for the press.

"I have to - deliver a message," the man said between gasps. "Don't - don't get a fortune. You don't want to."

John eyed the man. "Why would I want a fortune in the first place?"

"I don't know. Just don't do it, man," the man said casually as if he wasn't speaking to a Beatle.

"Alright, fine. I'll stay away from those weird fortune teller things."

The man nodded, assured, and his face immediately relaxed. "Thank you," he muttered and walked past John.

John Lennon shook his head and entered the restaurant where he was scheduled to meet Yoko at. He found her at a table near the middle and he sat across from her.

"Hey," he greeted her.

Yoko smiled. "John," she said in her foreign accent, "you know, the sky is like a canvas -"

John returned the smile and pretended to listen, catching bits of the conversation as he did so:

"The ivory clouds shift in and out, erased carefree...the gold is shining..."

Some days, he could totally see her point of view, and others he had no clue what she was talking about. Today was one of the latter.

Yoko must have finished with her 'The sky is a canvas' story as she suddenly said, "John. Do you want one of those fortune cookies?"

Something so normal and casual is odd to hear from her, Lennon thought. He smiled and nodded. The short man's warning flickered into his mind, but he forgot it quickly.

Their waiter came up and gave the couple each a fortune cookie.

"You go first," Yoko commanded.

John cracked up the cookie. A slip of paper fell out. He read it after he ate the cookie halves.

Good luck is like the wind.
Sometimes you can feel it,
Other times, you don't.
But it is always there,
Just not today in your case.

John laughed. "Well, that's nice. I'm glad I got today's recording out of the way."

Yoko did not laugh. She picked up John's fortune and read it. Once she got to the last line, she covered her mouth with a hand and gasped.

"John, this isn't good."

John thought, Leave it to Yoko to be an artist who also believes in fortunes.

He let her continue: "The wind isn't with you today. You need to do nothing but nothing."

John resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Stop it. It's just a piece of paper with some words."

"Yeah, but -"

"Shut up!" John was close to yelling. "Forget this date. Forget you. We're done, Yoko Ono. Done."