Bright are the Stars that Shine

Chapter 4

February 18th, 1967

Time progressed, as it ultimately did.

Weeks had passed by so quickly since Valentina arrived in England, completely changing Paul's life. Valentina had grown accustomed to the schedule and usually packed a lunch, knowing her father could be with John for hours on end with little to no breaks in between.

One particular morning that just so happened just slightly overcast, she was feeling energetic or as her grandmother would say, "full of piss and vinegar" and she'd taken Martha out for a morning run and by the time she'd returned, Paul was ready to leave, leaving her no time to prepare anything to eat for later and he was too frazzled for her even to ask if she could run inside and make a sandwich.

It came to bite her in the ass however, because by 2:00pm, she leaned against a wall, inwardly cursing over her lack of food, her stomach growling loudly in agreement.

Ringo and George had left earlier, their presence not necessarily needed for the afternoon, leaving the teenager with the Lennon/McCartney duo who could for hours without eating, much to her mutual astonishment and annoyance.

  She wasn't the biggest fan of the little sandwiches and desserts that Freda offered her during tea, and her father had mentioned on the drive over that they would be making steak together that evening as a bonding experience, so Paul was in no eager rush to have any sort of lunch break.

Waiting until she had an opening during a pause of John momentarily walking across the room to retrieve something, Valentina squatted next to her father, touching his arm to get his attention.

  "Dad, I'm going to outside and take some pictures. Freda mentioned a restarunt down the street, so I'm gonna grab some lunch there okay?" She smiled sweetly for extra measure and Paul, ever a pushover, melted

''Don't stray too far from the studio and don't talk to any strangers, especially men.'' he said pointedly, reaching into his pocket and grabbing his wallet, giving her a few notes and a kiss on the cheek.

''Keep away from the icky London boys love, they just want to steal you away from our Macca,'' John appeared behind the girl, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and smirked as he looked down at his friend and than back to the girl, ''nothing but a bunch of hairy ruffians with ape hands! Nasty set. I'm going to buy you a Swiss army knife,'' He declared suddenly, the thought just hitting him, ''Well make a teddy girl out of you yet.''

''The hell she will John. No daughter of mine ever will!'' Paul looked positively ill at the very thought of his daughter dressing and acting like the girls of his days of youth.

   The very thought of the kinds of boys she would attract....It was bad enough she was beautiful, but a leather jacket and pants would only give him early grey hairs.

   As he and John slipped into an easy banter, Valentina inched her way out of the room and up the stairs, knowing if she didn't leave, she'd never get to eat before dark.

Stepping outside was indeed a breath of fresh air, the smell of cigarettes and men's cologne having pierced her nostrils to the point that she wouldn't ever be able to forget the combined scents.

Taking out her camera, she stepped back a few feet, taking a few pictures of the studio, it would be nice to mail them with her letter to her mother. As the teenager snapped picture after picture.

After a good five minutes, she noticed that a man, who was completely unremarkable, who she had passed by earlier, was oddly and quite frankly, creepily, staring at her, which made her uncomfortable.