Work Text:
Christmas, 2041
Ringo Starr had lived a long life, longer than his parents, the lads of his group, or any member of his family that has lived before him. He was a hundred and one years old, being well cared for by his children, and his estate, which both this man worked for and earned. The former Beatle now unfortunately was bound to a wheelchair, which he hated, but Ringo was still grateful to be alive. The elderly man reminded himself of this often, as Paul McCartney, the bassist of his old band, recently passed away a few months prior. The loss of the dearly loved friend was heartbreaking for the drummer. This death was expected, as the man’s kidneys were failing him, but the pain from a loss came regardless, and it lingered, like it always does in such tragedy.
Ringo Starr, the sickly boy from Liverpool, was now the soul remaining survivor of the four lads he used to play music with. An honor he never wanted. Knowing the difficulty of the past year had been on the elderly musician, many close friends and family came to see him. Most were the children and grandchildren of old comrades who were now dead. One such visitor was Dhani Harrison, the son of George Harrison, whom Starr had an affair with. It wasn’t a brief fling, but a love that lasted up until the lead guitarists death, forty years ago that passed month. A forbidden love which edged in the centenarians soul, even these many years later. Starr also resumed an affair with Paul, which ended with the death of the third Beatle.
“They left me all alone.” Ringo was now known for saying. Although he wasn’t alone. His family dotted over him constantly, but only a few people knew about the passion Starr had with the dearly departed. However, Dhani knew about the relationship his father had with the drummer. The young lad caught his dad, and uncle Ringo in a kiss, in the late 1980s.
Back then, the drummer had become instantly upset when caught, but George just admitted to his only child, that uncle Ringo was always more than a friend. This left a lasting impression on the son of the lead guitarist, and he cared for Starr as if he were a second father, because he was. This revelation had surprised Ringo as well. The smaller man was blown away to see how accepting little Dhani was of the relationship both ex Beatles still saw as queer. Yet the child never once put down the older men’s affections for each other, and was instantly accepting of his father and uncle, who was the same as a father in the eyes of the young man who adored both men.
Now Dhani had left. He went home to be with his own family, but dropped off a special gift for the elderly patriarch. Ringo held the gift in his lap, still reliving the conversation he had with his guest. He stared at the parcel before him, and was curious to what it could be. So after a long pause, the elder began to unwrap his gift. It wasn’t a very wide present, so the man who has had over a hundred birthdays, recognized this was some sort of book right away.
“What’s this?” the Centenarian asked himself, as he pulled off the delicate tissue paper. His hands were large, and his fingers swelled and were hard to maneuver at times. Yet the man who made a living hammering into drums managed to have carefully pulled the book out from its box. “I know this.” The Liverpool accent rang. George had this little album early on in their career. It was gifted to the teenage Harrison by his mother, so he could store the memories of his wild youth. Opening the cover, there was a hand written message from Louise Harrison, wishing her son the best, while hoping he will be careful in his adventures.
As a young man, having reviewed the early contents of this book, Starr thought the message was sweet but overbearing. Now as a man with great great grandchildren, he sympathized with the mother and her warning. They did some wild shit back then, things he wouldn’t want the children of his family to mix themselves up with. Sliding a page aside, the elderly man was greeted to the ghostly face of a very young George Harrison. He was just a bloody child, as he dressed in leather and wore his guitar like a badge of honor.
“Such a beautiful boy.” The elder confessed to the black and white image. Turning the page there were pictures of all of them. Ringo was still with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe were still in the Beatles. They were all there! Including other friends, and girls they all had dated. “Rosie,” Ringo said aloud, seeing one of the lasses in a party dress at the club. Starr went on one date with her, and she blew him off afterwards. He later found out she began going steady with the man she inevitably married. The man smiled, at what was once a heartbreak, was a fond memory of what used to bother him so.
There were a few snap shots of John and Paul, young and beautiful, in their leather pants and Elvis hair. The lads would never admit it seriously, but they spent more time on their hair than most girls. They would laugh about it, but it was true. The pictures of the old days didn’t last long. Only a few pages, probably because George often misplaced his belongings. Ringo observed this, as the next set of pictures were many years later.
The new colored prints were of the four of them on vacation, with the first set of women, the three wives and a girlfriend. There were photographs of him and Maureen on a boat, John and Cynthia at breakfast, Paul and Jane having cocktails at the bar, and George with Patti, in their hotel room. Starr couldn’t remember where they went, but he recalled the sea air and the fragrance his wife wore. It smelled like cherry blossoms the elder vividly could still smell. He recalled the breakfast at the hotel was amazing, but he couldn’t recalled a single thing he ate. The ex Beatle remembered talking with Paul and Jane, with his wife at the time, Maureen, at that very bar, but about what, he didn’t have a clue. His and Maureen’s room was different from George’s room, but the drummer couldn’t remember for the life of him how.
It's strange what you do remember, and what you forget. The next set of pictures were much later on the sixties, at the very tail end of the decade. Starr knew this because Heather, Linda’s daughter whom Paul adopted, was in some of these photos. John was with Yoko Ono now, but George was still with Patti, and Starr remained with Maureen. However only Linda and Yoko were in these shots. They were on the road together, and the remaining first batch of women traditionally stayed out of the business. Yet even with the tension in the air, everyone was having a good time as they traveled in the RV together.
Ringo suddenly recalled that George would even play cards with Yoko sometimes, during this rare bit of peace between them all during this stressful time. Linda made a lovely pie and everyone praised the first wife of the bassist for her baking skills in such a small kitchen in the RV. Were they married? Starr had to wonder? He couldn’t recollect. It was either right before or right after the two got hitched. He also couldn’t recall if John or Yoko were married yet, but it really didn’t matter. He remembered John getting ice cream in his beard, and no one saying anything to him about it right away.
A flash of Linda sleeping on Paul’s lap, in the back of the RV was a tender moment Starr could recall, which made the aged face smile. She really did make his friend happy. Then Ringo suddenly remembered Heather would pinch his nose in a game he and the child made up together. He literally laughed out loud, as the kids used to say. In one photo that Starr ended up staring at, was of Yoko seated at the window seat of the breakfast nook, with John, looking so serious. Ringo then had another flash of this trip so long ago. Yoko had helped the drummer find something in the RV. The sole surviving Beatle couldn’t think of now what it was he had lost, but the raven haired lady found it, and he was grateful.
The next picture was of George smoking in front of a hotel they stopped at. It was also where Ringo slipped into the lead guitarists room to make love. A tear exited his eye, as the memory of the brief encounter meant so much. It was a great relief, as the sexual tension in the air was thick. He also was reminded how embarrassed he felt, when he and Harrison were confronted by John and Paul, who didn’t want their current women to know about their queer past. Yes, not all memories were good. However, Starr did not feel embarrassed any more. He and George had every right to have their moment of love. They weren’t seen by anyone. Paul simply figured it out by the flirtatious looks they gave each other, that appeared as sarcasm to the women.
Still Ringo sympathized with those boys now. John and Paul were fighting with themselves, and have all but officially broken up. Their new ladies were their second chance at love, neither wanted to fuck that up. These women were replacing the love the two sought within each other, that was void in most of the previous relationships. Ringo understood this now, and wished he had come to this revelation much sooner in life.
“Good lads.” The elder said to both departed men. Turning the next page, it was clearly the late seventies. Starr could tell because they were all separated. The first set of photos was when Ringo visited the lead guitarist at Friar Park. Ringo couldn’t remember a moment of this visit, but there he was, sitting next to George, drunk, and with a drink in hand. The man who lived to be sober longer than he had been dependent on drugs and alcohol, cringed at his sad state in the picture. The sober elder found he wanted to hug his younger self, drowning his sorrows in a bottle. George was just as fucked up as he was, it seemed, so at least he wasn’t out of place.
The next picture was if George and John, with John’s brief girlfriend, Mae Pang at the end. This looked like California, and earlier from the photos of Ringo at Friar Park. It must have been from the same roll of film. Then there were a picture of George with Paul on a yacht. Ringo knew the vessel, he had been on it a few times himself, but he couldn’t remember who owned it. Paul was drinking champagne, wearing white and professionally gazing into the camera. Meanwhile, George was deliberately looking down being rebellious of McCartney's antics. Yes, there were dark times. That was life!
Turning to the next page, a painful observation immediately overtook the drummer of the old band. One of them was missing. There was a picture of Ringo with George and their two second wives. Barbara and Olivia dressed festively at the end of the row of the group open hug. Sadly Ringo couldn’t recall this meeting either. He could see both he and Barbara were drunk. There were a couple of pitches of this personal event. Most of him were with a drink in hand. Starr didn’t know what year this was, but it was before 1988, when he and Barbara finally sought help for their addictions, and life became better. Oh so much better! Even now he was glad to have quit drinking!
The next set of pictures was of Paul and George and their combined families. They were at Paul’s house, and things seemed less tense between the two former bandmates. Most of the pictures were in the McCartney’s kitchen, and was close an intimate. Nothing inappropriate, but the hugs seemed more natural, the smiles more relaxed, well in this case George was actually smiling. Now hundred and one year old Ringo was smiling as well. He remembered the feud between those two, and was happy it resolved itself, although there was always a strain between Paul and George. It was sad, but it’s how things ended up.
Moving on, Starr saw even better quality pictures of a gathering in the mid 1990s. The three had an unofficial meet up at a summer home of Paul’s, and the three played music, swam and spent time together, like the old days. The women were different, the kids weren’t there, but it was a great time for everyone. The best part, Ringo could remember it all. He even remembered planning this adventure with the rest of the group. The saddest part was a photoshoot of the three former Beatles gathering around a large portrait of John Lennon. This made them all emotional. John being gone was a wound that never healed. Even more so for Paul, who was John’s main male lover.
Then going to the next page, there weren’t any photographs, but drawings done in George’s style of the four of them.
“John, age 50.” Was written under a drawing of Lennon, done by the departed lead guitarist. He drew the lead singer with gray hair and a wrinkled face. Ringo found himself suddenly laughing at his friends sense of humor. Then there were creative images of each man individually, supposedly at the age of sixty-four. George gave them all balding heads and exaggerated wrinkles on their faces. He was particularly mean to Paul, but that was Harrison’s humor, and Starr found he missed his friends even more.
When arriving to the following page, George decided to draw them all at a hundred years old. He gave them all no teeth, no hair on their heads and shriveled up faces. The elderly man laughed at his lovers sense of humor, until he saw the date of the final drawing. It was done just a week before George died. The dying man drew these on his deathbed. This touched Starr more than Dhani would ever know. The rest of the pages were empty. There weren’t many left, but the Centenarian closed the book, and smiled and even laughed as he cried.
Starr missed his friends, and all the lost lives of the past, but he wasn’t yet done with life. He was still healthier than most people twenty years his junior. His conditions were debilitating but not life threatening. He still had a few years of life in him. How many, he didn’t know, but he wanted to live each one as happily as he could. The man loved life and so did his friends. So now Sir Richard H. Starkey was even more inspired to continue on, because he wanted to, damn it, and his departed loved ones would have wanted him to, too! So Ringo Starr, the sickly boy from Liverpool, ended up living another seven years, and not a moment did he take for granted. Because he knew, he was living for a lot of wonderful people!