The boy wrinkled his nose "Are you *sure*, me mate Albert says that’s what they recorded it under. With Tony Sheridan?"
"Ah yes" Brian nodded "Now we do have some records my Tony Sheridan, was he perhaps backed by these beat brothers"
"Erm…Excuse me?" a soft voice said from behind Brian. He turned to look at the girl manning his cash register
"Yes Linda?" he asked
"I think this lad must mean the Beatles Mr. Epstien"
"Yeah!" the youth enthused "the Beatles, you seen em down at the Cavern Club then? Gear innit"
"Right" Linda agreed nodding ‘It is, I love them. I’ve even met them and had a drink"
"Wow" exclaimed the boy "Me older sister once called Paul McCartney, the Bass player she called his house she did and requested a song"
Linda laughed and Brian raised his eyebrows curiously "The Beatles?" he asked "At the cavern? But don’t they only play Jazz music there"
"Up until a while ago" Linda explained, she turned back to the boy "We don’t have any more of ‘My Bonnie’ in but if you want to give me yer number and we’ll ring you when more come in"
"Right, cheers luv" the boy nodded and scribbled his number down on the offered scrap of paper.
"Linda?" asked Mr. Epstien
"Yes?" she responded politely
"What sort of music do these Beatles play?"
"Oh" Linda grinned "Rock n roll music. They’ve even written a couple of their own but mostly they do American type stuff. They were in Germany you know, that’s why they’re so good. That’s where they cut a record actually"
"Germany" Brian nodded "And do they have a manger?"
"No" Linda said slowly, a smile crept over her face "But if you’d like I could introduce you to someone who knows them"
"That would be lovely Linda" Brian smiled "I’ll be sure to catch up with you at the Cavern"
"Lunch hour" she nodded "That’s when they play"
* * * * * * *
"OY! Gabs, ‘and me yer coke" Gabrielle dutifully handed her coke- which actually held nothing but coca cola in it- up to George and continued her frenzied dancing with Neil and Mike McCartney.
John was pulling birds, whom had started an odd habit of crowding around the stairs and sitting on the edge of the stage. Whenever they were paid attention to by John, Paul, George, or Pete they would scream. Gabrielle found it mildly annoying. Why in the name of Blimey O’Riley’s trousers would you scream just because someone looks at you?
Paul was singing, all his efforts concentrating on remembering the words since this particular song had about seven verses. John was too lazy to learn them all.
George took a few steps backwards, he bit his lip and bobbed his head in time to the music. Sweat was coming in buckets down his front, for the Cavern was bloody stifling, and they were decked out in leather.
Mike slung his arms around Gabrielle’s waist and danced her around in a circle.
"Hey!" John yelled down "Get yer hands off me bird!"
"I’m not yours!" Gabrielle laughed "I’m Mikey’s" She ruffled Mike’s hair and laughed at the flustered expression he wore
"What happened to that Aaron bloke?" Neil asked,
"Er…" she shrugged sheepishly and let Mike twirl her around "Waiting fer me to call him back"
"What a tease" Mike laughed
Gabrielle giggled and nodded. "Can’t help it"
Linda pushed her way to the front of the crowd where she didn’t doubt the energetic little friend of the Beatles would most likely be. She spotted Gabrielle, clad in short skirt and sweater set dancing and laughing in a little circle with two blondes. Linda laughed and continued shoving her way through the crowd. Gabrielle seemed like the kind of girl to do two at the time.
"Gabby!" she shouted, hoping to be heard over the thundering rock n roll music. "Gabby! Gabrielle!"
Gabrielle stopped dancing at hearing her name being called and jumped up a bit to see whom was yelling at her. "Wot? Oh Linda! Hallo girl, come dance with us"
Linda shoved into the circle, despite the glares she got from girls who had coveted these positions. "Guess what?" she asked energetically
"Mmm" Gabrielle rocked backwards on her heels and shook her head "What?"
"You know NEMS? The record store?"
"Where you work?" asked Mike. Neil danced into him and the younger McCartney laughed and started up dancing again with Neil.
Gabrielle laughed and nodded "Right, yeah"
"Well, the manager, Brian Epstien, he’s coming to see them" she pointed at the Beatles up on stage "And he wants to meet them, d’you, you know, think you could introduce him?"
‘Your boss?" Gabrielle asked, frowning "What for?"
"No, he’s sort… well I mean he knows some people in the music business"
"OH!" Gabrielle exclaimed and nodded "right, Gear, of course I can luv. Just point him out and I’ll have him meet me Beatles"
"Gear" Linda nodded "Well now? Is that Ok?"
Gabrielle grinned and turned to Neil and Mike "I’m gonna go have a word with a bloke, all right? Let the lads know?"
"Right" Neil laughed, now dancing with a brunette girl while Mike danced with himself.
Gabrielle grabbed Linda’s hand and pushed her towards the thongs of people. The two girls shimmied through the audience. Linda attempted to yell who Mr. Epstien knew in London but Gabrielle couldn’t hear her so she gave up.
Finally they reached nearly the edge of the room. Near the stairs stood an apprehensive looking man. He was dressed head to toe in clothes that practically screamed money and education. Dark blue suit, starched white shirt, polished black shoes. His hair was combed back and clipped neatly into shape and a handkerchief hung out of his jacket pocket. Mr. Epstien pulled out this handkerchief and dabbed at his brow a bit before glancing around again.
Gabrielle decided to make her and Linda’s presence known and at the same time try to make Mr. Epstien feel a bit less nervous.
"Hallo!" She said loud enough that she could get his attention "Mr. Epstien!" Grabbing Linda’s hand again they started towards him.
A smile lit up his face as he saw them approaching "Ah, hello Linda" he said in a posh voice. No trace of the nasal liverpudlian- he must have come from the decent areas of the suburbs.
"Hello Mr. Epstien" Linda beamed and produced Gabrielle forward "This is my friend Gabrielle Gallagher, she can introduce you to them if you’d like?"
"Hallo" Gabrielle took a step forward and stuck her hand s out. Mr. Epstien shook it and smiled brilliantly at her.
"Ms. Gallagher? How do you know these Beatles then"
"Oh the lead guitarist" she pointed up on stage "You see the skinny one there, with the big guitar with F holes, yeah, that’s George. I’ve known ‘im since before I can remember. We’re best mates"
Mr. Epstien gave her an amused smile "That’s lovely Ms. Gallagher, it must be nice to have someone you’ve known for so long"
"Yeah" Gabrielle agreed "So, what d’you think of them"
John shook his head at the crowd producing screams from the girls while Paul took the opportunity to insert and other shriek into the song. The decibals raised a bit and George was laughing at the reactions his band mates were getting.
"They are quite good" Brian nodded "Germany, you said Linda?"
"Yes" Linda grinned
"I’d like very much to meet them, perhaps I could help them move along a bit?"
