Wednesday, December 25, 1963

Dear Beatle Paul (or should I just say Paul?  Mr. McCartney is too old for you).

Paul, I just got this lock up diary for Christmas.  Last year in 6th grade I read Anne Frank's diary and she wrote it like a letter to somebody named Kitty.  I like that idea, but I'd rather write to you.  Paul, your music makes me feel good  I listen to you and the other Beatles and I say, "they know.  They understand."

My little brother Jack whose [sic] in 5th grade thinks John is cool.  He grew his hair like John and Pop screams.  What does Pop know?

Sunday, December 29, 1963

Dear Paul,

It's Saturday and I'm bored.  Pop says, "clean your room and stop picking on Jack and you won't be bored."  Paul, it's SO UNFAIR!  Jack comes into my room when I was listening to you sing "Till There Was You" and he starts to make fun of me.  I threw my shoe at him and now he and Pop are both mad at me.  Jack kicked me under the table and when I kicked him back, Pop made me get up.  Paul, he can be so MEAN!  He even made me wash everybody's dishes and it was Jack's night!

Ed Sullivan was boring tonight.  I can't wait until I see you on TV here.

Wednesday, January 1, 1964

1964 is the Beatle Year!  Every DJ in the country is saying that and playing "I Want to Hold Your Hand."  Oh Paul, I love that song!  Every time I hear it, I think of you and me, walking hand in hand.  Paul, there is a park 2 streets away and it has a skating pond.

Friday, January 3, 1964

Dear Paul,

I'm going to BURST!  I heard you were coming to the U.S.  Everybody is talking about it.  Paul, it's Friday and ALREADY I have homework!  It's not fair!  Winter break was until January 2, and alread y I have a MOUNTAIN of homework!  Phooey!

Friday, January 10, 1964

Dear Paul,

I am going to kill Jack!  Know what he did?  Jack sneaked into my room and took my transistor, the one I got for my birthday and used it without asking.  Now I'M grounded til Sunday because he said I beat him up.  I didn't, Paul.  I just whacked Jack on the arm and he said I'm the one who started it.  I read you have a younger brother.  Is he as bad as Jack?

Friday, January 31, 1964

Dear Paul,

Seven more days!  One more week until you come to the U.S.!  I can't wait!  Jack likes John the best.  He thinks John is tough and cool.  I love John, but I REALLY love you.  Your eyes are like windows to a beautiful, "Beatle filled" soul.  You make me just plain MELT!  Jack said we have to buy slip covers for the couch and chairs because "you'll wet youself watching the Beatles."  Paul, Ill trade brothers with you.  Jack is driving me bananas!

Thursday, February 6, 1964

Dear Paul,

I can't sleep.  It's 2:00 a.m. my time, where I am .  I'm on the East Coast in America.  We are SO LUCKY the East Coast is your first stop.

Pop agreed to let me and Jack watch you on Ed Sullivan on Sunday.  He's got midevil [sic] taste in music and he thinks the world stopped when it was WWII.   Sometimes Pop can be cool.  I wish we lived in New York City so I could greet your plane.

Friday, February 7, 1964

BEATLE DAY, BEATLE DAY, BEATLE DAY!

Dearest Paul,

I can't sit still in class.  We have to read the "Red Badge of Courage" and all I can think about is you.  Right after English it's math and I can't keep my mind on anything but you.  All throughout math class I kept thinking, "it's count down until the Beatles get here.  I can't wait!"

Chris Douglas in my math class sneaked in a transistor.  When the batteries get tired, you have to hold the radio out the window to get the sound back up.  Well, he opened the window, Paul, and you know how cold it gets in upstate New York in the winter!  You could like Pop says, "freeze the fur off a brass malamute."  My nitwit math teacher had a STROKE when Chris opened that window!  Chris said he had to hear the news.  Good thing he did because YOUR PLANE HAS ARRIVED!  PAUL!  YOU'RE HERE!  I LOVE YOU, PAUL!

At lunch today we all crowded round Sally Mastica's table because she has a good transistor that works.  She wears make up and she doesn't have to sneak it out of the house and put it on in the girls' room and then wash it off at 3:00 like I do.  Sally loves Ringo.  She said he has the best hair and the cutest face.   I wouldn't repeat this, Paul, but Sally said Ringo has eyes like her basset hound, Daisy.  I don't know if that is a compliment.  We had fun.  We all danced in the cafeteria until the crabby aide with the moles and the bad teeth threatened us all with detention.  What a rat!

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU ON THE NEWS TONIGHT!

Sunday, February 9, 1964

Dear Paul,

I saw you on TV tonight.  When you sang "All My Lovin," I could swear you were singing it to me except you were on TV.  Jack started to laugh and said it was time to slip cover the chairs.  For once I wasn't mad at Jack because he was singing along too.  He likes "She Loves You."  That's his favorite song.  Pop says, "say yes, not yeah," but we always say "yeah."  We learned that from the Beatles.

Sunday, February 16, 1964

PAUL!  I LOVE YOU!  MY TELEVISION IS SO EMPTY WITHOUT YOUR FACE ON MY SCREEN!

 I saw you tonight on the Ed Sullivan (Jack calls him Ed Sillyman because he thinks Ed Sullivan is silly) Show!  I love the way John stands on stage.  I wish George wouldn't stand in front of Ringo.  My favorite song tonight is "Please Please Me."  Jack said, "Whenever you see the Beatles, it's time to put paper under you."  I hit him.

Thursday, February 27, 1964

What a glorious afternoon!  I have the place to myself and I can look at your gorgeous pictures and dance to my "Meet the Beatles" album  I got that for Christmas.  Jack gave me a Beatles button because he said the store was out of just Paul buttons.  Sometimes Jack is OK.

Saturday March 21, 1964

Dear Paul,

I have a job!  I walk the two German Shepherds who live down my street.  Duchess is going to have puppies.  I want one.

Monday, March 30, 1964

Dear Paul,

I can't wait to see your movie.  I always said you are a leading man.  Paul!

Tuesday, April 21, 1964

Dear Paul,

I just found out that Jack has been playing hookey (you say "sagging," I read.  That's British for when you cut class or play hookey all day).  Know what Jack did?  Last week he and some other kids cut school to watch "The Three Stoogeathon" in the neighborhood theater.  (So THAT'S how Jack knew all those stupid lines from the Three  Stooges)!  Somehow, Jack has been intercepting the "hookey letters," we call them from the school office.  Well, one came today and Pop turned RED!  Like a FIRE TRUCK!  Jack can't listen to his (yeah, Jack has your records too) Beatle albums for a whole week!  Poor Jack.  For once I feel sorry for him.

Thursday, April 30, 1964

Dear Paul,

Duchess had the pups.  6 females, 1 male.  I still walk her and Duke of Earl, their other dog.

Friday May 15, 1964

Dear Paul,

I just got another Beatle single.  I now have 2 more singles than Jack.  They're all Beatles.

Monday May 18, 1964

Dear Paul,

Me and Lorraine and Katie and Lynn got together to be Beatles.  We got dressed up like you and sang all your songs.  We let Jack be our manager.  Jack liked telling us what to sing.  It was fun.  Katie can toss her hair like Ringo.  When you were on TV, Pop said Ringo looked like he had a neck spasm.  Sometimes Pop can be SO square!

Friday  May 22, 1964

Dear Paul,

I am copying an English assignment.

I love Beatle Paul
Because he sings how I feel.
He knows more than most people
And he is for real.

I see beauty in nature
And nature is all.
I see that beauty
Reflected in Paul.

I am a jailbird,
A prisoner of love.
My warden Paul can release me
So I can soar above.

Paul McCartney has met
Many goals.
He is the one
Who sings to my soul.

Paul has the best voice
That I have ever heard.
He sings more sweetly
Than any bird.

My moron English teacher gave me a D- and said I was lucky I didn't flunk?  The words "atrocious doggerel" (that means bad poetry) and "minimal effort" were scrawled across it in red.  How can anybody be so cruel, Paul?  I really put my heart and soul into that poem.  The assignment was to write a poem about what is near and dear to your heart and that is YOU.  Rube whose in my class wrote about the Three Stooges and his work got a C!  The Three Stooges are near and dear to his heart?  Boy!  Talk about unfair!

Thursday, June 4, 1964

It's 6/4/64 or 6464!  Birds are singing, the sky is brighter, the grass is greener.  "She Loves You" is on the radio right now.  Pop got rid of the 1940 Chevrolet.  That ugly heap is older than any Beatle!  It was an ugly car, Paul.  It was rusted and brown and embarrassing to look at.  You could hear it every time it was 2 blocks down the street.  We now have a 1963 Ford Fairlane.  It was cheap because at Frank's Ford there were a lot of 1963 cars on the lot and Pop didn't want to "go into hock" to buy one new.  It's a
beautiful Ford, Paul.  It's a red Fairlane with 4 doors.  We love it.  Jack calls it "a better idea" like the commercial, "drive a Ford, it's a better idea."  Jack wants a Thunderbird.

Thursday June 18, 1964

Dear Paul,

Happy birthday!  It's Paul McCartney Day!  I picked up a pie at the corner bakery with my dog walking money.  Jack likes pies better than cakes.  Jack lighted the candles.  We were gonna light 22 and 1 to wish on, but we could only find 8.  Oh, well, we had fun.  (Jack wants to throw pies like the Three Stooges)!

Friday June 19, 1964

Dear Paul,

Today's my last day of classes, the old grind!  We all got out early.  To celebrate, I used some of the money I saved and now I HAVE A COOL HAIRCUT LIKE RINGO!  Pop almost fainted when he saw me.  Now he likes it.  Jack said now I look human.  Brothers!

Monday, September 7, 1964

Dear Paul,

It's Labor Day.  Sorry I haven't written in a long time.  I spent the summer in San Francisco.  See Paul, I have an older half brother.  When Jack was little, he called Joe "half a brother."  Joe lives in the Bay Area and me and Jack have 3 nieces and nephews.  Well, 2 nieces and a nephew.  Guess what, Paul?  They ALL love the Beatles!  My oldest niece is in 2nd grade and whenever she has friends over they all play they're at a Beatles' concert!  They play records and scream and act like the fans do in "A Hard Day's Night."  They're so funny, Paul.  Know what else she does?  She gave all her dolls Beatle haircuts!  I love it!  She has "Beatle Barbie."  Can you picture that?  My littlest niece who's 3 sings along with the Beatles.  She's so adorable.  My nephew who's going into 1st grade said he was going to be Ringo when he grew up.  Joe thinks it's cool the way they all love the Beatles.  He said my very little nieces first word was "yeah."  I don't know if he was kidding.

Paul, you were in California when I was.  I even saw your movie out here.  You don't say much and Ringo is the funniest.  I liked it when he threw the darts and speared somebody's sandwich and another dart in the bird cage.  George was funny too when he wore the hat with the feather and when he didn't like the grotty shirts.  John was the next funniest after Ringo.  My favorite songs were "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You," "And I Love Her" and "Can't Buy Me Love."  Jack knows ALL the lines to the movie!  WHO'S THAT LITTLE OLD MAN?

I had fun on the West Coast.  I went down the crooked street, rode cable cars and ate in China Town and went to Fisherman's Wharf.  Jack learned to juggle over the summer.  We even watched a ball game and now Jack wants to be a ball player.  Sometimes Jack isn't so bad.  He was fun.

Yuck!  School starts in 2 days.  It's time to play my "Something New" album.  Every time I hear you sing "Things We Said Today," I just know you understand everything I go through, Paul.  It's just like you are there.

Thursday, September 24, 1964

Dear Paul,

8th grade is for the birds!  I bet you weren't a creep like a lot of the boys I know.  Tell me you never snapped somebody's bra strap or told a nasty story.  You're better than that, Paul.

Am. Lit. is my favorite class.  We're reading "Huck Finn."  Last year I had to read "Tom Sawyer" and it was funny.  The painted fence and when Tom went to his own funeral was funny.

Thursday October 29, 1964

Dear Paul,

Mike Wilson asked me to go to the Halloween Hop.  I said yes.  He's cute and has a Beatle haircut.  I told Jack trick or treating is for little kids, but he didn't fall for that.  He's trick or treating as John.

Saturday October 31, 1964

Dear Paul,

Jack's costume won first place in the 6th grade Halloween parade and he brought home enough candy to feed the neighborhood.

Lisa N. Collins has been writing short stories since age 7 and has been a lifelong Beatles' fan.  She has been a Beatleologist since age 12.  A late talker and early reader, she has been largely influenced by the Beatles.  She has worked in advertising and editing and is currently working in insurance and loving it.  She says that the best thing about writing stories is that like a ventriloquist, one can throw their voice around and create different characters and personalities.

Tell Lisa Collins what you thought of her story!