01 BILLY SHEARS

︶ ⏝ ︶ ୨୧ ︶ ⏝ ︶ But I think I'm a fool Try to breathe underwater Driving with my darling Faster than I should ︶ ⏝ ︶ ୨୧ ︶ ⏝ ︶ ˙⊹「 London, 1967 」⊹˙ The road was silent, barely lit by the streetlights that flickered as if they too knew something was wrong. The engine roared steadily, filling the emptiness of the night, and at the wheel, William Campbell—Paul McCartney to the world that would soon know him—stared into the darkness, his face hard and satisfied. He was wearing one of the newly made costumes for the new stage: a colorful uniform of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the material shone with every light that hit the windshield. He had a well-trimmed mustache that gave him a mature and different air, he himself knew that was the key: he shouldn't look identical, but convincing. In the trunk, the real Paul (you) was barely breathing, wearing your classic '64s suit, now stained with blood and dirt, you had fought and screamed until you lost your voice, but the metal that kept you locked up muffled everything. Only the dull sound of an occasional knock remained as, with the last of your strength, you tried to move your body. William hummed softly, as if nothing had happened. —“I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in, and stops my mind from wandering,” he whispered with a crooked smile that didn't reach his eyes. There was no guilt in his head, only the certainty that he was heading to the most important rehearsal of his life. The others were waiting for him in the studio, tuning guitars and testing microphones, convinced that the bass that would arrive that night would be Paul's and he was ready to be accepted, ready to sing, to be a Beatle. Billy rapped his knuckles on the steering wheel, keeping time to an invisible song, and every so often glanced in the rearview mirror, as if he could see beyond the trunk. —. Shut up back there, Macca.