This was my first trip to New York. I knew why I'd chosen this place. My little holiday I knew had something to do with one person that had lived here. I drew a piece of paper from my handbag. A list with things I definitely wanted to visit.

"Dakota, Record plant studio, strawberry fields," I sighed to myself. There shouldn't be a reason to visit that place. A voice over the intercom snapped me back from my thoughts. We had to fasten our seat belts. I quickly stuffed the paper back into my bag and did what I was supposed to do. A few moments later we touched ground.

"Big apple, here I come," I thought, and smiled inside. I worked my way to the exit, and already felt myself getting excited when my feet only touched the grounds of the airport.

"This way miss," a man pointed. "And..you forgot your bag."

"Oh thanks, how did you find that?" I said.

"Because my seat was right in front of yours," he said smiling. I nodded, thanked him again and went away to catch the rest of my luggage. The of eighth December 1999, I thought. And it doesn't even feel like winter. In fact it wasn't very warm, but inside I felt like it was summer. I put my backpack on my back and walked on through the hall.

Then my feet touched a large thick carpet and I saw a glass revolving door right in front of me. "It's just like I'm stepping inside a movie," I giggled inside. I slowly walked inside, adjusting my pace to the speed in which the door made his way around to lead me outside. Was it just me or did this thing suddenly stand still?

I held my hand in the right pocket of my coat, clutching my ticket. For a moment the floor swung under my feet. 'I must get something to eat,' I thought while I walked away from the door. "So let's find this coffee shop
then," I said aloud. 'Of course not fool,' my inside replied. 'You need to get rid of these bags first.' - "Later," I sighed back. "First something to wake me up." I yawned while I thought that, checked my watch.

Half past seven? This felt odd. I checked again, heard a chime ring in the distance. Eleven times. "Oh silly, forgot to set it right," I said.

I hailed a taxi as soon as I saw one coming my way. "Where to miss, a hotel?" the driver asked.

"No...first some coffee... you know the way to... Central Park?"

"Sure.....but what about these bags... better get rid of that first," I laughed.

"Oh time enough," I said. He looked a bit strange but then smiled back

"Here then, give me all this stuff, there's room enough for that in the back." He pointed to the other front door and I got inside.

"This is my last day at work," he said.

"Oh... so what comes next?"

"I don't know... I'll just see what happens when I'm back in England."

"Oh..that's right where I came from."

"What a coincidence." he said. "And you happened to be here for the first time in your life?"

"Yeah, a little Christmas present for myself." I said. "I'm gonna visit some friends next week... but first this place."

"Oh yes, while you're at it, I'd say you better take the chance." I yawned. "Oh if you need some coffee," he said glancing through the window and slowing down a bit. "Here's a nice little bar, if you want me to stop and take something in for you,"

"Oh no." I said.

"Well don't worry about money, we'll just smuggle a bit,"

"Of course not," I said. "But thanks... I'd rather take a walk first. I've had quite enough of this airplane coffee."

"They have a lot more choice," The driver said turning into a street. "Here...west 72nd street," he said.

"John Lennon used to live here," I said staring at the building we passed.

"Used to.... has he moved?" This was the first time I'd ever heard such a stupid question.

"Yes..obviously," I said.

"Oh... well it wasn't like in the beatles days so... I wonder what made him leave this place."

"Holy moze.." I gasped. "You're telling me you don't know what happened?" I swallowed the rest of my sentence back. "Well..never mind," I muttered turning my head away.

"Oh I see..." the man said out of nothing, while I tried my best to find a new
subject. I certainly didn't want this to linger.

"It's getting colder....I think it's going to snow soon," I said.

"That would be the first time in my life," the man said. Then he started to laugh. "Ah.. but I'm never here in winter.. I spent every Christmas in Texas."

"Your home town?" I said.

"Yup, and it's always nice to be there around that time."

"I know the food from there," I said, glad that we had something else to talk about, even though it still struck me how he couldn't know an important thing like what happened to John. "It's almost the time of year again," I said, thinking about where I'd be this Christmas... most likely at my best friends home."

"Yeah yeah...1980, going on 81.. it's getting fast." That woke something... simply sounded to odd.

"Could you repeat that please?" I said, not exactly knowing what else to say on this.

"Oh it's nothing to be frightened of. I just said it's 1980 already... we're getting into a new decade."

'he's twenty years behind!' I thought. 'What is this? Is he living in some dream?' I pulled the paper from under my seat.

"Oh no don't do that," the driver said. "I've been driving a few blocks for nothing already, can't find a good place to park, so if you don't mind getting off here." OH yes please!! my inside yelled. Relieved to get out, I opened the door. "Oh here..take this, if you wanted to read that anyway," the driver said. "There's enough benches, so you can relax for a while." that's right what I wanted to do. I closed the door after a short thanks and
the car went away.

I folded the paper and put it in my bag,then picked everything up. "Pretty silly to walk on like this," I laughed to myself. "So what, the sun is shining and it's blue sky." I shivered. "But it's pretty damn cold out here." I should have taken my ever trustful teddy bear jacket along.

I strolled through the grass, listening to the sound of the wind going through the trees. "Now.. the monument," I thought. I'd seen numerous pictures showing whereabouts it should be, so I tried to find the right way. "And here, I should have asked for directions," I thought. I simply couldn't find any indication, let alone the piece itself.

Something else struck me while I walked several paths. It wasn't as crowded as I'd expected. "Oh well..." I thought. "Never mind, I know I'd be here this time so probably best when I'm alone." Still I felt myself getting more and more confused.

The mosaic, the flowers, the sign of "Strawberry fields" I couldn't find it anywhere. "It must have been taken away," I thought, but at the same time I shook my head, walking over to a bench. I had to observe this place and think things over. Maybe the right route would come back to me if I did nothing for a while.

I sat down with my bags in front of me. The ground was still a bit muddy but I didn't mind. Then I noticed the paper in my hands. I opened it up, glanced at some titles and then noticed a date that simply jumped out at me. "London - December 1980."

I froze, looked it over twice, went back to the front page while my head started spinning. "1980, going on 81.." the words echoed in my head. How could this..... There wasn't even time for me to shrug and laugh it off. This wasn't a dream. I touched in my pocket. The little figure was still there.

"Then I must be crazy!" I said. "Excuse me...?" I said, getting up and walking over to the first person I saw. "It's probably a weird question but.... could you check this and read it out loud.."I quickly tired to invent something. "My sight is getting a bit blurry... I'm not sure if this it the right edition."

"Well if you just bought it," the man said, "I can't see why they would send you off with yesterdays paper." He looked it over. "Yes.. December 8 1980.. it's right." then gave it back.

"Thanks," I said.

"Oh no problem, good bye." he said, walking off.

"Coffee.... I need some coffee!," I whispered inside. I walked on trying to find the exit of the park, completely forgetting about my bags. By the time I was back on the sidewalk, I had a feeling things would soon come back to normal. But the game only started here.

I walked the street, passing the large imposing building that always caught me off guard. Opposite this particular one, I couldn't help feeling smaller than ever. Then I noticed a figure crossing the street, coming my way. I felt something sharp from inside sting through my heart. Holy crap...he looked exactly like....

"Thank you...whoever did this to me," I yelled inside. It's of course fantastic to travel back in time but why right on this day..and why the hell
should I meet...."No," my inner voice said. "You don't have to meet him..j ust walk the other way, go somewhere else... you needed coffee remember?"

Yes, I definitely needed some, maybe even something stronger. I Finally found the bar I was looking for. It was in fact the one name I could remember from what I'd written down.

I walked inside and looked around for a good table. Everything was full, or at least had one chair occupied. "You can sit over there in the back, it's a bit more separated." I heard a voice right next to me.

"Yes, come along with us, we where just coming in right behind you." a woman said. I looked around while my jaw dropped one inch.

"Jesus Christ what is this?" I said.

"What do you mean... me?" John (or was this John?) said. I shrugged. "Well then, it's a mystery guest, guess three times." he said. It made me feel funny, I tried to push back the fits of laughter that suddenly fell over me. I had to take this serious or simply walk away. This was just too odd.....

"Quite incognito if you ask me," I said. "John Lennon isn't it?" John stared at his hands.

"So... coming along with us," he said. For some reason he pointed at my shirt. I looked up, couldn't see from my place what was wrong with it.

"NYC" Yoko said.

"Yeah, made it myself," I said while John already walked away.

"Ok, have a cappuccino with us?" Yoko said.

"Oh that's an easy question," I blurted out. I thought things over while we walked to a table in the very back of the bar.

So this was John Lennon. And it was 1980, the 8th of December. A lazy winters day in New York and a creep standing on his doorstep while no one except me knew that he actually was a creep. The link was soon made, and the one reasonable thing that could follow it soon popped up in my mind. This was a wonderful chance to prevent the awful thing from happening.

"Thanks," I said in myself, a lot warmer now, addressing who or whatever had done this for me.

"It's almost three," John said while we sat down. "We just had to take a break... all the interviews and some photo shots,"

"Yes I know," I said.

"How can you know," John asked.

'Very clever question Johnny,' I thought. 'You're really alert.'

"And... we've got to do some more songs," I decided to act dumb this time.

"And you just released an album?"

"Yep.. see how creative we are," John said.

"You, it's you with the inspiration," Yoko said.

"Good plug," I laughed. "You're a good singer, take that from someone who waited so long to get into your music?"

"You got my solo albums?" Yoko said."

"Oh no...I've just heard some things. Approximately infinite universe?"

"There you have it," John said. "It's not to hard to get through it, her music has to reach you. You simply get it or you just don't get it, and in the last case you'd better leave it, for..." I laughed.

"I know... too much waste of time to try and understand the lyrics."

"Oh but I got them all," John said.

"See, that's the way we've been talking ever since we went out in the one again," Yoko said. 'We're doing all these interviews, and believe me, nothing has ever been more relaxing than half a day of talking while BBC was recording it."

"Andy..." I said, but I stopped in time, not knowing if I should know this or not. Apparently they didn't even hear it, while I still couldn't hide the smile the whole interview had brought on my face. Weeks ago I'd simply sat down on the couch and listened through the whole album.

"We don't even know her name?" John suddenly said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What? Er... oh.... it's Mary." I said.

"Well, you'll probably know what would happen next." Yoko added. I giggled.

"Oh, if you mean you're about to introduce yourselves...."

"You think we're that silly?" John said, checking his watch. "Oh Jesus, is it time already!" he said, "we have to be back for the last part of that photo
session. Oh yes, and tonight at eight some last recordings."

Last... how double edged did that sound. "not now," I said to myself. However weird it sounded to me, I had to face this one very odd truth. The thing that often made things look more ironic to me than they had to, this *thing* as it was in my case, hadn't happened yet.

"And it won't happen," I thought. "Whatever I can do, something must have given me a chance to fix this. It's clear to me what to do with it.

"Coming along?" John said. But something hit me at once. Something that hadn't been on my mind since I walked out of the airport.

"I... still have to find a hotel," I said, blushing a bit.

"While you've got a chance to get the cheapest place to stay?" John said.

"Like what?" I said ."Do you have some travel tips?"

"Tips?" John said. "How about that one large building... room enough for more then us."

Was this meant to invite me over? "Hmmm...." I said, I thought some things over. "Oh never mind, we'll get back to that later," I finally said. Inside I meanwhile decided to leave the whole thing behind. Who knows what would happen if my plan, this scheme I'd suddenly started working out while still
chatting on with John and Yoko, if that would work out right. I sincerely hoped it would.

We got up and walked out of the bar. "So what's with this man and double fantasy?" Yoko said. It immediately caught my attention.

"He wanted your autograph? I missed out on that, think I was too busy." I immediately knew who she meant.

"Well yes," John said. "The fool, beaming all over when I gave it back." I smiled for a moment, then frowned. "There we are," he said. "Just cross the street and we're home... wonder if they're getting tired of Sean."

"Well he's getting tired of them too," Yoko said. "And when he sees you... that'll be over at once."

"Oh I'm looking forward to that." I said, meanwhile trying to get back to my few memories of pictures from when he was small. I knew how his voice sounded. I had this wonderful boxed set filled with priceless unreleased material. Live recordings, home demos, different takes, I never got tired of listening through the whole set. I clearly remembered the handwriting on the front 'he tried to face reality.' -

"And here I am... and I'm fighting it." I thought. I answered inside. "There you go, challenging fate again, I with all my heart that..." I froze while we crossed the street. I simply had to glance around. Good luck, he wasn't here.

"This guy has left John," a girl said. Supposedly it was someone else that came by often. "He'd be back in an hour or so, just going off for some diner."

"Good, let him stay away for a while," I thought. For the moment we where
inside, and safe. I prayed to got that we'd get out the same way. "Are there more exits here?" I said.

"Why? You mean something for emergency?" John said.

"Oh never mind.. just curious," I muttered.

"Awright miss Marple, we'll show you the back door when we leave." I laughed, inside hoping that he'd seriously mean it, although I could see from his face that he just made a joke.

"So you read those books?" I said.

"Not only that... I still have them, and a lot more."

"Ah... your offer becomes more and more interesting," I said while we went inside the elevator.

"Offer...." John said. "Oh yes, bed and breakfast. It's already confirmed ma'am." Yoko started to laugh. I suddenly realized where I would be in a few moments.. the very inside of John's home. The place where all these demo's were made. For a moment the little curious, somewhat hysterical part of the john-fan inside me jumped up.

"No matter how..." I thought "But I simply *have* to touch that piano."

"You still have the one instrument on which you played imagine?" I said.

"Oh yes...it's got his own room." John said.

"See.. we kinda... took half of the floor for ourselves." Yoko said.

"Ah.. a trick from Mr. Epstein?" I said. It seemed John got the fun, he laughed out loud while the door opened.