John Lennon lived with the belief that plants would surely rob him of all air in the room. He refused the mere green sight of them. It was when he met Yoko that he embraced plants for what they truly were. Givers, gifts, gardenias, jukeboxes. Lennon and Yoko lasted for an eternity, but it was in those in-between spaces that the two bipeds felt alive, decipherable, drunk, and embarrassed.

It was in those in-between spaces that the stretched open kitchen of a rambling castle frightened Yoko to death. She didn’t run away but stayed put in one of its white, lifeless corners. She imagined herself stirring into those rusty, iron pots to prepare a nasty dish for John. Gently taking his hand, she led the way out, passing through winding corridors. The echo of the real estate agent rang in their ears like inhuman jungle cat noises.

There came another, a property that belonged to some Earl or Lord of some sort, which Lennon set his sights on.  

“You don’t have class, Mr. Lennon,” the agents told him. 

That was back then.

Few years down the road, closer to this Thursday, Venice Beach millionaire homes are welcoming pedestrians with tripod cameras and homeless tents stationing upfront, on their sidewalks. Thirteen tents in a row, making a statement: “Fuck your ‘You don’t have class.’” There is no ID to place these tent people in a ticky-tacky box. No fine zip code stamped on their foreheads.

Lennon and Yoko got what they wanted. They settled for Ascot. This Georgian home had no body of water on its fabulous land, but that didn’t stop Lennon from building a lake on its property. He planted baby plums and cherries which promised much in 20 years’ time. Ascot was just right for 1969.

Raluca Comanelea is a woman writer born in Romania. From Las Vegas, she paints the surrounding world in fiction and nonfiction colors. Raluca is a finalist for the Newfound Prose Prize 2021. Her creative work has been featured in STORGY Magazine, Reflex Fiction, Toho Journal, and Secret Attic, among other literary venues. You can connect with Raluca at https://www.ralucacomanelea.com.