I Knew the WALRUS, Ronald Moreno [books under 200 pages .txt] 📗

I Knew the WALRUS

Please take your time to read this short book I typed, sharing the memories I had with John Lennon…

The year was 1961. I was in detention with John Lennon himself! He was my friend back in the day. He was a bad boy; unfortunately he turned me into one. He was carving weird symbols on top of the wooden desk with his pocket knife. He was only 21 years old, I was 19. The reason we were serving detention in high school was because we never made up our detentions during the 12th grade.

The detention we were in was 2 hours long. It was very boring, but Lennon made it all fun! When the teacher was writing Lennon’s name on the chalkboard, Lennon threw his eraser at the chalkboard. I laughed, but the teacher turned around and wrote my name. I whispered “No fair matter sir…” The teacher turned around and asked if I wanted detention longer. I nodded in disagreement. Lennon started making these “animal-like” sounds when the teacher was looking out the window for fresh air.

It was EXTREMELY hilarious. I laughed and looked down, tearing of laughter. The teacher was going to yell at Lennon and me but Ivan opened the door and asked to talk to this girl Barbara in our detention class. Ivan was the former guitarist to Lennon’s band, The Quarrymen. Lennon looked at me and whispered “Alright Ronny, we’re getting out of this hell house! Come on man, the teacher can’t do anything; we don’t go to this school.” I whispered “The teacher will chase us, or someone else!”

Lennon just kept telling me to follow him. I followed him. “Hey, hey! Where are you going?” the teacher yelled as we walked out the door. The teacher then got up and ran the other way towards the principal’s office. We looked back and a security guard came out following us. Lennon yelled “Damn it man that’s our officer who’s supposed to watch us! Make a run for it man!” I ran with Lennon. We then ran outside the Quarry High School. The police officer ran after us. But unfortunately there was a metal fence in front of us.

Lennon jumped over it, so I did too. The officer ran the other way to use the main exit. We ran but unfortunately there was traffic so we ran along the sidewalk. Then we saw a laundry store, we ran inside and hid for a few minutes but we were later kicked out for loitering. After we were kicked out, we headed home knowing that the police was gone. Lennon came over my house because I wanted to show him how I played the guitar.

Lennon liked it but I couldn’t join his band “The Silver Beetles” because I was already in a band of my own called “Tornado”. My band went know where near success because our drummer moved and our bass player was kicked out. So I was alone. But I was always the first audience of Lennon’s band. One day, I watched Lennon play the guitar with Pete Best, “A member of Lennon’s band”.

Unfortunately it wasn’t Lennon’s lucky day because his “A” string from his guitar popped. He couldn’t get it fixed because we was jobless. He had no money whatsoever. I let him use my guitar for his band sessions, but it was no good. My guitar wasn’t tuned enough for a great sound, but it was better than nothing.

Later that day, it was about past 8 p.m. and Lennon came over my house because he invited me go and have some fun out with him. The fun involved rocks at windows, and scraping the paint of off other peoples’ cars. He were never caught doing it, it was very fun and very adventurous. After we broke a window, we ran to a coffee shop. We bought coffee. Then we saw 3 girls by the counter, Lennon approached them and started making them laugh. I then joined him and started telling the girls that we’re in a band ourselves.

The girls were pretty and nice. They laughed easily and they watched us play the guitar later on during the week. Music was all that mattered back then, and learning to play the guitar was hard. Unfortunately, Lennon barely knew how to play the guitar; he ditched his guitar lesson teacher and wanted to teach himself for free. I never had time to teach him but he said he was taking lessons from a friend he recently met. His name was “Sir Paul McCartney”. Although I never met Paul, or the other 2 Beatles, I was buddies with Lennon. I remember one day, Lennon came to my house drunk. This was in the year 1962, when Lennon officially named his band “The Beatles” with 3 other people in it. Those people were Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Richard Starkey.

It’s a darn shame that I never met them but it was all good. One day in 1962, Lennon was singing and jamming it out with the guitar in my place. His voice was cracking many times. So, later that day we went to a professional singer who gave lessons. He told Lennon and me that it was happening because Lennon was stressing. Lennon never told me what he stressed about, but it went away after 2 weeks. After those 2 weeks, Lennon said he was going to perform at the Cavern Club, a social club that was stuffy and very small. It got very hot in there but people managed to survive the heat. The heat wasn’t deadly, but it was annoying.

To be honest, I never went to any of Lennon’s concerts. I never had the money for it. I never knew going to see all 4 Beatles was going to be so wicked in the future! After Lennon’s last concert in the Cavern Club, we barely hung out. He never called or anything. In the year 1965, Lennon finally visited me one last time. He was acting like a jerk after all the money and fame he gained. After our last talk, we never seemed to know each other. Personally, I was a fan of him. I told people that he was a friend of mine, but people thought I lied.

After the Beatles years, Lennon was on television all the time. The year was 1971; I lived in a small apartment with my lady friend Monica Ayn. I had a black and white television; Lennon was on television literally all the time. I started to become jealous of his fame, and I started hating him. But deep in our hearts, Lennon was my close friend. And I was Lennon’s close friend. But finally, the year was 1980. It was almost 1981; my grandfather came to my house after vacationing in New York. The day was December 10th, 1980. It was morning, my grandfather came to my house in England and said my once good friend John Winston Ono Lennon was shot and killed. Once I heard the news, I didn’t cry, but I was heart-broken. My heart lost a close friend I used to talk with all the time before the Beatles years.

I felt lonely, my lady friend couldn’t help me, and no one couldn’t. I was rather depressed for a few more days. Everyone in England cried and mourned. I didn’t tell anyone Lennon was a close friend of mine because people would have thought I was a liar looking for extra attention. Exactly 2 weeks after his death, I went out and bought 2 albums of the Beatles. I bought a “Beatles for Sale” album, and I bought the “Lennon Legend” album, special edition.

I wasted my rent money for these albums, it was worth it. Until this very day I look at my old school and apartment house and ask to myself “Johnny, where did you go brother?” I will never forget the memories I had with Lennon. Believe it or not, I still sometime shred some tears when I look back at the time we were very close friends. I just really wish I could interview Paul McCartney or Richard Starkey one day and talk about Lennon. Lennon was a great guy, forever in my heart. Rest in Peace ol’ friend!

Text: This book has been typed up by Ronald Moreno himself, he is known for being friends with former Beatle and peace activist, John Lennon.
Publication Date: 06-25-2011

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
This book is dedicated from Ronald Moreno to John Lennon.