Ringo walked into the kitchen, with a confused John trailing him. Ringo sat down at the table... and got up again. He walked over to one of the cabinets built into the wall and opened it. He rummaged around until he found something that looked like a tea kettle, and brought it over to the appliance that most looked like an oven, with burners on the top. Ringo then attempted to blow up the kitchen... or at least that's how it appeared to John. Realizing what Ringo was attempting to do, John walked over and turned a knob which caused green flames to leap up, and then turned it until they died down a bit. Ringo managed to fill the kettle with water from a faucet nearby, and set it on the burner while John watched, now a bit more than concerned by Ringo's actions.

WHAT'S THE MATTER? John sat down on one side of the kitchen table with the porto between him, and Ringo sat on the other side..

"All right..." Ringo paused. Now that he had a captive audience, he had no clue as to how to begin.

RICH?

Ringo looked at the type and an idea came to him.

"That's right. I'm Rich, but I'm not the Rich you know... "

John looked confused, but patiently waited to see if Ringo could explain.

"I'm from... another world. I came through a--well, I'm not to sure what it was--but I tripped through it and ended up here. I'm not sure, but I think that Rich might be in my world now, at least, I haven't seen him..."

THAT'S IT? THAT'S THE WHOLE BIT? YOU CAN MAKE UP BETTER STORIES THAN THAT! YOU ARE A WRITER AFTER ALL!

"Ah, but you see, I'm not a writer...Rich was, but I'm not. I can't write worth crap!"

WHAT ARE YOU THEN? John asked skeptically.

Ringo thought about mentioning the Beatles, but quickly realized that the whole conversation would escalate into a mess if he had to explain who they were too.

"A singer. A rock drummer. A photographer," Ringo searched his pocket and located his wallet. He brought it out and opened it, displaying a picture inside to John.

WHO'S THAT?

"That's you... the one I know. The John in my world..."

John took Ringo's wallet, examined the picture, then grinned. ONE THING'S FOR SURE. THAT'S NOT ME... he paused and looked again BUT HE LOOKS.... HE LOOKS SO MUCH LIKE ME.

"That's because he *is* you. Not you-you, but the you from another dimension. Just like I look like Rich, but I'm not... I'm well--think of me as his... double."

John squinted at the photo and held it up to the light. Then he sighed with resignation as he concluded that the image in it was indeed his own. It was true that with the current technology such a photo could easily have been manufactured, and he would have dismissed the entire episode as a cheap joke had it not been for the person who was earnestly trying to persuade him that it was the truth. The man was just so completely dedicated to proving himself and that impossible theory. Rich had been acting so... not like himself. The way he moved, his words and even the very way he talked were all dissimilar from any way he had acted in the years they had been friends. It was becoming easier to imagine that the charade was indeed, not a charade at all, but a strange (and true) tale. John pondered over his thoughts and finally came to a conclusion. If this entire scheme was a trick, then John was ready to fall for it, if it were a game, then he was willing to play. He took one last look at the photo and noticed that there was a small inscription on the bottom. "Photo by Ringo Starr"

WHO'S THIS RINGO?

"That's me. It's the name I go by. What everyone calls me."

John handed back the wallet.

There was a brief silence. Ringo had so many questions that he wanted to ask this John. So many that it was impossible to speak one.

The tea kettle started to twitter, Ringo jumped up, startled, and knocked over his chair. John went over to the burner and turned it off, taking the kettle over to a small table and pouring the contents into two cups.

"I don't suppose that you'd have tea in this dimension..." Ringo stated hopefully. John tossed a tea bag over his shoulder in Ringo's direction.

Ringo grinned and caught it.

"--and there you have it. That's everything that's happened since I came here. I just got here. I've no clue why, or even how... and can't say I blame you if you can't believe it. I can hardly believe it myself, and it happened to me," Ringo finished telling the brief history of his experience. Surprisingly, John seemed to take it seriously.

I BELIEVE YOU.

Ringo had to read the words twice before they registered. John believed him. That was step in the right direction...

"That's my tale," Ringo drained the last of his tea, "How about you?"

I'M A MEMBER OF THE MISSIONARY GROUP. WE'RE A CHRISTIAN GROUP, AND NOT HIGHLY WELCOMED. WE'VE BEEN HERE FOR ABOUT 10 YEARS. WHEN I JOINED THE MONASTERY I TOOK A VOW OF SILENCE.

"Why would you do that? Did you have to?"

NOW'S NOT THE TIME FOR LONG EXPLANATIONS. IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE GONE SOON, I'D RATE THAT YOU WON'T CARE. IF YOU'RE AROUND FOR A WHILE, THEN IT'LL COME OUT.

Ringo's face took a visible drop. A while? How long would a while be? John sensed his disappointment.

DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT... BUT UNTIL WE'RE SURE ABOUT SOMETHING, IT WOULDN'T HURT FOR YOU TO FIT IN AROUND HERE... John left his porto and walked into the parlor, Ringo followed him. He reached over to the wall and flicked a switch. A small panel swung back and revealed a screen like the one on top of his keyboard. He showed Ringo a small hand-held control and pressed a button near the top of it. The screen leapt to life, showing a action packed movie. He pressed the button again and the screen dimmed to black. John walked back into the kitchen to get his keyboard. When he returned, he found Ringo playing about with the buttons on the controller.

"Just like the telly..." Ringo mused quietly.

THIS SHOULD PROVIDE YOU WITH ENOUGH INFORMATION SO THAT YOU WON'T BE STARING AT EVERYTHING YOU SEE.

Ringo was intently watching the flickering screen, and didn't see the message. John pressed a button and the porto beeped, attracting Ringo's attention.

Ringo looked over at John and, after reading what he had written, noticed that the porto was hovering just below his hands in midair, but still stable enough for him to type on.

"How..."

John grinned, LIKE I SAID, SO YOU WON'T START AT EVERYTHING YOU SEE... John left the porto floating in front of him and reached over and picked up the controller. He pushed a button that flipped the scene to what looked like a news show. Ringo sat down on the sofa to watch it.

John walked back into the kitchen and sat down at the table. He touched the screen with one finger and a menu came up. He selected the choice labeled "Communication". A message appeared in the middle of the screen:

WHAT'S UP JOHN?

John typed in his response and hit enter. It showed up underneath the last message.

SOMETHING CAME UP. I'M GOING TO STAY AT RICH'S TONIGHT.

A response popped up:

IMPORTANT THEN? WELL GOOD NIGHT AND GOD BLESS.

John nodded at the screen and typed:

AMEN TO THAT.

Then he touched the left hand corner of the box, causing it to vanish.

It had been 3 days since Ringo had arrived, and he was beginning to get restless. Despite finding new inventions and miracles he never had thought possible, he began to miss the inferior, familiar things of his own. That first night he'd watched that news channel until he thought he'd either pass out or or throw up. In the end he had done both.

After spending the first night most unhappily, Ringo slept through the majority of the second day. The third day John left Ringo to go do something, and advised him not to touch anything that looked like it might be a switch. So, resisting the temptation to press all the buttons in the house, Ringo spent the evening looking over Rich's book shelves. He found some interesting titles, and also a couple books of poetry. Ringo took out one of the books and noticed that the author was Richard Starkey. Rich was a poet. That explained John's prior comment... that he was a writer. Ringo sat down to read some of the poems, but was soon interrupted by Mozart who wished to remind him that he hadn't fed the dog lately.

Ringo, against his better judgment, went through the kitchen looking for what dog food Rich might have. In the course of looking, he found a bottle of 1862 wine (It was green) a half a bag of crackers (they were purple) and an apple (it was, thankfully, red). In the end he found a box labeled "Dog Chow" and poured it into a bowl. Then he left the kitchen, deciding against foraging in there any more in that hour. But soon hunger caused him to check the kitchen again for anything that was edible. He managed to find a few fruits that hopefully wouldn't permanently damage his digestive system. He made a note to himself to ask John where he could shop.

As Ringo was sitting at the kitchen table, musing over his experience, an idea came to him. He knew what he had to do! There was a way he could get back! It would take a bit of work and John's help... but it could be done!

Onward! Chapter 5

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