I have all the time in the world. Lennon doesn’t.

“Do you mind if I wait and see?”

“It’s a public sidewalk,” the doorman replies. “As long as you don’t block the driveway, you can stand anywhere you want.”

Mark waits with his copy of Double Fantasy.

Three hours pass.

Enough, he thinks. John Lennon is hardly the only celebrity in New York City.

He takes a self-guided walk of fame and adds a sound track—his edited and altered versions of Beatles songs.

He sees a crowded art gallery. He steps in, eyes peeled for celebrities or even rich people—though none of them is anywhere near as rich as Lennon.

A group of people is huddled around two men. Probably famous artists, he thinks and, wondering who they are, moves closer. The crowd is so large he has to crane his neck.

Mark spots two actors—Leslie Nielsen, whose Airplane! was last summer’s comedy blockbuster, and Robert Goulet, who starred in Camelot on Broadway.

I can take anyone here.

Mark puts his hand on the singer’s shoulder.

Goulet pulls away and turns.

“Excuse me?” Goulet says. “What is this?”

“You’re no Lancelot,” Mark says to the dashing baritone.

Goulet ignores the taunt. “I’m trying to have a conversation here.”

Mark’s hand is on the revolver. He imagines pulling it out and firing a shot into the actor’s face, blowing his brains across the canvas behind him.

Goulet glares at him, then starts to turn his back.

It’s like he’s daring me to do it.

“Um, do you think we could take a quick picture?”

Goulet is annoyed. Finally, he relents and faces Mark.

“Well,” the actor says, “come on, then.”

Mark’s hand grips the gun.

He pulls out his camera, hands it to an onlooker, and poses next to Goulet while the photo is taken.

Before Mark can shake the man’s hand, Goulet has moved away.

Even though the man is famous, killing him won’t achieve the result he desires. The actor isn’t the purpose for his visit.

Outside, Mark hails a cab.

“I need to find a bookstore,” he tells the driver.

“There’s one near the Sheraton. Hop in.”

At the shop, Mark heads straight for the fiction section to buy a copy of The Catcher in the Rye, his favorite book. When he sees a photograph showing Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz, his favorite movie, he’s seized by inspiration.

While standing in the checkout line, he’s jolted a second time. John Lennon’s name is on the cover of Playboy magazine. It’s the January issue, featuring Lennon’s interview with David Sheff.

They’re coming together, he tells himself. History and time.

Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Who on earth d’you think you are?

A superstar?

—“Instant Karma!”

I wanna come home,” says twenty-nine-year-old John Sinclair.