Yoko is also exhibiting an apple. When John sees the price—£200—he has a flash of fear that the artist is after his Beatles riches.

Yoko continues to follow until John stops at her Ceiling Painting. He climbs a white stepladder and uses a magnifying glass to inspect another small card suspended from the ceiling.

In the center, she’s written YES—a very small YES.

John smiles at the artist’s positive message—and he’s completely enthralled. “I thought it was fantastic,” John later says. “I got the humor immediately.”

John goes home to his wife. That night, in bed, sleeping next to Cyn, he’s still thinking about Yoko Ono.

*  *  *

Riding a wave of emotion, John returns to Studio Two at Abbey Road. On November 24, 1966, he performs a solo acoustic version of his new song for the band, the producers, and the sound engineers.

“When I first heard ‘Strawberry Fields Forever,’ I was sidesmacked,” George Martin recalls. “Even with John singing it alone on his acoustic guitar, I thought it was a wonderful piece of work.”

John isn’t content with the sound. He leads the Beatles through multiple versions, from dreamy to metallic, ultimately calling on George Martin to combine two of the arrangements.

“Well, there are two things against it,” the producer explains. “One is that they’re in different keys. The other is that they’re in different tempos.”

With a “You can fix it, George,” John doesn’t have to choose.

This time.

But the pressures on the Beatles, his marriage, and his fragile psyche are mounting, and only John can decide his next move.

—

December 6, 1980

Jude Stein and her friend Jeri return to the Dakota shortly after 5:00 p.m. Their new friend from Hawaii, Mark Chapman, said he would meet them there and promised to take them to dinner at a Japanese restaurant.

“I don’t see Mark anywhere,” Jeri says.

“Let’s wait a few minutes. Maybe he’s running late.”

“I hope he gets here soon. It’s getting cold.”

And dark, Jude thinks. The streets are barely safe during the day. At night, the city turns into a horror show. The “rotten apple” is setting record levels for murder, rape, burglary, and car theft. It’s no wonder people are fleeing in droves.

There’s no one normal here anymore. The city needs normal people—people like Mark Chapman. Nice and friendly. Kind. Polite. I would have definitely gone out with him.

Jeri wants to stick around to see if John Lennon makes an appearance. Jude, though, is eyeing a homeless guy who’s approaching them. He’s doing that creepy zombie walk, which makes her think he’s on crack. The “poor man’s cocaine” is everywhere. Crackheads are mugging and killing people.

“Where are the cops when you need them?” Jude says. “Let’s get going.”