Short Story, Theme Prompt, Writing Challenge, Writing Prompts

Tickets To Ride

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Re-written from 2023 for Great Minds Think –
Unexpected Impact. Our hosts, Sarah & Rohini, ask us
to examine something that had a powerful impact.

Forgive me …. I’ve written about this before and you may have read it, but this story fits the bill perfectly. It’s based on a true event …. one I will remember forever.

© New York Times

“Organized? You call this organized? I see stacks of magazines on the floor, clothing on your beds, and why is there a bottle of Coca Cola sweating on your desk? There better not be any water rings on the wood. Now finish up in here; we haven’t got all day and my patience is wearing thin!” 

The voice of my long-suffering mother rang in my ears.

My mother was a strict, in-control-at-all-times perfectionist who rarely let her guard down or showed her emotions …. which is why what happened that ordinary day in August left both me and my sister bewildered, squinting our eyes, skewing our faces, and scratching our heads wondering who this imposter was in our mother’s place.

Mom dramatically raised her arm above her head. Suddenly the sky parted, angels sang, and a brilliant stream of light shone down upon an envelope in her hand. My sister and I stared in disbelief as realization struck. We hugged each other, jumped up and down, screamed and cried tears of joy for peeking out of that envelope were three yellow tickets that looked exactly like this:

Three passes into a world we only dreamed of, a place greater than any national treasure, a fantasy land more majestic than any shrine, tickets more precious than gold, frankincense and myrrh. 

Clapping her hands twice, Mother brought us back down to earth. “Hurry and get dressed. The show starts in four hours and traffic will be a nightmare. Dresses only, girls. No blue jeans and definitely no shorts. And for heaven’s sake, wear your bras; you are not animals and this is not a free-for-all!” 

Oh, really?

Sacred tickets in hand, we jumped into my mother’s 1957 Ford Fairlane 500. It seemed to take forever to arrive and we sang one Beatles song after another. In the distance we caught our first glimpse of Shea Stadium glimmering in the glow of the New York sun like the Land of Oz, and the Four Wizards were there waiting to play only for us …. well, us and approximately 65,000 crying, screaming, hyperventilating fans.

We found our seats and finally had our first real chance to look around. Our eyes widened in awe; surely this was even more spectacular, more jaw-dropping than the Colosseum in Rome which we had seen just one month earlier. Finally, after waiting for what seemed a lifetime, television host Ed Sullivan appeared on stage and tried to speak over the roaring mass of adoring fans. These were the words he spoke that night: “Now, ladies and gentlemen, honored by their country, decorated by their Queen, and loved here in America, here are The Beatles!”

Pandemonium, a mania the likes of which had never been witnessed before broke out as the most beloved musical group of all time ran onto the stage.

My sister and I grabbed our binoculars and raced to the bottom of our tier for a closer look. Hearing anything over the cacophony of the audience was almost impossible and we screamed and cried right along with everyone there. At one point I looked back, stunned to see my mother laughing and singing and dancing in the aisle with a strange man! 

That night my world was changed and my greatest dream came true. I had reached Mecca, climbed Everest and walked on the moon. Being there was beyond surreal. It was the most electrifying and exhilarating experience of my life. That night remains etched in my mind and on my heart for all eternity. 

Well done, Mom. Well done. 

NAR©2023, 2026

This is “Ticket To Ride” by The Beatles

Unexpected impact

Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me unless otherwise indicated, and may not be used without permission. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.

31 thoughts on “Tickets To Ride”

    1. I obviously agree with you, Sue. I’ve been to many concerts in my lifetime, had the extreme pleasure of meeting Sinatra and Pavarotti, spent my early teen years hanging out with a teenage Steven Tyler, but none of those experiences come close to the thrill of seeing the Beatles. 💙🪲🎶

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  4. What an amazing experience it must have been. Plus, you literally witnessed music history firsthand.

    I guess the closest I ever got was seeing Paul McCartney in Germany in 1989/1990 during the supporting tour for his “Flowers in the Dirt” solo album. Beatles songs accounted for more than half of his setlist, including several The Beatles had never performed live.

    Macca’s vocals sounded outstanding, and his backing band did a great job, both musically and vocally. There were some more mature folks in the audience, who probably saw The Beatles in the ’60s just like you did. And, yes, some got emotional.

    But, of course, it still wasn’t the real thing!

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    1. Hi Christian. It really was nice reading your comments. It’s always been a real trip for me to hear what other people have to say when they find out I saw The Beatles in concert, especially those people such as you who understand and appreciate what an enormous impact The Beatles had on the world. Conversely, it always gives me pause to come across someone who is not familiar with The Beatles’ music or The Beatles themselves. How can that be? I will not let their music die in my lifetime and have made it a point to instill an appreciation of Beatles’ music in my children and now my grandchildren. Getting to see The Beatles was an absolutely outrageous concept and experience …. not so much because it was something I dreamed of and never thought possible but because it was my mother who made it happen! That fact continues to astound me 60 years later. Just when I was convinced my mother didn’t understand me at all, she turns around and pulls off the coup of the century! I guess she really was listening to me after all and understood what was going on in my heart. Thanks for reading my story and sharing your thoughts and memories with me.

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    1. Incredibly fantastic, Barbara! I really did love them back then and I still do, obviously in a different way now and for different reasons. Their music changed not only my life but the lives of people all over the world. Thanks for leaving a great comment, Barbara. 😊

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    1. We really were, Jim. My mom knew I desperately wanted to see The Beatles (I even entered a contest to try to win tickets to their concert in Forest Hills) and she made it happen. Gestures such as this were a rarity. I’m sure your parents did a lot for you and your siblings …. maybe not on such a grand scale, but in other ways that truly mattered. Thanks for your very thoughtful comments, my friend.

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      1. One day my dad got me out of a lot of trouble, as I sideswiped a car as I was going around a bend driving my friend’s car.  The police investigation led to them tracking down my friend who gave me his keys because he wanted to go with this girl, and he told them that he was not driving.  The cops came to my house about 3AM and they rang the bell and told my dad they wanted to arrest me, and he told them that I was sleeping and they needed a warrant to arrest me, unless they had specifically witnessed me committing a crime, and they went away.  They came back the next day and gave me a ticket for being in a hit and run, but they could no longer charge me with driving under the influence of alcohol. 

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        1. Wow! That’s quite a story and speaks volumes of your father’s love for you and great concern for your welfare. Faced with a similar situation, many people are intimidated by the police showing up at their door in the middle of the night and will comply with their demands, even if they’re not sure what to do. Your father’s quick and clear thinking likely saved your skin. Thanks for sharing your story, Jim.

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          1. Yes, he was a sharp thinker, and he knew that they only had hearsay and circumstantial evidence, so he was not going to let them arrest me without a warrant, and the police were not going to wake up a judge at that time of night to obtain one.

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    1. Around a million times! Ha! Sounds about right! My mom was a powerhouse but she totally outdid herself with this mind-blowing surprise. My friends were so impressed with my mom and we never looked at her the same way again. Thanks for a fab comment, Lois. 💕

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  9. Absolutely amazing my dear friend: I was too young when the Beatles were Downunder, but I know my Carole went to the concert in Melbourne, 1964 …
    (The Beatles came to Australia once (1964), and they travelled with a full supporting bill — Sounds Incorporated, Johnny Devlin, Johnny Chester, and The Phantoms — all of whom played in Melbourne) 🥰🎵

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  12. Wow – that must have been SO exciting! 🤩 A memory to be relived and savoured many times over! 💖 I never had the chance to see The Beatles, but I’m still on a concert high from Sunday’s Iron Maiden show. Fandango is right about current prices, so we’ve had to cut back on our concert-going. ☹️ Bring back those $5.00 ($60.00) tickets!

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    1. Iron Maiden puts on one hell of a show; I’m so glad you got to see them. Seeing The Beatles was amazing and totally surreal. I was also the envy of all my friends when they found out! I still have all my scrapbooks and memorabilia in four big KLM flight bags in my attic. Thanks for a great comment, Debbie! 😊

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  13. Wow, what an experience that must have been. And all at only $5.65 per ticket, including taxes. That would equate to about $60 per ticket in August 2026 dollars. And, according to Perplexity, “For a top-tier rock act at a stadium today, a realistic budget is about $200–$300 per ticket before fees for an ordinary seat bought through the official sale. If you want a good lower-bowl seat or floor ticket, plan more like $300–$500+.”

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    1. For a 14-year-old me, it was the experience of a lifetime and nothing else could come close. The fact that my mother broke character in such a dramatic way to surprise us was mind-blowing. These stats are incredible although not surprising. We paid around $200 per ticket to see Billy Joel in MSG and his 100th performance finale tickets were more than $500 each. Let’s not even talk about sporting event ticket prices! Thanks for leaving such an interesting comment, Fan.

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