Chapter 5
A couple of days later it was Jill’s turn to come up to Alice’s flat in Islington, leaving Bear at home under the care of her brother, Sam.
‘Thanks for coming with me today,’ Alice said as the two of them got ready to head out to the concert in Brookwick Park that would start in the early afternoon. ‘I’m really looking forward to this. Shame the other three couldn’t make it, though.’
‘Let’s do something as a group next week. But maybe something indoors, I’m not sure how much more I can stand of this heat!’
It was 37 degrees Celsius and the capital city was airless. Hot tarmac could be felt through sandals and even when people tried to stand apart there was an uncomfortable closeness in the air. Skin was permanently sticky, brows consistently furrowed against the sun, heads aching and noses pinked. Even the jokes about how British it was to complain about the weather beingtoonice had long since gone, burnt away like the blades of yellowed grass in the city’s parks.
Alice finished layering on the factor fifty sun lotion and handed it to Jill. ‘You want to borrow a hat to wear?’
‘Yeah, I think I’d better, if that’s okay. It won’t really go with my outfit, but that’s probably not the most important thing.’
‘They’ll let us take in water bottles, right?’
‘I’m sure they will, in this heat. Or at minimum they’ll be giving them away.’
‘I know I am such a summer girl, but right now I would happily stick my head in a pile of snow,’ said Alice, slicking on her signature lipstick and then putting it in her cross-body bag. ‘Are we nearly good to go?’
Jill faced her and nodded, smiling at her friend. ‘I can’t wait to push your face into the snow on our trip.’
Alice laughed a happy laugh. ‘But first, we dance!’
‘But first we dance,’ agreed Jill.
The concert was a much bigger operation than Alice had expected. Thousands of people swarmed over the parched grass of Brookwick Park, closing around the stage with its looming, black sound system and video screens. Food vans sizzled and spat hot smoke towards the queues of people, and enormous crates of bottled water stood unmanned, a last-minute free-for-all thanks to the organisers. Alice and Jill’s own water bottles had not been allowed in, so they’d gulped them down before entering, their throats already dry.
But the atmosphere was electric, the pre-concert music thumping joyously out of the speakers and through the soil so you could feel it in your heart. Attendees fanned themselves and picked their hair off the back of their necks, but with smiles and excitement on their faces.
‘Shall we head towards the stage now so we’re as close as possible to the front?’ Alice said, shouting to be heard.
Jill nodded and gave her a thumbs up. ‘Let’s just get a bottle of water first.’
Alice was so, so pleased she’d come to the concert. This was the most stirring event she’d probably ever been to, and she knew she’d remember it for a long time. It didn’t matter that her make-up had run, or that her shoulders were probably tinting a little pinker than they should be in the unshaded sun. Right now, all that mattered was that she felt so lucky to be in one of the world’s greatest cities watching some of the world’s greatest artists, and she felt inspired.
She turned to grin at Jill by her side, who was staring off to the side, distracted. When she realised Alice was looking at her she snapped her attention back to the stage and slapped on a smile.
Alice nudged her.You okay?she signalled to Jill by pointing at her and then giving her a thumbs up, the music being too loud to hear over.
‘Just thirsty,’ Jill mouthed back.
Alice leant close to her ear and said loudly, ‘Shall we go get some more water?’
‘No,’ Jill said, her dry breath on Alice’s cheek. ‘I’ll just need to pee, and we have a good spot.’
They really did have a great spot, and the performances were so good, with the music reaching into Alice’s soul and making her feel happy to be alive. Alice soaked it all in, wanting to remember every second. How all these phenomenal women were throwing dance moves and hitting the high notes in this torridity was commendable. The least Alice could do was sway against some people in the crowd to show her support.
During a break between tracks Alice dived into her bag to find her mini sun lotion stick. Where was it . . . she pulled out her lipstick and a tissue, and noticed Jill beside her mopping her brow. She didn’t look well.
‘Jill?’ she called over the elated screams of the crowd.
Jill’s eyes focused on her. ‘It’s so hot,’ she said, her voice quiet but her lips easy to read.
‘Okay. Okay, I’m going to get you some water.’ Alice craned over the heads of the people in front of her and tried to signal to one of the security guards. He wasn’t seeing her, and she glanced back to Jill who had her forehead in her hands, being jostled by the people around her, slipping away from Alice like a plastic cup on the surface of the ocean. ‘Jill,’ she shouted back. ‘Wait there, just wait one second.’
Alice pushed forward, waving both arms and shouting to get the attention of the security guard. She pushed and she shoved and at the exact moment the security guard spotted her, the band started up again and the crowd lunged forward as one.
‘Excuse me,’ Alice called out, her voice getting lost, as she tried to push her way through the ever-decreasing gaps between the bodies. ‘I just need to get my friend some water, excuse me.’ But nobody was looking at her, all eyes were focused on the stage, and the jungle of people a tangle of limbs and sweat, elbows pushing and phones held high.
She edged closer to the railings, and she could see the security guard holding a bottle of water for her but he was distracted, his mouth clearly telling the crowd tomove back. Move back. Alice paused and whirled back to meet Jill’s eye one more time, trying to convey that someone was coming, water was coming, and Jill smiled at her.
The crowd lunged again and Alice felt something give way – the railing at the front – and she stumbled, tumbling, carried with the wave of people. Her leg sliced against something metal and she cried out, knocked to the ground, the lipstick that she’d forgotten she was even still clutching dropping under her hands, her palms dirtying.
Alice stood, wincing in pain, managing to extricate herself before the crush of people swallowed her up, and she looked for Jill. Their eyes met briefly, like a flash of sun on a moving wave, then she was gone.
Alice looked and looked, and she called Jill’s name, but she was all at sea.
