Tomorrow morning, Ursina said, laughing.
Someone said they would make it back on their own. There were shuttle buses. Suddenly everyone dispersed, only Ursina was left with Jill, and she took her hand and led her to the entrance.
Even as they approached the stage, Ursina started to move to the music. She had on a crop top, and her hair was in two braids.
Aren’t you cold? asked Jill.
She envied Ursina’s slim form and suppleness.
Not much farther now, said Ursina, and pulled her through the crowds. Most of the audience was half Jill’s age, and she felt badly out of place, but no one seemed bothered by her presence. The feeling was very relaxed. The music was now like a carpet of sound, she could hear sitars, a sort of crunching, and then the voice of an old man saying something in English about visions and peace. The DJ onstage lifted an arm and then made short hacking movements with his hand in the direction of the people, and suddenly a rhythm boomed out. The tones were so low that Jill felt them right through her body and had to put something against them. The people started bopping around on command, a mass of bodies, moving in time. Some rowed with their arms, as though swimming through molasses, others stood almost still, only twitching a shoulder or twisting their heads from side to side. Jill could not escape the rhythm and began dancing in spite of herself. Ursina turned briefly to her, smiled, and with a complicated and yet completely harmonious movement screwed her arms up into the air. Over the stage hung cloth sails lit by black light, the psychedelic patterns that were projected on a screen behind the DJ changed to the pulse of the music. Jill tried to empty her mind. Once, she felt a hand on her shoulder, it was Gregor the cook standing beside her. He was yelling something into her ear, but she couldn’t understand a word. At the same time she felt him press something into her hand. Jill looked down and saw a small pill in the flash of a beam. Gregor pointed to his mouth, yelled something else, this time Jill could make out: Fun! and No problem! She hesitated, then put the pill in her mouth. The cook pushed on and laid his hand on the shoulder of Ursina, who was a few feet away. She saw them put their heads together. Then Ursina shook her head, turned to her, and shook it again with a cross expression. Jill shut her eyes and went on dancing. The music seemed to be coming to some sort of climax that never happened. Sometimes the bass stopped, and there were spherical sounds left hanging before a rhythm set up again, sometimes it just accelerated steadily. For a while Jill kept up, then she gave up and drifted, and was pulled into the maelstrom of noises. She had the sense of going floor by floor through a tall building, and everywhere was music, colored lights, and dancing people. Suddenly someone held her. Jill opened her eyes and saw Ursina standing beside her.
Come, said Ursina, you need to rest.
I’m not tired, said Jill.
Ursina took her hand and led her to a stall where they were giving out water.
You need to drink a lot, she said, otherwise you’ll keel over.
I need to pee, said Jill.
A long line had formed in front of the toilet huts on the edge of the area. The music was less loud here, and mixed with the sound of a mountain stream flowing past them. Jill must have lost her sandals somewhere, at any rate she was barefoot and she felt the cold dew that had settled on the meadow. She wasn’t wearing a watch and had no idea what time it was.
Are you doing all right? asked Ursina.
I haven’t felt this good in ages, said Jill.
Where’s Hubert? asked Ursina. I haven’t seen him lately.
Hubert is history, said Jill.
I like him, said Ursina, he’s an amazing painter. Suddenly Jill’s mood swung and she could hardly breathe. Now everything was clear, Hubert had been sleeping with Ursina all along. That was why he had practically stopped painting and had destroyed the nude drawings he had done of her. Presumably Hubert wasn’t in the city at all, he was with the masseuse in her apartment. Or he was here at the party somewhere. Ursina looked at her in horror.
What are you talking about? she said. You’re insane.
Jill closed her eyes, she felt dizzy. She was almost falling over, but Ursina took her in her arms and helped her to sit.
I’m sorry, said Jill, and she hugged Ursina.
What are you sorry about?
I don’t know, said Jill, everything. I’m sorry about everything. I need to pee again. She had to laugh.
You haven’t been yet, said Ursina.
Jill went on dancing. Sometimes she stood still, only moving her head and her shoulders. Or she flew over the landscape without beating her wings. Clouds blew past her in accelerated motion. She dipped into a blue sea, saw underwater landscapes, schools of fish shooting concertedly at incredible speed in and out of bright coral. She seemed to be always a fraction of a second ahead of the music, her movements were producing the music, controlling it. The beats shaped the room, they felt like huge invisible bubbles flying toward her and bouncing off her. The dancers had lifted their arms and kept pushing the bubbles away into the air, they flew higher and higher, floating over the dark valley. Far below she could see the wood, the railway line, and the road. The music grew quieter and finally gave way to the monotonous pouring of the wind. Jill saw snowcapped peaks, then chains of mountains, one behind the other, and in between them green valleys, the Po basin with its sleeping towns, and in the distance the lights of the port cities and the black plain of the sea. She no longer felt the weight and shelter of the mountains, she had the feeling of weightlessness to which she surrendered without fear.
When she opened her eyes, she was lying on the ground with her head in Ursina’s lap. Someone had covered her with a windbreaker. In front of them was a big flickering fire and some people Jill didn’t know. Her thoughts were clearer.
Won’t the music ever stop? she asked. What time is it?
Ursina shook her head and looked at her watch. Half past three.
Where are the others?
I’ve no idea, said Ursina. They’ll find their way back, don’t worry about them.
Jill sat up. I don’t want to go back, she said, not knowing what she meant. I want to know what was in the pill that Gregor gave me.
Some shit or other, said Ursina, you should be more careful. Have you really finished with Hubert?
He has with me, said Jill. Oh, I’ve no idea, maybe he hasn’t. He’s with his ex-wife, apparently she’s not doing well. I don’t think he’ll come back.
I can’t imagine that, said Ursina.
Jill laughed. And why not?
Because you’re the most lovable person I’ve ever met, said Ursina. If I was into women, you’d be my first choice.
She looked Jill in the eyes. I mean it, you’re the spirit of the club, everyone says so. I know a couple of people in the village who think you’re a bit strange, but that’s only because you have such a quiet life.
Ursina got up and said, come on, let’s dance, I’m getting cold.
The crowd in front of the stage was hardly any smaller than before. Another DJ was now spinning, but the music was identical. Ursina stayed close to Jill. They bought something to eat at a stall, a vegetarian dish with Oriental spices, mushy and overcooked, and then they danced some more. The sky slowly brightened. Ursina tapped Jill on the shoulder and pointed up at the peaks that were glowing red in the first beams of the sun. The other dancers had noticed it too, some just stood still and looked. Jill and Ursina had made their way to the edge of the crowd and watched the light slowly wander down the mountain slopes until at last it reached the festival area.