She looked over at Merlin for help, but he was standing with Lila, talking to her rather intently. For some reason it annoyed her.
“Where’s your tent?” she said to Anna. “I might set up near you.”
“Oh, darling, do.”
“Georgia!” It was Abi. Abi looking sensational in denim shorts, pink wellies, and a pink T-shirt. “How great is this? Listen, I need you to go and talk to that incredibly annoying girl from the local radio. She wants to interview you.”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes, you bloody well do. Georgia, you haven’t done anything at all yet today. Emma’s been here for hours and hours, and so has Barney; I could really have done with you…”
“All right, all right. I was actually working, you know.”
“Yes, I do know. You’ve told me at least six times. Go on, she’s over there, in those rainbow-coloured wellies. Quickly, the first band’s on in ten minutes-at least, I hope they are, if Health and Safety have finished their checks.”
“Oh, doesn’t that look lovely?” said Linda, taking Alex’s hand. “So good the rain stopped. Smells so lovely too, the barbecues and… what’s that other smell? Oh, I know-candy floss. I love the smell of candy floss. In fact, I love the taste of candy floss. Amy, darling, go and buy us all some candy floss, would you?”
“Sure.”
“Not all of us,” said Alex. “I can’t stand the stuff. E numbers on a stick. Terribly bad for you, give you a sugar rush.”
“You’re such a misery, Dad.”
“My sentiments entirely,” said Linda. “No, it’s all wonderful. Even the music’s not too bad.”
“All right if you like folk,” said Amy. “Still, it’s early, isn’t it? It’ll get better. I still can’t believe they’ve got BroadBand. I think I might go and find my friends. They’re all here. And-”
“Hi, Linda.” It was Abi. “So lovely of you to come. Not really your thing, I’m sure.”
“Now, why should you think that?” said Linda. “I’m a veteran of the Reading festival. I’ve kept all the wristbands from the very first year.”
“Really? That is so cool. You must be Amy, hi. Having a good time?”
“Not yet she’s not,” said Linda, “but she’s about to go and find her friends.”
“Yes, I was just saying I couldn’t believe you’d got BroadBand.”
“Nor can I, Amy. And you know, they’re really quite nice.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Friendly. Chatty, even. Tell you what, if you come and find me about twenty minutes before they play if I’m still alive, I’ll make sure you can be right at the front. You might be able to meet them. They said they wouldn’t be rushing off.”
“Oh. My. God.” Amy’s face went bright red. “That would be just sooo cool.”
“Sure. And your friends. I’ll be inside the arena; we’ve got a little base behind the bar.”
“Wow. Well… I’ll see you then. God. So cool.”
“I think you’ve impressed her,” said Linda, laughing. “Not easy, is it, Alex?”
“Not terribly.”
“It’s so great you’re here, Alex,” said Abi. “I’m so glad.”
“Abi, this is partly for my hospital; of course I’m here. I’m thrilled. Thrilled and grateful. We won’t actually be camping, but-”
“We would have been,” said Linda, “if it had been up to me.”
“That is a filthy lie,” said Alex. “This is the woman, Abi, who said she wouldn’t so much as go inside a tent.”
“It is not a lie. I love camping. At times like this.”
“Well… plenty of tents for sale,” said Abi.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, course. Over there, look. Only fifteen quid.”
“Well, we might,” said Linda. “You never know.”
“Go on. Let your hair down. Lord, I must go. Health and Safety are approaching. Pray they’re happy. We’ve had one hiccup already; they let us start, but said they’d be back to check that we’d done what they said, and if we hadn’t they’d pull the plug. We have, obviously, but… bye for now.”
“Gorgeous girl,” said Alex, looking after her appreciatively.
“Gorgeous. Do you think I’d look good in shorts and wellies?”
“Possibly. Then again, possibly not. You’re not really going to buy a tent, are you?”
“Yes. I think I might. Why not?”
“You’re such a bloody hypocrite. All that fuss insisting on booking into a hotel…”
“I’m not a hypocrite. I’m a spontaneous person. That’s all. I suddenly realise it’d be really pathetic and… and middle-aged to leave all this, go to a hotel.”
“Well, we are middle-aged.”
“You might be. I’m not. And if I may say so, you’re acting more than middle-aged. More like old.”
“Thanks. Well, you’ll be sleeping in the tent on your own, let me tell you.”
“Cool, as your daughter would say.”
“Oh, this is lovely!”
“Isn’t it? You’re not cold, are you, Mary?” Maeve looked at her tenderly.
“Why on earth should I be cold? The sun’s perfectly beautiful.”
They were sitting, well wrapped up, for it was evening now, in picnic chairs, halfway up the hill facing the arena. There was a small metal road dividing the area where they were from the campsite, and the arena was beyond that; it was rather like being in the dress circle of a theatre, as Mary had said.
“Donald would have liked this,” Mary added. “He loved folk music.”
“And Russell?”
“Oh, now, Russell would have adored those two women. Really very, very good, they were. I heard her husband several times, you know; he was one of the greats. I remember one night he was on at Ronnie Scott’s. I so wanted to go, but Donald hadn’t been well. He always was inclined to chest trouble, you know. I think it was being in that prisoner-of-war camp in Italy for so long.”
“I didn’t know he was a prisoner of war.”
“Oh, yes, he was. For over a year. Terrible conditions, they didn’t get nearly enough to eat, and in the winter they were always cold. When he finally got home, he seemed to have shrunk, skin and bone and somehow shorter and this terrible cough. But… we fed him up and the doctor told him he should spend as much time as possible in the fresh air. He got an allotment and it did him so much good. It works a kind of magic, gardening does.”
“What a time you all had of it,” said Maeve. “My grandparents got off pretty lightly, I think. My grandfather was too old to be called up.”
“Yes, it was hard. But you know, it toughened us.”
“Indeed it seems to have. And you’d never have met Russell without it.”
“Indeed. And missed out on so much happiness. Oh, now, Georgia, dear, how lovely to see you.”
“Abi said you were all here.” Georgia bent and kissed her. “Enjoying yourself?”
“So much. Aren’t we, Maeve?”
“Where are the boys?”
“On that carousel for the fourth or is it the fifth time,” said Maeve, “and they’ve all had their faces painted, and Liam has made a fine willow basket. It’s such a success, Georgia. I do congratulate you.”
“I didn’t do much. It’s Abi who’s made it happen. Is Tim around?”
“He certainly is,” said Mary. “He and Lorraine brought me over. They think it’s wonderful.”
“You’ve got a grandstand seat up here, haven’t you?”
“We have indeed,” said Maeve. “And we’re about to open our thermos of tea. Would you join us, Georgia?”
“Oh… no. That’d be lovely, but I promised Abi I’d go back down. Some television company has turned up now-we’ve done so well for publicity-and they want to… well to…”
“To have you on, I’m sure,” said Mary. “Of course. The festival celebrity.”
“Mary, hardly. There are masses of celebrities here. Some really well-known musicians. Very small beer, I am.”