‘Are you coming?’
I was about to follow Simon when Marie spoke. Her voice seemed to come from a long way off. ‘Why don’t you come back tonight and help us keep a lookout?’
‘I’d rather not,’ said Simon.
‘Why not?’ I said to him, taking him aside. ‘It would be great for the story.’
‘This story is horse shit. I don’t know why Bob thinks anyone will be interested in it. Sorry, darling,’ he addressed Marie. ‘Thanks for the invite but no thanks. Come on, Richard.’
I looked at Marie. She leant forward with her chin cupped in her hand, her face angled towards me, that amused smile playing across her lips. I wished I could see the expression behind her dark lenses.
‘All right,’ I said. ‘I’ll come back later. Just think, if a UFO did come swooping down and a bunch of little green men came out to say hello and I wasn’t here to take their picture, I’d kick myself!’
‘Cool,’ said Pete, grinning.
Beside him, Andrew glowered. I guessed I shouldn’t have mentioned little green men. It was an interesting group. The earnest older man, the American with puppy-dog enthusiasm and the cool, beautiful young woman.
I looked at Marie. She nodded her head almost imperceptibly and sank back into her peaceful reverie, the sun warm on her face.
I didn’t give a damn about aliens and had no doubt this group would be disappointed later when the only thing they saw was the moon.
But I wanted to know more about her.
2
When I returned that evening the small group were sitting outside their tents looking at the horizon. Marie was still in the chair where I’d left her.
I said, ‘Hi,’ then Pete introduced me to Fraser, the country ranger. He was a tall, skeletal man in his early fifties. When he shook my hand, his palm was clammy and I surreptitiously wiped my hand on my jeans.
Fraser told me that he had worked on the East Hill as a ranger for five years. ‘Part of what we do involves driving around making sure people aren’t lighting fires or leaving litter or getting up to anything they shouldn’t. It’s a good job.’ He nodded as he spoke. He made me feel nervous.
‘Are we actually allowed to be up here tonight? Have you got permission?’
Fraser nodded. ‘It will be fine as long as we don’t damage anything. Barry knows we’re here. He’s on duty on his own tonight.’
He lit a cigarette which shook between his fingers.
‘Have you ever seen lights in the sky or anything like that before?’
He shook his head emphatically. ‘No. Not ever.’
‘Couldn’t it have been a plane? Surely that’s the most reasonable explanation.’
‘No way.’ He took a hungry drag on his cigarette. ‘This was no aeroplane.’ He looked at me with wide, penetrating eyes.
I laughed, then, noticing his affronted expression, said, ‘I’m sorry. It’s just that you sound like a character in some B-movie. That was no aeroplane . . .’
Andrew came up and put his hand on Fraser’s shoulder. ‘People will always mock, Fraser. It’s something you have to get used to, as a witness.’
‘But there are a lot of us, aren’t there?’ Fraser said, eager for reassurance. ‘More and more of us?’
‘That’s right, Fraser. One day all the doubters will have to face up to the truth.’ He spoke as if addressing a dim child.
I didn’t know why Andrew had taken such an instant dislike to me. Maybe he was always like this. But his attitude made me want to wind him up.
‘It could have been any number of things you saw,’ I said. ‘Helicopters. A satellite, or a meteor shower . . .’
Andrew yawned. ‘We’ve heard it all before. Some people will never believe the evidence in front of their own eyes.’
‘What evidence?’ I asked.
Pete stepped in. ‘Hey, guys, let’s not have a conflict, huh? Let’s just watch. That’s what we’re here for.’
I said, ‘Sounds good to me.’
‘Let’s eat,’ said Pete. We sat on the lawn chairs and Pete passed round some pre-packed sandwiches. I made sure I got the chair next to Marie. Darkness had fallen while I was arguing with Andrew and it was hard to see her clearly. I leaned closer.
I said, ‘Do you think we’ll see anything tonight?’
She looked up at the moon, an alabaster disc in the starry sky. ‘I’m always hopeful. I know you don’t believe . . .’
‘No. But I would like something to happen, if only because it would make a great picture.’
She wrapped her jacket around her and picked up a long, rubber-encased torch. She flicked it on and aimed the beam at the night sky. The others looked over at her. Was she with either Pete or Andrew? Pete had a certain goofy charm and was quite good-looking. Andrew had an air of authority about him that I know some young women go for. But there was no body language to support my fears, no touching or eye contact.
She didn’t have classic good looks. Her nose was a tiny bit too narrow, there were dark smudges beneath her eyes. Her teeth were a little crooked. But she had an aura that made the air around her shimmer, and a self-assuredness that I envied.
‘We should be silent now,’ she said quietly. The men nodded. They stopped talking, seemed even, to stop moving, until all I could hear were the crickets and the sea.
We watched the skies.
There was a full moon and the sky was clear – the perfect conditions for seeing a UFO, apparently – but, of course, nothing happened. I heard Pete sigh a couple of times. Fraser looked more relieved with every second that passed. Andrew was stoic, unmoved, a grim expression on his face. And Marie just sat and looked upwards. I mimicked her. I didn’t know what else to do. I was starting to regret being here. As the temperature dropped, I thought about my bed and how comfortable it was. I had left the house in the midst of a warm evening, without thinking that it would get cold later. Now, as the day’s heat disappeared from the air, I started to shiver. I hugged myself. We weren’t allowed to light a fire. We just sat holding our torches, looking at the stars, and I tried to imagine that the light contained warmth. If it hadn’t been for my attraction to Marie I would have made my excuses and left.
‘Have we got anything to drink?’ I asked. ‘Something warming?’
Fraser said, ‘I’ve got a bottle of brandy.’
‘Perfect.’
He crawled into one of the tents and brought out a litre bottle of Napoleon brandy and some paper cups. He poured a small measure into each cup and passed them round. The liquid was fiery in my throat; warmth spread through my body.