The Ned Wood Archive

From where have all the angels come

Cosmic Rough Riders, 1999

Ellie

Ellie and Phoebe are up early.  Strange considering that they think they were out late the night before, although truth is, they can’t remember exactly what happened.  Ellie thinks, maybe, they fell asleep a bit after the two ciders. Anyway, this is the day it all starts, so they want to make the most of it.  Just like kids at Christmas, they are overflowing with excitement and can’t wait to get out.  Sleep can wait until next week.  

They’re not feeling too rough, but they’re both feeling grungy.  Ellie suggests they head down to the Greenpeace field for a shower.  They’ll just see what the queues like.  It’ll do them good if there isn’t too much of a queue.

So they grab a couple of towels and head over from the campsite, past Arcadia, down to the railway track and then round into Greenpeace.  They’re in luck.  It seems that it isn’t as busy as it can be, so they don’t have long to wait after getting their tickets.  The women’s queue is still much longer than the men’s queue.  Phoebe wonders out loud whether they should pretend to be blokes just to get through more quickly.  

“Do you think we’d get away with it?” asks Ellie.

“You would,” Phoebe tells her.

They walk around the Greenpeace Field and nearby to waste time, but end up coming back to the showers fairly quickly because they are worried about losing their places.  For the last fifteen minutes or so before their numbers come up, they just sit down and chat.  It’s supposed to be getting warmer.  The forecast says there’s little chance of rain.  Although there are a few clouds in the sky, it’s quite pleasant out, even this early in the morning.       

“What happened at West Holts yesterday, then?” asks Phoebe.

“I think Lauren had too much cider,” says Ellie.

“And you didn’t?”

“Yeah. No. I dunno.”

They don’t worry too much about the past.  It’s the future that’s important.