The Watch – Part 156:

‘Oh my God, that was absolutely amazing,’ Amy said once the second band had finished and we were sitting in some drink shack drinking a cup of strong coffee to keep us going through to the end.

‘I’ve got so many pictures on my camera,’ Tom said, flicking through each picture one by one, ‘I think I’m going to need another memory card.’

‘Why, how many have you taken?’ I asked.

‘Too many,’ he said cryptically. ‘I’m going to have to sit down tonight and sort through these. You don’t mind if I keep this camera for a while, do you?’ he asked.

‘No, you can keep it,’ I said.

‘Seriously.’

‘Why, what did you think was going to happen?’

‘Well, I thought since it came out of the watch, that you would have to put it back at some point,’ he assumed.

‘I can do that if I, or you, want, but three cameras aren’t going to make the Universe disappear,’ I said jokingly, ‘you can keep it for as long as you want. Or for how long it takes before you wear it out, that is,’ I said.

‘I’ll keep you posted on the second one,’ he smiled.

Amy was buzzing with excitement, and even more so now she’s had some strong coffee. ‘Unto Apocalypse were incredible. Their songs were out of the world, their skills with those instruments were awesome… I think I need a lie down.’ Amy was trying not to remain still for more than a minute. She was dancing and screaming and whistling more than all of us combined. Tom had his hands up in the air the entire time, singing along, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was dancing along with everyone else. There was a moment during the choir interlude during the song, “The Curse of the Warped Knife”, where we all starting swaying to and fro. It was one of those moments when you can forget everything around you and just have a good time. I never realised just how much I was missing out until now. And now I get to do it all over again for the second half.

‘So, you enjoying yourself yet?’ Tom said.

‘What do you mean, ‘yet’?’ I questioned.

‘So, should I take that as a yes, or…?’ Tom

‘Of course I am,’ I said.

‘Good.’ I shook my head as if to question why he was questioning that. I guess he isn’t used to my change yet, which I can believe. I’m still getting used to it myself, so I can’t really blame Tom for wanting to know whether I am OK or not.

‘So,’ Amy started, ‘want to get a couple of T-shirts, or something; a pen, maybe, a mug, I think I saw a towel, but I could have been mistaken.’ I could see it in her eyes that she had another agenda hidden between her words, but I couldn’t figure out what.

‘Sure,’ I said. ‘As soon as I’ve finished here, I’ll come with you. Tom, you wanna come?’

‘I think I’m going to wait until the end to grab the merchandise that I want,’ Tom said.

‘But they could have sold out of everything you want by the time you get there,’ I countered.

‘True, but they’ll be less people there,’ he shrugged.

‘That’s unlike you,’ I said.

‘Just go and have fun,’ Tom said, waving away my statement. There was something going on.

Once finished, Amy and I left Tom at the drink shack who was walking over to get himself another cup and headed towards the merchandise stand, which was located… Actually, I didn’t know where the stand was. Now that I think about it, I didn’t even see a merchandise stand when I entered. Maybe because there were so many people, it was hard to see anything except the stage. I didn’t see the drink shack until Tom led me to it. If there isn’t a merchandise stand here, I believe I’ve figured out Amy’s plan.

We navigated our way through the sea of people, turning this way and that until we eventually came to a stop by a massive stand selling an array of items with logos of the bands that have played and will be playing here, and some with all of the logos on.

‘You look disappointed?’ Amy said.

‘Well, I didn’t think there would actually be a merchandise stand here,’ I said.

‘Oh,’ Amy said, confused before the penny dropped and her eyes widened, ‘Oh!’ ‘Well, I’m glad that it was me who led the way to an actual merchandise stand and not you. I’m glad that you thought there wasn’t,’ she smiled.

‘I’m more amazed at myself more than glad,’ I said.

‘That, too,’ Amy said casually before having a good look through all the merchandise. We surfed through it all, picking up what we like and purchasing it. I ended up with an entire bag full of pretty much everything, save from the woman’s T-shirt and the slap band.

‘Ready?’ Amy asked once I had received my £0.40p in change from the man behind the stall. I stuffed the money into my pocket.

‘Ready,’ and we made our way back to the drinks shack where we would meet up with Tom and then go back to the stage where the second half would begin. I guess I never did see anything else in Amy’s eyes earlier.

‘This way,’ Amy said, pointing towards the drinks shack. I had somehow ended up in the wrong direction. There were so many people here, it was really easy to get lost, even when you are with someone who knows where they are going.

‘Ready?’ Tom said, jumping up, buzzing slightly.  ‘I wonder when the next half is going to begin, I’m all ready to get my dance on.’

‘How many have you had?’ I said, noticing about seven empty cups of coffee on the table. Amy and I only had one cup each.

‘I think the question here is, why were you gone for so long, but since I already know the answer to that, I’ll lead the way, shall I?’ and he burst out of the tent, nearly tripping over one of the tent poles.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)