All at once, Simone's feeling of unreality was overtaken by kaleidoscopic sensations of warm sunshine, walking barefooted along the familiar beach, arm in arm with Annabelle, the sight of palm tress, American hamburgers and standing on a darkened stage, lights shining in her eyes as she sang and played in harmony with her lover, the bass pulse and thumping drums from their friends around them and, most of all, the knowledge that she and Annabelle must be taken away from the cosy homeliness of their close friends, Helen and Nikki even if it meant being reuniting with the friends back home. It hurt Simone particularly as, only a little while ago, she and Annabelle had been so full of themselves about Trisha's good fortune, something that had resonances with her own life. Now, the phone call pulled the plug on their holiday and everything associated with it and now time was running out on them. She shut her eyes. She couldn't deal with this.
"Honey, I know what you're going through. I feel the same." That very soft, very tender caring voice floated in on her from all sides and she felt a pair of soft arms draw her
into the comfort she needed. She clung onto her lover for dear life.
Helen and Nikki stayed tactfully in the background. In no time at all, Simone and Annabelle had blended into their lives as they shared their house in an unselfconscious fashion. They loved the way sparkling conversation would start up from nowhere, the music they'd played for them and they felt as if this freewheeling existence could go on forever. They'd come with them to Chix and all their friends took to them immediately. Deep down, this had been a dream and that sooner or later, their friends would have to go back home and this saddened them. They waited patiently for their friends to be back with them when they were ready. It was Annabelle who finally broke surface.
"I'm really sorry. This is really lame of us. You've fed us and put us up. Guess we should have figured you'd want your house back to normal,"she said with a shaky laugh, not meeting Nikki's steady gaze.
"Darlings, we've loved every minute of your time here. It's not as if we're never going to America again or you might get famous and come here on tour, you'd be welcome to crash out here- and Erin and Diane as well."
"Hey Nikki, we're not stars yet. If we do struggle our way up so we can come over here and tour, we'd never get into the star trip but we'd far sooner crash here at your flat if that's OK with you guys,"Annabelle answered shakily, not daring to commit their ambitions too far in case they were sorely disappointed.
"Hey, there's a friendship between us that will never die," Nikki said a little unsteadily as the emotion hit home.
The other three women picked up on the emotions that were flying free out of the dark -haired woman's soul. Simone extended her arms and embraced this profound force for good and held her to her heart. Annabelle saw that the small, straight-talking Scottish woman was a lot to do with who she wanted to be. Helen was saying with her large tender eyes what Nikki had put into words and she took her in her arms in gratitude for there two women who'd given of themselves to help work through their conflicted feelings.
"Hey you're really good friends of ours. We can't get miserable in the time we've left together," Helen said soulfully, conveying her desperate hope that what she wanted was what would happen.
So it was that a few hours later while Helen and Nikki were cooking a meal that Simone reached for Helen's guitar in a purposeful fashion.
"You have a song in mind darling," Annabelle said, more as a statement than a question. Her senses were attuned to her musical partner's creative ways just as Simone knew her own style very well. "Do you want a pen and paper?"
Simone nodded and Nikki discreetly fetched a Biro and an A4 writing pad attached to a hard board to rest it on. Simone smiled gratefully at this woman's thoughtfulness. This was exactly what she had in mind. She began strumming a chord sequence that didn't have a sad minor chord in it but sounded guardedly optimistic. It was more direct than her usual style, Annabelle noticed and it sounded good.
"If it hadn't been for Nikki and Helen, I'd be singing the blues," Simone said as a throwaway aside while her lips moved silently, writing words for a song that only she could hear. It was shaping up to be a rock and roll song about distant friendship only no one knew that as yet. Annabelle knew that her partner was mouthing the words that had first come to mind and was reworking them. In the meantime, Helen and Nikki looked on in fascination and utter silence as their friend set to work. Finally, Simone started writing the lines in double spacing, pausing for thought every so often until the first few verses were down.
"Why don't you give the song a run through?" Annabelle suggested softly. Simone grinned as she started to sing and play her gently rocking song with confidence and self assurance but winced slightly as she came to bits where the rhythm of the words and the song weren't quite in sync.
"It's a great song and everything's there but you know bits of it don't scan. The words are good though," Annabelle observed gently. Simone took her pen and gazed abstractedly into the distance as she thought of different ways to express the lyrics.
"Mind if I borrow the guitar?"Annabelle offered. As she started singing and playing the song, she put different accents on the rhythms as she sang the song and a wide grin spread across her face when she sang the lyrics through without a hitch. Simone broke into spontaneous applause as, by miracle, her partner had shifted the music in line with the lyrics.
"That way feels right," Simone exclaimed, looking around at her ready made audience of Nikki who was peeling the potatoes at the table and playing close attention. While Helen had attended to the rest in the kitchen, she'd left the door wide open and she was taking in the process by which their two friends batted the song back and forth between each other.
"Do you reckon we're ready to sing this together for our very discerning audience?" joked Simone with an underlying seriousness. They really were trying out this song at its moment of conception for a future concert and both of them knew that Nikki and Helen were only too glad to play their part.
"OK go for it Simone," the younger woman said with total confidence.
"Why don't you play as if you're on stage? We'll be the audience sitting down on the settee," suggested Nikki brightly.
For a second, both women weren't visibly keen on the idea. They were just sitting around playing for friends for free. Then the possibilities crossed their mind of their friends just helping them out but doubts still clouded their expression. This was straight off Simone's imagination with Annabelle's customising and every new song needed to be played a few times, to become part of their mental DNA. Nikki and Helen read their thoughts and the smaller woman came up with the answer.
"We've got a display stand which Nikki bought for doing talks. Would that help? I know exactly where it is,"
"She does you know. Helen has a memory like an elephant. Trust me," joked Nikki. Helen stuck out her tongue in response and, as she disappeared into the depths of the spare room, their friends noted affectionately that this cross talk banter was something they'd always remember about them.
Soon, Helen emerged, smiling triumphantly, holding the display stand which was perfect for easy sight of the lyric sheet. The four women got themselves positioned and Simone strapped on the guitar and swayed slightly as she strummed her way into the song, imagining the undertow of bass guitar and precise drumming filling out the sound. Both women broke into the harmonies they'd sketched out earlier on, striding their way confidently through the song. This was just as they imagined it as Simone sketched out the rhythms of the song. Best of all, it blew away the blues that they'd felt of close friends who were going to part company. Simone finally drove home the song in her final chord work with a little triumphal flourish. The two women flushed with pleasure as Nikki and Helen clapped and cheered loudly in their warm-hearted fashion.
"I'm sure you'll be playing this in concert," Nikki said as an obvious statement.
"We can hear in our heads Annabelle's guitar playing fills with Erin's bass and Diane's drums. We know they'll love it," Simone said with a faraway look in her eyes as this song spanned the ocean that separated them.
"Whenever we play this song, we'll think of you guys as you inspired it," added Annabelle softly.
"We've been only too glad to be around while you wrote the song," Nikki said with typical modesty. She and Helen has simply been themselves during the run up to the moment of inspiration. She wouldn't put their contribution higher than that. "In fact, Helen and I have been talking these last few night and were wondering about making your part of the world our regular summer holiday, that is if you're around."
"You didn't think we were going to be so easy to get rid of us," Helen added in a way that could be mischievous but all the affection in her warm-hearted personality poured through.
"We'll come back here again to see you. Besides, we love England, even the winter weather," Annabelle said very earnestly. At the back of Simone's equally overflowing emotions, a little part of her wanted to smile. When she first seen Annabelle in her classroom, all defiant rock chick, she'd never have lived to see the day when this woman of hers would have said this.
This last exchange of conversations did wonders for all of them. It would be goodbye until the next time.
On their last evening together, the four women sat in chatting and drinking to a reasonable hour, knowing that two of them would have to be up early packing and Nikki and Helen would give them a lift back to Heathrow Airport. They'd had precisely the same bittersweet feelings when they'd spent their last night in the Californian hotel and disassembled their temporary world. Yes, of course, they'd love to see all their friends and tell them all their stories, not to mention playing the couple of songs and hearing Erin and Diane's composition. They really did feel like they were suspended between two worlds but their last night was made easier than they dared hope. It also eased the mental processes so that getting ready the next day was a practical necessity and not an affront against decent human sensibilities. Swaying slightly down the hallway, the two couples took themselves to bed.
A process of determined packing saw the homely room that had been Simone and Annabelle's shelter over their stay in London transformed back into the spare room which still had that welcoming feel about it. They placed the guitar affectionately in the corner
and Helen came in politely while the two women were putting the finishing touches in straightening the quilt. She whistled in appreciation at the way they'd packed everything away, including their purchases in London..
"Going on tour makes for being a ruthless packer. If in doubt, sit on the case and force the zip," Annabelle said with an attempt at breezy humour.
"I can't tell you how grateful we are for everything you've done for us even down to finding a guitar for us. We'd have got withdrawal symptoms otherwise,"Simone said gently.
"Trouble is that this guitar is going back to being unemployed again. It was a sudden craze till I found out that I really couldn't figure it out properly. My fingers aren't flexible enough," confessed Helen with a rueful grin."Still, it'll be here for when you return," she added lightly.
Just then, Nikki put her head round the corner holding out her mobile with a little grin. Who could possible want to speak to her on Nikki's phone, she wondered to herself
"Hi there, it's Trisha," her clear cool voice sounded down the phone."I wanted to say that it's been great meeting you and Annabelle and anytime you're round these parts don't hesitate to look us up at Chix. There's a place waiting for you. I'd specially like to thank you for being patient with my early morning raptures when I'd got together with Lita. She wants to say a quick 'hi' to you as well."
The two women chatted briefly in an animated fashion, put Annabelle on the phone and signed off with their good wishes.
It was therefore an emotional moment for all the soul-searching the previous night when the four of them emerged into the cold, windy day, wrapped up warm to set off to the airport. They easily lugged their suitcases into the car born of practice in moving from gig to gig over the past few months..
"I simply must take a photograph of your flat. It's very precious to us both," Simone said impulsively. She'd taken her camera especially for this trip and she'd been happy, taking pictures of what she really cared about. She'd especially enjoyed taking portrait photos of Nikki , Helen and Trisha at Chix and in the flat and of all the sights they'd seen round London. She'd not let it interfere with the purity of her experiences but had managed her technical skills to be harnessed to her overflowing emotions. In that way, she'd not been simply a voyeur but let it have its place in their shared story. Nikki and Helen put their arms round each other while Annabelle stood on the first step of the staircase above and behind her. When everything was nicely frames, Simone took a couple of shots and even lent her camera for her and Annabelle to be commemorated for all time.Just in time, Helen dug out her camera from a side cupboard with a roll of unfinished film in it and returned the compliments.
Both women gave one last lingering look behind at their second home before Helen drove the Peugeot down the road and as it rounded the corner, their flat was gone. The return trip to Heathrow was flatter and drabber than their arrival a few days ago and an infinity of experiences in the past. Nikki and Helen knew what they were feeling for all their brave words and chatted brightly to them. All too soon, the scenery degenerated into the featureless kind, common to all airport surroundings. Both woman gave a gulp as the admission sigh to the airport came into view. This was it.