Albino boy

i was beginning to get very tired of waiting for my sister to decide
whether she wanted the black combat trousers or the purple ones. the
morning was swelteringly hot and so i went to stand under a tree by the
entrance to the next field. it was hectic; a band had obviously just
finished because the crowd were stampeding past; back to shops, tents,
other stages...
then i saw him...or rather i saw his white tufty hair, trying to force
its way through against this sea of dreadlocks, plaits and fluorescent
mohicans...my eyes followed him, intrigued by the way the sun reflected
from his head amongst the collective grime of the other festival goers
until the crowd dispersed a little and i saw him properly, checking his
watch and muttering to himself...he was the palest person i have ever
seen. his arms, emerging from a deep red pearl jam t-shirt, were milky
white without even a freckle...a glimpse of his face showed the same
perfect white skin, and although his features were not immediately
attractive (especially when pulled into such a worried expression),
this quick glance revealed something about him which was so startling
against the stark whiteness of his body that it made me gape...he had
pink eyes...i looked over to where my sister was chatting up the bloke
selling rainbow sarongs and without a second thought followed after
albino boy.
within seconds i was lost in a sea of army boots and ethnic materials.
being only five foot three in my cherry dms i had to resort to the
elbow in the ribs, boot to the shins approach to crowd control but even
that was employed mainly to avoid being pushed backwards, not to help
me move on. there are some advantages to being such a munchkin though,
and at the points where i was at a virtual standstill i managed to
liberate a disposable camera, some joss sticks, a packet of embassy and
some bottled water from negligent rucksack owners...eventually the
people became more sparse and i looked around desperately to see albino
boy again. he was still in sight, hurrying past some food stalls. i
gave chase, trying not to think how ridiculous it was to be following
an absolute stranger for no reason whatsoever and was just getting
close enough to see him look at his watch and exclaim shit, i'm going
to be late when he squeezed through a gap in the hedge and when i
followed...
...tent upon tent upon tent and no sign of albino boy. my head pounded
with frustration; i had been so close! i wandered around bin liners and
camp fires to see where i had lost him but to no avail...thirsty after
the exertion of the chase i reached for the bottled water i'd nicked-
some posh mineral water called "boissez-moi"- oh well, water's water i
thought as i gulped the whole lot down...
it was about five minutes later that i began to notice something was
seriously wrong. i was still wandering around the tents looking for my
elusive boy when i started to feel a bit queasy...the tents seemed to
loom over me, towering higher and higher...and then i tripped over a
guy rope. feeling incredibly feeble i lay with my nose to the
ground...it gradually dawned upon me that i hadn't eaten anything all
day; in this scorching summer it was no wonder that i had fainted. my
eyes lazily focused on a carrier bag in front on me with the "essen!"
supermarket logo on it and inside...oh malt loaf my saviour!!! i
finished off the whole lot, got up and moved on.
at the entrance to the avalon healing field there was a big rock and
on it sat a jarvis cocker-esque figure looking very calm considering he
was pulling on a bong in broad daylight. he noticed me staring at him
and stared right back. who are you? he asked. i wasn't quite sure how
to answer so i just smiled and tried to pass him. nah mate, stop i've
got something to say to you... i stopped. mushies? he asked. i shook my
head. uppers? downers? my pause must have encouraged him because he
carried on...oh man, no, i've got something perfect for you...he handed
me a small plastic container which was divided in two compartments.
you're gonna love this right; one side is uppers and the other is
downers...it's good shit man, i call it my festival survival kit. i
looked at the pot; it was so inventive it was almost worth buying for
that alone. i looked up again...but he had gone from the rock and was
swiftly immersing himself in the crowds. oi what about this? i called
after him. keep it he said remember one side for uppers the other for
downers. and he was gone; i guess he saw some wardens or something;
whatever the reason, i had lost him, i had lost my sister, and i had
lost albino boy. the latter still being the most important i decided to
get back along the track into the avalon field and continue on my
mission...
i was beginning to lose hope, wandering around decrepit caravans
offering holistic naked massages and marquees offering alternative
homeopathic first aid when it happened...a beardy hippy bloke was
trying to persuade me to try the outdoor sauna when i backed right into
someone... i turned to apologise but couldn't disguise the gasp as i
looked straight into the eyes of albino boy himself...before i had
chance to open my mouth he started mumbling at me hey alright?...i
remember you...yeah...main stage last night...mary, is it?...or
anne?...i couldn't reply, i literally couldn't...i was looking into his
eyes...by this point i had realised that they weren't really pink, just
incredibly bloodshot but this just increased his inexplicable appeal
for me...he was obviously wasted, which was a relief, considering i was
just standing there gawping at him...well, see you later, mate he said
and wandered off. while i just stood there smiling blankly. he
disappeared but I was rooted to the spot; i was beginning to wonder
what the point was in following this kid if i couldn't even communicate
with him like a rational human being. as i got more and more frustrated
with myself i noticed that i was being stared at again...i turned to
face him: a little rasta kid sitting against part of the sacred tree
circle and grinning the widest grin at me...it suddenly occurred to me
that i no longer had any idea of where i was on the site and he was
such a cute little kid that i went over to him...um...could you tell me
which way to go from here? i asked...he carried on smiling from ear to
ear as he replied depends where you want to get to in a broad northern
accent...i suppose it doesn't really matter as long as i get somewhere
beyond the healing fields i replied, realising my lack of purpose now i
had abandoned albino boy...well i'm sure you'll do that if you go far
enough he said. he was right of course, i was being a bit vague so i
tried again: what sort of things are happening around here then?
...well, said the grinny kid, waving his arm round, in that direction
there's some mad comedy sort of stuff and in that direction, he said,
waving the other arm, there's some mental weirdy theatre stuff going
on. i looked in the direction that he was pointing and in the distance
could see the flags of the marquees in the theatre field. i turned back
to the little rasta kid to ask what he was doing there all by himself
but he had disappeared...things were getting weirder and weirder and i
wasn't sure if i fancied going in search of the "mad" and "mental"
things the little boy had told me about...but when it came down to it i
didn't have much choice; the chances of me finding my sister again were
so slim...i followed the dusty path towards the theatre field.
as i approached the gate i heard the honking of horns and the ringing
of bells...looking around to see where it came from i saw two huge
multicoloured pieces of wood over the top of the hedge and they were
moving in my direction...i stopped to have a look and within a few
minutes there it was...mainly it was a truck, but someone had taken a
great deal of time painting it and sticking bits on it to achieve the
final result: it looked like a rabbit.; a multicoloured psychedelic one
at that. There were three people in the back who'd obviously just
jumped on for the ride...well, why not? i thought and pulled myself
up...
no room! no room! screeched two of my new companions. i looked at
them: one bloke was wearing one of those big velvety festival-style top
hats, the other had the most immense buck teeth and was carrying an
empty rucksack, and a small, dumpy girl was curled up in the corner,
obviously caned into oblivion. great i thought i'm hanging with the
geeks...there's plenty of room i said, and there was, especially as
those three were huddled up in one corner...they then became a bit more
friendly...so what bands are you here to see then? asked the one with
the teeth, but before i had time to answer the one with the hat
started: we're in a band, we are he said...i asked if he thought i'd
know any of their songs...yeah, we were supporting bloodmuscle on their
last tour and doing, like, covers of songs..."and after that... you're
my wondercat" he sung. the girl started mumbling wondercat, wondercat,
wondercat over and over until they pinched her and she went back into
her stupor. we're mad for it though, we are said the one with the
teeth, taking off his bag. i looked to see where we were going in the
hope that we would arrive there soon and i could escape from these
weirdoes. hang on a sec i said, we're just going in circles around the
field. my companions didn't reply, they were too busy trying to squash
the girl into the rucksack, and they didn't even notice when i slipped
off the back of the truck at the entrance to the sacred space.
there was something strange going on in the sacred space. i first
noticed three blokes trying to paint the sacred stones red...what are
you doing? i asked...she wants them red, he said, his voice tight with
irritation...we're supposed to be soundchecking and she wants fucking
red stones for her fucking pre-gig ritual shit...i looked over to where
he was glaring...there was a huge tour bus right next to the stone
circle with the word "bloodmuscle" written on the side and outside it,
a very angry female goth screaming and pointing at none other than
albino boy...i want him off the crew she cried at no-one in particular,
and then she started grabbing random people and putting them into a
circle. i felt a nudge at my elbow; it was the grinning kid. who is
that? i asked...oh its her, gwen, out of that band, innit? he said what
do you think of her? i didn't answer because i was being grabbed by the
arm and put into position. right she said i want you all to kneel down
while i start the incantations...she was so forceful we all began to
get down on our knees without a second thought until...this is shit,
man said albino boy...gwen's eyes blazed: what?...you heard, i mean,
it's all bollocks isn't it? you just want some cheap publicity
stunt...i thought i told you to fuck off gwen said you're fired...who
do you fucking think you are? asked albino boy...as they threw
expletives at each other i began to wonder what exactly i was doing
kneeling for this pseudo-satanic-rock-bitch and got up to leave...hey
you! kneel back down or you're off the crew too! gwen shouted at the
top of her voice; but i had had enough indecision for one day...fuck
you! i said, you're all just pretentious wankers! with that suddenly
everything around me seemed to fragment and swirl red, green blue
around me. i screamed and collapsed on the floor...when i came round my
sister was sitting beside me...god ali she said what did you take?
you're in a real state...i told her about albino boy and the rasta kid,
and meeting gwen from bloodmuscle...man, you've been tripping she said
shaking her head...come on let's go, i think there's something good on
the main stage...and that was the end of it.