by Lily Greene
After escaping their tunnel, Ella and Fergus were led into a grand courtroom where the ‘hearts’ were found guilty and where Tweedledum and Tweedledee performed a mesmerizing circus act. The pièce de résistance was a cascading waterfall of teacups and cocktails which all the guests could drink from and dance around as the theatrical experience morphed into a party with a live band that arose from the depths of a backdrop made to look like a pile of rubbish, a wasteland.
Ella and Fergus were lost in Wonderland and it was perfect.
As the experience drew to a close, the couple exited the venue that was dug deep down under Waterloo station and walked over the Jubilee bridge to embankment.
“It’s so nice when the hype is justified,” said Ella. “So often, something like this is bigged up to enormous proportions and then it almost always falls short. It’s so disappointing when that happens. But I thought that was great; tremendously fun and truly imaginative.”
“I agree, it was so organic, not too overdone or micromanaged. I get the feeling that the experience is different every night because a different crowd comes in and participates and that’s just as it should be. I honestly felt like I was a kid ambling through a magical land for most part of it. The set was magnificent!”
“It was wonderful, thank you.” Ella smiled thinking about the sensational evening they had spent together.
“It was. I’ve really had a great time tonight,” Fergus said, taking her hand in his. Holding hands, becoming one unit, the pair could take on the panicked robotic Christmas shoppers with more ease. These shoppers, each on their own sacred mission, scanning the urban landscape for their targets, straining to complete their hunt for the ‘perfect’ present, looked like automated players in a video game. They were human-sized Pac-Men, changing their programmed paths only when another shopper threatened to swallow them whole. Ella looked past the stress of the street and saw the tinkling Christmas lights arching above them over Villiers Street. The minute orbs sparkled against the dark blue sky and acted as understudies for the true stars that were hidden by the London smog.
Fergus followed Ella’s gaze up to the sky, leant in to her and whispered: “I would love to see you again this week.” They had stopped outside embankment station and were facing each other now. “If you have time with your exhibition that is,” he continued while adjusting his scarf, with a touch of nervousness.
“I would like that,” she replied. “I’ve actually taken this week off work so I can prepare for the exhibition on Friday. I’ll use the days to add finishing touches to the paintings and help dress up the Beat Gallery. Then hopefully I’ll have the evenings to relax a bit.”
“Oh cool. Well, are you free tomorrow night? If you’re too busy, please just say but I think I’ve just thought of something really fun we could do.”
“Okayy,” she said suspiciously. “But only if you tell me what it is.”
“Where would be the fun in that? It will be much better as a surprise, I promise you.”
Fergus leant into Ella’s face and pressed his nose against hers. He brushed her lips with his and began to kiss her again. She could feel warmth radiating between every part of their bodies that touched.
“I’ll take that as a yes then,” he whispered smugly.
Ella smirked, kissed him again and said, “Text me a time and a place.”
*
Ella woke up the next morning with the sun on her eyes. Dappled sunlight lay lightly over her bed and on her floorboards, the pattern created by the sun peeping through slits in the heavy white blinds that covered her window. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sat up. She switched on her blue Roberts radio and let the tinkering of Classic FM bring her calmly into the realm of the living. She yawned, stretched her arms high above her head and began to relive last night’s kiss. When Fergus had swooped in and pressed his lips against hers she thought her legs were going to topple beneath her. As soon as she kissed him, everything, the street, the Christmas lights, the noise of the bustling shoppers, the heckles of the tramps and the tinkering of glasses from punters outside Gordon’s Wine Bar had been totally obliterated. The kiss had swept her into a vacuum where only she and Fergus existed and it was only on opening her eyes again that she remembered where she had been, on Villiers Street, in London.
Ella crept out of bed and opened the blinds to let in the full force of the light. It was a crisp day with clear blue sky and frost on the ground. She walked over to the breakfast bar and put her coffee machine on.
Ella lived in an open plan studio in North London. Two years ago, an innovative architect had come across a large warehouse with roomy storerooms he thought could be converted into trendy urban studios; one year later, the building acted as a sort of artists’ commune, one which Ella had fallen in love with straight away and moved into when Robbie left her. The warehouse was situated in a part of London which had previously been a hellhole of crime, littered with monstrous 1970s grey concrete blocks, but fortunately for Ella, was now being hailed as the new sanctuary and hang out for artists. It was up and coming and the price of the studio reflected that; the value of the flats in the block had raised astronomically and she was glad to be sitting on what would one day be a tidy investment.
But regardless of price or location, Ella loved the openness of the room and that she had been able to buy it and furnish it entirely by herself. It had been a blank canvas for her to play with and although it looked like a dump from the outside, when you slid the green metallic warehouse door open you entered into a cave of treasures. A tall grey wall divided the room into two sections; her living space on the left and her work space on the right. The wall acted as a bedhead for her double bed that was covered in cream and charcoal coloured soft cushions. In the living area a window which ran from floor to ceiling was positioned on the back wall. On the left of the window stood Ella’s bookshelf, on which a collection of globes sat. To the left of that, was her bathroom, the only part of the flat which was sectioned off with a nifty sliding glass door that Ella had painted herself in light blues and turquoises, like a stained glass window. Then opposite her bed was the kitchen area, which had an island that functioned as a breakfast bar with two tall steel stools.
Ella brushed her teeth and returned to the kitchen where her coffee was now ready. It was just past nine o’clock and she had a busy day ahead of her. Yesterday she had decided which of her last pieces should go into the exhibition. She was showcasing twenty paintings in her first exhibition called “Elementary Natures”. The collection was a series of perspectives on the most basic elements; fire, water, earth and wind and looked to explore stock times of day; sunrise, sunset, dusk, dawn and twilight. Ella hoped that the collection captured her interpretations of the mood and atmosphere of these times of day through different landscapes.
The paintings were going transported to the gallery on Thursday so if she wanted to make any final changes to her paintings it had to be today or tomorrow to allow ample drying him before the paintings were moved.
Ella took her coffee through to her working studio behind the dividing wall at the head of her bed. She put on all her side lamps to illuminate the paintings and wondered around thinking over any changes that needed to be made. Her artist’s studio was the same size as her living area. Luckily, Ella had bought a ground floor flat that had incredibly high ceilings; the sliding metallic door of her studio was large enough to fit even her biggest canvas that was some 15ft tall and 10ft wide.
As Ella looked at her paintings, she couldn’t shake the images of Alice’s Wonderland from her head. The colours of the caterpillar that had led her to a mirrored cupboard to write a poem for the Queen of Hearts had inspired her greatly. She felt now that her green oil painting entitled ‘Noon Grass’ needed more green. It needed some of the brilliant flicks of luminescent lime she had experienced last night – they would make it brighter and bolder so that the curves of the canvas were highlighted and the painting looked more 3D. Ella put her coffee down on
the large oak desk she used to mix colours and started to sift through her brushes. She found the right one, a coarse, thick one and reached for a new colour she had mixed up only a few days ago.
Ella hand made all her own paints, mixing coloured pigments with oil to create the exact shade she desired. This florescent green she had made recently was left over paint she had made for a friend who bought her colours from Ella. But now, inspired by her trip with Alice, Ella was going to use it herself. She dipped her brush into the slimy looking green that she called Lime Light and started to blend it in with the darker green arcs already existing on the canvas.
Over the course of the day, Ella went on to alter three different paintings; to ‘Toasted Sunset’ she added an extra blood-orange paint to some of the lines of light rebounding off the horizon. She called this paint Moroccan Fire and used her fingertips to add texture to the oils. She also added tiny strips of gauze to the edge of the sun that she had painted with her favourite colour Burnt Sienna.
Ella moved on to ‘Midnight Water’ and used the opposite end of her paintbrush so it acted like a pencil and she began to lightly etch the words “flow” and “drip” into a deep purple section of the canvas. As the previous paint was dried, bits of the hardened paint crumbled away and added another dimension to ‘Midnight Water’. The tunnel last night that had been plastered in book pages had inspired her to add these words to the painting. When her and Fergus had been in the tunnel, Ella had felt like they had gone underwater as the sound of their voices was muted and a bubbling sound of pipes and steam had been produced. Ella wanted to recreate that sense of fluidity she had experienced so she added dripflowdripflowdrip to one of the main arcs of the sea in ‘Midnight Water’.
To her largest canvas, ‘Sunrise Sun’ she added gelatinous flicks of fiery yellow to the far right hand quarter of the canvas. She wanted to add the flicks vertically so she stood at the opposite end of her studio and launched Scorched Mustard in the air, her arms swinging in an arched motion as if she was ringing church bells. Because of techniques like this Ella’s studio floor, ceiling and walls were covered in specs of multi-coloured paint. It looked like a bag of skittles had exploded into the room.
Ella stood back to observe the changes she had made to her paintings when she heard her phone bleep in her room.
Oh shit, what time is it? Ella rushed to the sink in the corner of her art studio, scrubbed her hands and used a bit of white spirit to get off the more stubborn paint. She dried her hands and she rushed to her phone. It was six forty-five and she had completely lost track of time being so absorbed in her painting.
The message had been from Libby: Tell me about your hot date last night! Still on for lunch tomorrow? X
And she had another from Fergus from this morning at 11.13am which she hadn’t heard: Greenwich station, 8.00pm.
Ella had to move fast if she was going to be ready in time; she was still in her pyjamas, she hadn’t thought about what she was going to wear and she had to cross the whole of London to get to Greenwich. Greenwich. What was he taking her to do? After last night, she knew it was going to be something interesting and off the wall. But all she knew about Greenwich was that the Royal Observatory and the National Maritime museum were there. Were they going to have some sort of nighttime tea trip on the Cutty Sark?
Ella stopped daydreaming about the possibilities of her second date with Fergus and jumped into the shower. She washed her hair, exfoliated, and shaved her legs. Although she knew she wouldn’t have her legs on show tonight and definitely didn’t want to sleep with Fergus so quickly, she did it for peace of mind, so she would feel sexy. She hopped out of the shower and once dry, applied some cocoa butter to her legs and put on her make up. She switched the radio channel from Classical to Radio 1 which was more upbeat and appropriately trashy to get ready for a date. She opened her wardrobe and chose a deep orange polo neck dress that was figure hugging. She searched for some tights at the bottom of her cupboard and hopped about trying to put them on quickly under the dress. She gave her hair a once over with a brush, smoothing the static that popped up when she put on the tight polo neck and chucked the brush back on her bed. She grabbed a long black coat and a pair of black-heeled boots and headed for the door.
*
Fergus was waiting for Ella outside Greenwich station wrapped up in a sheepskin jacket and a maroon wooly scarf. She was seventeen minutes late.
“I am so so sorry Fergus! I completely lost track of time when I was painting.”
“That’s okay. Hello.” They kissed on the cheek.
“Hello,” she said with a smile.
“You look stunning,” he said.
“Thank you,” Ella said shyly sinking her head a little further into her polo neck.
“My pleasure. I bought us some mulled wine. I could smell it around the corner and could do with the warmth! I hope you like it?” He passed her the polystyrene cup and Ella raised her glass for a toast.
“Mmm it smells delicious, thank you. I’d love to know how to make mulled wine.” Fergus took Ella’s mulled-wine-free arm and started walking out on to the road. “So am I allowed to know where we are going yet?”
“Not quite. It’s only a short walk away so you’ll find out soon Ella.”
Ella loved the way he said her name. The l’s rolled off his honeyed tongue and somehow made her name sound longer than it was.
“Okay then Mr. Mysterious. If you’re going to play a game, then I’m allowed to too.”
“That sounds fair,” he said cautiously. “What do you have in mind?”
“Well, I was thinking on the tube that we really don’t know that much about each other, yet. And since this is the third time I’ve seen you in what …” Ella counted the days on her free fingers, “four days, then I think I should know how old you are at least! So, I have ten questions I want you to answer.”
“Gosh! Have we not been through those preliminary questions? Age, birth place, gender?”
“No we have not,” Ella said as she rolled her eyes at his last suggestion.
“Okay, fire away!” he said while dodging a cluster of people on the pavement. Ella caught a glimpse of sheet music, a bucket and awful hats; carolers, they must be carolers she thought before returning her thoughts to the barrage of questions she was about to fire at Fergus.
“Right, first things first. Number one; how old are you?”
“Thirty four.” Perfect.
“Number two; where are your family from?”
“Hampshire.” Lovely. “But from Scotland originally”. That’s where the red hair in his beard comes from.
“Number three; what is your favourite band?”
“Oh really? Are you going to ask me that? Guess …” he said teasingly.
“No, you are not doing the questioning. Answer me please,” Ella said in mock anger.
“The Rolling Stones,” he said chuckling. Not bad.
“Number four; which country have you enjoyed traveling most?”
“Hmm. I’d say Spain, Barcelona in particular.” Barcelona, hmm. Been there so many times with Robbie …
Ella had spent a lot of time in Spain with Robbie, Spanish being one of the many languages he spoke, and she couldn’t help but remember their escapades around the city. She took the last sip of mulled wine and then put both of their cups in the bin that they passed on the left hand side of the pavement.
Ella tore her thoughts away from Robbie and thought about her next question.
“Number five; what book are you reading at the moment?”
“Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls.” One of my favourites.
Ella nodded her head approvingly.
“Number six; who are you closest to?”
“My sister.” Sweet.
“Number seven; who’s your role model?”
“My father.” Even sweeter.
“Number eight; what is your favourite cuisine?” Ella asked while playing with his hand.
“Mi
ddle eastern.” He couldn’t have answered better.
“Hmm okay.” She thought of another question to ask while taking his left hand in hers. But suddenly she felt something cold on Fergus’ hand. She looked down and saw there was a gold band on his wedding finger. Her heart stopped. Is he married?
Fergus looked at her, urging her next question.
“Err, number nine; what is your idea of a perfect weekend?” she mustered, trying to process this potentially earth-shattering piece of information.
“Oh, doing the crossword over a lazy breakfast, reading, walking along the river. Old man stuff.” She hardly heard his reply and was looking at the floor now.
Have the last few days been a total lie? How have I not noticed the ring before?
“So I count nine questions Ella,” he stated confidently, unaware of her brewing anxiety. “You’ve got to make it a good one!”
Ella stopped walking and looked up at him.
“Um, I don’t want to dampen the mood but, but I’ve just noticed you’re wearing a wedding ring … are you married?”
Although she tried to hide it, the pain in her face and voice was clear.
“Wow,” Fergus chuckled. “That’s some tenth question,” he said looking at the gold ring. “I forgot to take it off before I came back.”
A wave of nausea washed over Ella and her eyes widened. “You’re married and you’ve been dating me?” she asked angrily.
“No, no Ella. You misunderstand me. I forgot to take it off before I came back from abroad,” he said casually. “When I go to photograph a war zone, or if I’m doing a travel piece, I wear a wedding band.”
Ella stood in confused silence.
“There’s no way of saying this without sounding like an absolute idiot but, well, I get a lot of attention out there. Ex-pats, journos, writers … they all like a drink or two and because it’s a lonely life and a small world, when someone new comes into town they always get hit on.”
It was a mad explanation but for some reason Ella trusted Fergus. She didn’t doubt for one second that he was telling the truth and knew in her heart that he didn’t have a secret wife stored away somewhere. The feel of the cold ring against her hand had just shocked her and made her realise how much she liked him.