New Generation Festival- Night II
As soon people start heading down to the garden for intermission, I walk over to the side to meet with the Angels. Once everyone is gathered there, Ulrike leads us backstage.
We head toward this stairway and the first person I spot posted at the bottom left side of the landing is Itamar, an amazing pianist, who quickly disappears out of sight. I look up further and I see Charlie standing near the top landing of the staircase.
Charlie is greeting people lined up along the staircase to his left, taking pictures, and quickly answering questions. I am standing at the very bottom of the stairs diagonal to him. I look to my left and see a girl holding a lovely bouquet of flowers. I ask her if I can take a picture of it which she agrees to.
We slowly yet quickly make our way up the stairwell and halfway there, there is a little lag. It is at this point that Charlie starts making his way down the stairs.
While still engaging with multiple people he gives me a look, it is a super quick glance, like who is she and what is she doing here?. Granted, I am wearing blue lipstick but I can’t help but wonder about his surprised look.
The moment passes quickly and I look behind me to see that Carly is crossing the pathway at the bottom landing of the stairwell to get to the other side of the building. I wave down at her and I tell her that she did an amazing job and talk about maybe seeing each other later that night. She says thanks, nods, then takes off.
At this point I am still standing halfway up the staircase but Charlie is now at the bottom landing of the stairwell. He is now taking pictures with the Angels and the whole operation has now moved to the entryway of the main floor where there is better lighting.
As people move away from the staircase to the entryway, I head down as well but when I get to the bottom of the steps I turn my head opposite the entrance, to the left, and see Lewis standing there with what looks to be a box of pizza in his hands. I face his direction to say hello and he responds distractedly, looking around the scene before asking me, “What’s going on here?”
I let him know that people are just there to take pictures with Charlie Siem and he gets this huh look on his face. I segue into a conversation regarding the sketch and if we are still on for Saturday to which he responds yes. I say okay and as we are speaking I hear behind me, “One more. One more picture” and I look behind me to see that Ulrike is indicating that she is referring to me. I tell Lewis, “Hey, sorry, gotta go” then walk around to Charlie.
As I walk around the corner towards Charlie, he starts transferring the aforementioned bouquet of flowers from one hand to the other. As I walk toward his now unencumbered right side, I remember I have to hand someone my phone to snap the pictures so I pivot and walk up to one of the Angels, hand over my phone, then finally step backwards to Charlie’s open right side.
In an instant the photos are taken and he is soon gone.
I head out into the garden with Anne, another Angel, to have some dinner before intermission is over.
SUMMER 18
Aisha Isabelle 
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