They were heading to the coastal town. Mitchell agreed to join them, which caused Hannah to shoot a look at him, which he couldn’t quite read. She walked on the other side of Tudor, her hair wound up in a crimson scarf. A storm appeared to be boiling out over the sea: a refined silver light illuminating the figures of windsurfers out across the water, sleek and black clad. Tudor was excitable, lively. He explained that he would visit this part of the coast with his grandparents and he wanted to head back to the resort town because he remembered a trip he had taken there during one of these stays.
‘They had this old festival, but I can’t remember the time of year. They lined the town with buckets of fish. They hung dried fish from the streetlamps. Fish everywhere. It was the first time I heard someone playing the accordion. I always associate the accordion with the sound of the sea. When I came down here, you couldn’t imagine that these apartments would be built. It’s why I bought the flat, really. It excited me that this had been done.’
It was the cue Mitchell needed to mention the development. He asked Tudor how the area had changed since he’d first visited here, and what he thought of the Court.
‘Oh, I’m happy there. Very happy. Didn’t I tell you already?’
‘I just wanted to be sure. Given that you knew the place before it had been built. I wondered if you thought it was spoiling the area. Hannah thinks the place is soulless.’
‘I didn’t say it was soulless.’ Hannah had flushed, her skin looking ruddy and strangely toughened. ‘I don’t remember saying that at all.’
Tudor frowned. ‘I wouldn’t say that. Not soulless. I think buildings, all buildings, have as much character as people. I once played a gig in an abandoned airport in Germany. Brand new, never used. Something to do with the holding company collapsing. But even then, it had an essence. An amazing space.’
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Absence Club 