He has the sweet wrapper in his fingers, but does not stroke it; instead he contents himself with throwing it in the canal in front of him.

Vacant, worn out and pushed to his limit, Fred pauses to reflect once more. And the solo violin from “Simple Song, Number 3” starts up in his head and this time it is a great violinist playing it, not a young beginner.

71

Two gilded seats stand empty in expectant silence.

An elegant audience fills the theatre.

Without a prompt or announcement, the audience rises to its feet in ghostly silence. Two figures have entered the theatre: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

They sit down in the elegant seats, their royal persons caught in the shadow cast by the stage lights.

The audience can now be seated.

A violinist once more takes up the first soft notes of the introduction to “Simple Song, Number 3. Adagio”.

In the shadows, Prince Philip’s eyes are full of joy, like a child’s.

On stage, the great South Korean soprano Sumi Jo secretly swallows, hiding her anxiety and emotion. She is preparing herself.

Also in the shadows, Queen Elizabeth looks at her husband a moment and is content.

Hiding away in a box, still a bag of nerves, the emissary is watching the Queen and Prince Philip from a distance.

Sumi Jo opens her mouth and when she launches into a perfect, heart-rending love song it seems to reach right to the back of the auditorium.

The members of the large, supremely elegant audience give a slight start in their seats, as if hypnotised by the soprano’s voice.

Sumi Jo’s high note ends. It lasted only a short while.

Totally focused, in absolute control of himself, Fred Ballinger makes a sweeping gesture with his baton and the whole orchestra comes into play. Strings and woodwind open in unison with a soaring melody, and the audience comes out in goose pimples.

Sitting in the audience on his own, with no friends around him, Jimmy Tree sits slowly forward in his seat; his eyes are bright with childlike fervour.

“Simple Song, Number 3” is beautiful and heart-wrenching.

72

The faces of Lena and the hippy mountaineer are almost touching.

They could kiss each other if it were not for the fact that she is trembling.

He laughs like an idiot. They are so close. Then he stops laughing.

He looks at her. He clasps her powerfully. She stops trembling and looks at him.

We know they will kiss, but not just yet.

Lena and the mountaineer are suspended in mid-air at a height of four thousand metres, nothing but empty space below them. She has her arms around him and the two are clinging on to life thanks to a rope and a set of karabiners.

73

A movement of Fred’s arm and the strings and woodwind grow faint and fall silent. Only a solo violin remains.

Fred turns to look at Sumi Jo. With a flicker of his eyes, he gives her the cue.