TWENTY-ONE
When the lawyer in the expensive looking suit had turned up unannounced to visit farmer Joe Martinez with an offer to hire out his unused two acre field, he had assumed it was for some kind of outdoor concert. Not that he cared one way or the other. The field had remained over grown and untouched for almost a year ever since the bottom had fallen out of the Spanish housing market and he had thus been unable to sell the land to what had been, before the crash, quite a few interested developers. But now it was all but useless in the current climate despite being situated as it was only ten miles or so from Barcelona.
So when the lawyer had appeared on his doorstep a week ago Joe had taken one look at this out of place towney and had decided on the spot to ask for five thousand euros and see just how much the man would try to whittle him down.
In truth Joe would have happily accepted three, so he had been nearly floored when the man from the city had come straight out and offered him ten thousand euros in cash and no questions asked for exclusive use of the field, and the dirt road that connected it to the main highway for seven days tops.
Christ, thought Joe, they could hold a pagan orgy for that kind of money for all he cared, complete with ritual sacrifices.
The two men had shaken hands on the deal and the lawyer had returned the next day with a simple contract and the ten thousand in cash. The lawyer had assured Joe with a glint in his eye that was so common with his kind in Joe’s experience. That the contract was merely to protect their investment and that once they had finished they would not be filing it anywhere official so although it remained unsaid. Joe was free to keep the whole ten thousand with no need to bother the tax man.
Within a day of the deal three tractor drawn gang mowers had turned up and made short work of turning the over-grown field into a near perfect bowling green. Joe watched on in quiet bemusement as a small army of workers then arrived and began constructing a dozen or so prefabricated buildings around the outskirts of the field followed by four large articulated lorries carrying all manner of equipment.
From where Joe spent his days idly watching the commotion from up on the hill which over looked the field. He had been amazed at the swiftness the construction had taken shape and it had been only three days into the operation when the field now resembled a small densely packed temporary village.
Huge spotlights where then erected followed by a large grandstand flanked by two smaller seated areas either side all looking down on an as yet untouched clearing. Miles and miles of cables snaked from large generator trucks and weaved their way between the buildings. Yes he thought this must be some kind of festival complete with what looked like a large outside broadcasting set up. Perhaps to show the concert live on TV he thought.
Joe was contemplating calling his sons both of who were in their twenties and living in the city to see if either knew who might be the headlining act. When strangely as the construction seemingly neared its completion instead of a stage, a small section of the crew broke off and began to erect what looked like a two story rickety old house in the clearing which was quite clearly the centre of all this attention.
The only stage he could see was a low one some twenty feet wide and only a foot or so high which led up to the strange house’s porch. Once this was all completed a line of yellow and black warning tape was then placed around the house.
That night as a large security fence was put in place around the outline of the entire field, Joe watched as the lighting crew tested the massive lighting set up and four giant screens flickered into life. Mostly they showed shots taken by the various camera men dotted around the venue as they rehearsed, conducted by some unseen director, probably up in one of the stilted prefab buildings situated at the rear almost out of sight.
Yes Joe mused, whoever this band was it looked like they were going to put on one hell of a show.
Finally the largest screen flashed up two multi-coloured English words in a dizzying array of rapidly changing fonts.
Demon time the band was apparently called.
Joe Martinez had never heard of them.