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Location: Reading train station
Radio station: BBC Radio Berkshire
Track playing: ‘It Must Have Been Love’ by Roxette
Miles travelled: 335
Miles until Captain Poldark: 208.5
Lisa pulled into the dropping-off zone and scanned the pavement outside the station. When she left that morning, she hadn’t expected any problems with working out who @PoldarkGoals was. Lisa had been told she’d be wearing purple Converse, and wearing her hair in braids. However, that was before Ray, who was not a girl, and Abby, who liked eating worms. The worms worried Lisa more than Abby’s mental health issues.
Kirsty had been the last to join the trip, and Lisa had been wary about accepting her. @PoldarkGoals was only rarely on the forum, and when she was, she barely commented at all. You’d just see her there in the background, her cursor blinking.
Lisa, Ray and Abby had discussed the details of the trip in a private Internet group that Lisa had made for them, over a couple of weeks. During that time, Lisa had changed her mind about going through with it, almost every hour. She knew she needed to find Captain Poldark. She knew she needed to see him and look into his eyes, and that when she did, all her fear, all her anxiety, would drain away for a few seconds at least.
It didn’t even matter that the man she was looking for wasn’t anything like the Captain Poldark in her head. What mattered was what finding him would mean to her. And, even if it was just for those few seconds, it would be worth it. Just to feel half a minute of peace, to know that just once in her life she hadn’t been afraid.
Then right at the last minute @PoldarkGoals said she suddenly had some time off work, and could she please come too? She said she had money, and a credit card, and there was just something, something in between the words she typed on the forum that seemed so … full of need. And Lisa wasn’t about to turn down someone for that. She’d welcomed @PoldarkGoals to their trip. She’d loosely arranged a time to meet and had told her the colour and make of her car.
There were several young women, and a couple of lads hanging about outside the ticket office. Two girls were part of a group and one was on her own, standing by a rubbish bin, her shoulders hunched, her chin down. She was tall and slender, and she was carrying a small floral rucksack. She clutched the straps tightly, her pretty face narrow, pale and pinched. There was no purple Converse in sight, and yet there was something about her.
Lisa watched as the girl scanned the cars that came and went, before focusing on Lisa’s Micra. Glancing over her shoulder, she ran towards the car, opened the back door and jumped in.
‘Whoa there,’ Abby said, as the girl slid in next to her. ‘You shouldn’t surprise me like that. I’m a yellow belt. Anything could happen.’
‘Sorry,’ the girl said. ‘I’m Poldark Goals. My real name’s Kirsty? I’m sorry I’m not wearing the trainers. I was at work, and I forgot them and I ran out of time to go home, so … who’s he?’
Lisa twisted round in her seat and looked at Kirsty. She’d said on the forum that she was twenty-one but she looked much younger.
‘He’s @I_Am_Demelza,’ she said before Ray could answer. ‘But it’s OK, he’s gay.’
‘Right,’ Kirsty said. ‘So he’s OK?’
‘I think so,’ Lisa said.
‘Seriously,’ Ray said. ‘Not all men are evil, you know. I’m a Poldark fan, just like you.’
‘And anyway,’ Abby said, smiling at Kirsty, ‘if he turns out to be a dickhead, I’ll break both his legs and we’ll leave him in a hedge.’
‘OK,’ Kirsty said. ‘Seems fair.’
‘Are you OK?’ Lisa asked. ‘You look … well, a bit stressed out.’
‘Fine, fine. I rushed here, after work, and forgot a few things. I was worried I might miss you, or you’d go without me because of the trainers. Should we get going?’
Lisa smiled, wanting to reassure the younger woman. ‘Well, you’re here now. And we’re all set. We’d better get on the road if we want to make our B&B before dark.’