I was in a very cheerful mood last Monday evening. There was a gentle drizzle falling outside, instead of the usual downpour of rain that I always heard making a pitter-patter sound against the window sill. The absence of thunder also came to me as a pleasant surprise.

The breeze blew very gently; just enough that one did not feel too hot. Even the mist from the morning had cleared completely. It was the perfect weather for the concert that we were going to. I had been looking forward to this concert for months.

I usually got dressed very quickly, but today I had spent two hours getting dressed. I had tied my hair back carefully in a neat bun and wore a black hair band so that my hair did not come in my eyes. I had straightened out the folds on my bright, blue frock with shiny silver and golden dots.

We went in our old car, which had once been of a bright, blue colour, but was now a faded light blue. The journey was an hour long, but seemed to pass in minutes because I was so immersed in discussing Alice and all her songs with my elder sister Emerald, who was an even bigger fan of Alice’s songs than I.

We reached the concert right on time, and, luckily, we managed to get a set of four seats in the front. The stage was painted a bright, brown colour. There was a dark, blue curtain with small, green leaves painted on it and the curtain was drawn. The leaves were so beautifully painted that they looked real, and I felt as if any one of them was going to suddenly fall to the ground.

There was a giant spotlight hanging and a band of about 12 people playing on the side. Each member of the band had different instruments and they wore yellow and orange striped t-shirts. The t-shirts had the slogan “If you can’t teach me to fly, then teach me music,” in big, bold red letters.

Just a few minutes after we were seated, the star of the show, Alice Parker, walked onto the stage.

Alice was dressed in a plain white t-shirt with bright, blue jeans, the colour of the sky that fine day. She had long, blond hair which she had tied neatly in a ponytail, and she had pushed back her front hair with a white, sparkly hair band. Alice wore small, golden coloured earrings that sparkled so brightly that they could be seen from at least a mile away.

As usual, Alice had no make-up on, but her cheeks were still a bright pink colour. She wore plain white sneakers, with small silver dots, that went perfectly with her shirt. She began her concert and began to sing her new song which everyone had come to see.

I had heard all 22 of Alice’s previous songs so many times that I had learnt them by heart. I sang them everywhere we went, as did my elder sister Emerald. We were both very curious as to what new song Alice had come up with. I squeezed Emerald’s hand gently and she squeezed it back tightly.

Then Alice began singing in her beautifully soft, yet crystal-clear voice. She sang a thrilling melody about nature, emphasising just the right amount on each and every note. Before hearing her, I had thought that perfect pitch was impossible while still sounding alive and vibrant, but here it was. I had to pinch myself to realise that it was Alice who was singing, and this was not a recording playing.

Although I loved all of Alice’s songs immensely, this song was by far my favourite, the reason being that it was about nature. Nature was a subject that I always took a great deal of interest in. There was always something new that I would discover about it each day and that only made me want to see it cleaner and greener. The song that Alice sang described nature in detail, the beauty of it and how we humans were harming it constantly. I saw through her song how connected Alice was with nature and how much she had done for it, alongside writing music.

It was then that I had my epiphany on my career. I became so in tune with nature through the singing of Alice, that I suddenly realised I had to breathe the environment, live it and write on it! I had to become an environmentalist.

I had always been interested in the environment, but I had never done anything about it or thought that I could pursue it as a career and actually contribute towards creating a cleaner and greener environment that I always dreamt of seeing. So, in a very real way, all the tiny bits of good work I have done for the environment can be traced back to that one evening filled with the music and the voice of Alice Parkston.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 15th, 2022