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punk music she’d be
subjected to later in the evening. Admittedly, she had never heard
anything by Siouxsie and the Banshees before, but if Gaby’s
full-size posters of the band were anything to go by, she was
pretty sure her eardrums would have a painful experience
tonight.
    After a
thirty-minute ride, Julia got off the bus and walked the last bit to Flo’s house. The weather was
lovely, and the white castle of Salzburg on the mountain
overlooking the city shone in the bright sunlight. She looked up at
the fortress longingly. Maybe she should take the long walk uphill
sometime again and buy herself a generous slice of cake in the
castle lunchroom. She hadn’t done that in a while. The last time
was when Gaby had joined her – and her friend had suffered from
muscle ache in her calves for days after their adventure together,
the wuss.
    Julia kept a brisk pace and soon reached the old,
pastel-green house on the Imbergstrasse that belonged to Florian’s
family. The ladder was waiting for her, leaning against the façade.
She could hear Bob Dylan talk-singing through old speakers on the
second-floor roof terrace. A few years ago, Florian had discovered
the sixties and gone on to plunder his parents’ entire vinyl
collection.
    “Peace, man,” Axel greeted her
when Julia’s head popped up above the roof terrace railing. He put
up two fingers in a peace sign and smiled at her, his eyes partly
hidden by a green pair of star-shaped shades.
    “Give it a
chance,” Julia shouted back, walking up to the sitting area where
Axel, Florian and Tamara were sprawled on the big lounge sofa,
sipping drinks and singing along to Dylan’s ‘I Want You’. “Where’s Gaby?”
    “ She’s
picking up some flyers from the pub where that cover band is
performing tonight,” Tamara replied. “If we hand those in, we’ll
each be entitled to one free drink.”
    “That band is
beginning to sound desperate for attention.” Julia chuckled and set
down her bag of bottles next to Florian. “Here, look what I
brought. Now you can make me a Radler .”
    “I would be
honored, Lady Julia,” Florian said with
an ingratiating smile.
    Axel scrambled up to put the next record on the
turntable and allow Marc Bolan’s frail, unearthly voice to flood
the terrace. Julia let out a satisfied sigh, leaning back on the
sofa to look up at the bright, blue sky. Not a cloud
in sight. This afternoon was heaven.
    “Halli-hallo !” Gaby
shouted as she suddenly appeared at the top of the ladder,
enthusiastically waving a hand full of Shamrock flyers. “Look what
I got. Free pints of Guinness for everyone tonight.” She plunked
down on the couch next to Julia and gave her a broad smile. “How was your weekend, babe?”
    “It was fine.
I visited my gran in Eichet yesterday.” She glanced at the flyers
Gaby had spread out on the table. “I’m glad the show is at
Shamrock,” she added under her breath. Michael played darts with
his friends in O’Malley’s, the other Irish pub in town, every
Monday evening.
    Gaby nodded,
a sympathetic smile on her lips. “So,
when are you guys finally going to London?” she addressed the boys
while pouring a beer for herself.
    “Actually, I
have no idea.” Florian shrugged. “We have to book all
over again. I guess it’ll be more
expensive this time. The tickets we had were booked months in
advance.”
    “Oh, come on.” Axel arched
an eyebrow. “Ryanair flies almost for
free. Hey, why don’t the girls join us on our trip too?”
    Gaby looked from Tamara to Julia, nodding slowly.
“Yeah, why not indeed?” she repeated. “We have all the time in the
world. And it won’t break the bank either, if we get a cheap
flight.”
    “We were
planning on staying in a youth hostel,” Florian said. “That isn’t too expensive.”
    “Well, I think it sounds
like a great idea!” Julia exclaimed. “I
was just going to arrange a job interview at the bookstore so I can
earn some extra cash. If that works out, I’ll