Emma, although I’d have been trying to play it cool because I wouldn’t have wanted the rest of the team to see. We had that great night together and then I’d not heard from her the whole of the next day. It’s not like we swapped numbers, or made promises – but I’d been keeping an eye out for her around the hotel and village, hoping I’d see her.
Then, all of a sudden, there she was.
Emma: I knew Paul was making a documentary about Alan, but I didn’t realise that documentary actually involved Scott being on the island. Worlds were colliding.
Paul: We were doing a bit of prep for that day’s filming. Scott was walking us through the village first thing in the morning before it got too busy. We’d got a few minutes of framing shots that could be spliced in for creating a mood, plus I’d gone to the beach and recorded the sound of the waves crashing. We didn’t know if we’d need it, but it was there.
Emma: It wasn’t just Scott at the front, with Paul behind. There were four of you there and—
Sorry, I said ‘you’. Is that OK?
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This seems like a good time to explain that After the Accident began life as a documentary about the death of Alan Lee on the island of Galanikos.
There’s an old journalistic saying that the reporter should never be the subject of their piece. I agree wholeheartedly with this, except that, as the team from Garibaldi Media visited the island to start shooting, a larger story overtook the one on which they were working.
The story of the two falls have to be told together. Like it or not, Alan and Geoff are linked.
In addition, there would also be an enormous narrative gap without including Paul and Scott. That is why some of the transcripts you have been reading come from interviews done on the island, while others had to take place at a later date.
Emma: It wasn’t just Scott at the front, with Paul behind. There were four men there. Paul was carrying a boom mic over his shoulder and the guy behind him had a large pack on his shoulders. He looked like he was doing most of the work. The one at the back seemed to be ordering everyone around. He had a big mouth and a fat arse and a stupid walk and—
OK, he didn’t have any of those things. The truth is, I didn’t really notice the guy at the back because I was so stunned by both Paul and Scott being there.
Paul: When we first met, Emma laughed at me for goldfishing – but she was much worse. Then Scott said her name.
Scott: I’d stopped, which meant the guys had also stopped. It seemed stupid to pretend we didn’t know each other. At first I thought Emma was trying to avoid looking at me. It was much later when I found out she already knew Paul.
Emma: I was staring at Paul, trying to tell him with my eyes that I was sorry. He was looking between Scott and me, probably putting the pieces together.
Paul: I can’t remember how I felt at the time. Probably confused.
Emma: It was like a blink and I was in front of Scott. I’d somehow crossed the path without knowing I’d done it.
We used to be friends in the way people are when they grow up together. Our dads owned a business together, so we’d end up being left alone to play while the grown-ups talked downstairs. We’d always be at each other’s houses, or told to go out and amuse ourselves. Julius was older than me and used to say that Scott was my boyfriend – but we were much too young for that.
By the time we became teenagers, we drifted apart. I had my friends at school and he had his. We didn’t need to be together all the time when our parents were working because we had our own hobbies and interests.
Scott: Is that what she said? It’s… well it’s sort of true. We definitely went our own way as teenagers, but that’s because she dropped me. She was in with all the popular kids.
I had quite bad acne when I was that age. I had to have this special cream from the pharmacy and it reeked. Dad made me sit in my room with my door closed and the windows open. It used to make me gag.