Violet Mackerel’s Pocket Protest

by Anna Branford

  After breakfast, Violet and Rose help with washing up while Vincent and Buzz carry the old, broken washing machine out to Buzz’s truck.

  “I think our small signs probably floated away in the rain last night,” Rose says to Violet as soon as they are alone in Violet’s room.

  “Maybe the Theory of Seeing Small Things is not such a good theory after all,” says Violet.

  Rose thinks. “Or maybe it is a very good theory,” she suggests, “but we just need to try it another way.”

  It is nice, when you are not feeling very hopeful, if someone else is feeling hopeful enough for two.

  “The problem,” says Rose, “is that small signs are not waterproof. I wish we had lots of mini umbrellas.”

  Violet looks at Rose’s beautiful Japanese umbrella. “I think I might be having an idea,” she says.

  Violet still has the whole pocketful of acorns from the oak tree minus one acorn cap that she put on a small doll’s head as a hat.

  Violet quite likes the way acorn caps look like hats. But now she realizes that they look slightly like umbrellas, too.

  Violet gets out her notebook. Using very tiny writing, Violet writes in one straight line: Save the Clover Park oak tree!

  She cuts the line out very carefully with her scissors and rolls it round her little finger. Then she takes an acorn out of its cap and puts the small message inside instead. It uncurls just enough to fit perfectly around the inside of the cap.

  Rose smiles and turns it upside down. It is the perfect hiding spot for a small message and it is also a perfect umbrella.

  Rose writes The Clover Park oak tree needs your help! in the notebook. Then she cuts it out, curls it, and puts it in another of the caps.

  It takes quite a long time, but Violet and Rose do not stop until all the acorn caps have small messages curled inside them. Then Rose runs home and brings back the pocketful that she collected from the oak tree, and they put messages in those, too. It is a big job, but they don’t mind at all.

  In the afternoon Rose has her swimming lesson, so she is going to leave an acorn message in the changing room at the pool and another at the machine where you can buy chips.

  After Rose has gone home to change into her swimsuit, Violet goes with Mama to take a basket of knitted autumn leaves to Mama’s friend’s shop that sells knitted things. Violet tucks an acorn message in among the woolly leaves. Then she puts another on the head of a small doll in the shop. Most people will probably mistake it for an ordinary doll hat. But another sort of person might notice it there and pick it up and look inside.

  When Violet and Mama get home, Vincent and Buzz have finished installing the new washing machine. Violet helps Vincent put a big load of washing in right away, and there is a nice soft humming sound instead of the clanging and banging of the old one. Violet didn’t mind the clanging and banging. She minds the problem of Mama and Vincent’s honeymoon much more. But she quite likes listening to the humming while she thinks about the sorts of people who might be uncurling small acorn messages.

  Later on when Vincent goes to the mailbox to mail the letter about the oak tree to the local newspaper, Violet goes with him so she can leave an acorn message on the step of a little chapel they pass and another beside the mailbox.

  The next few days are school days, so there is not much time to go to the park as there is homework in the evenings and everyone is busy. Violet and Rose both keep acorn messages in their pockets so they can leave one whenever they see a good spot. They go to different schools, so it is quite interesting to hear about each other’s hiding spots. On the afternoons when they don’t see each other because Rose is horse riding or at the dentist, or Violet has gone with Mama to her knitting group, they leave notes in a special hole they once discovered in the fence between their two back gardens. The notes say things like:

  And

  On Friday afternoon, when no one has anything important they need to do and Vincent doesn’t mind going to Clover Park, Violet and Rose are quite excited to see if anything interesting has happened. Perhaps a few people will have read their acorn messages by now and who knows what sorts of things they might have done to help. Most of all, they are hoping that the big TREE REMOVAL sign will have been taken down and perhaps a small sign will have been left in its place that says PUBLIC NOTICE—TREE TO STAY.

  But actually, when they arrive at the oak tree, everything is exactly as it was before. The notice is still up, and it still says TREE REMOVAL. There are no protesters gathering or news reporters saying into their microphones, “Plans to remove the oak tree have been abandoned due to a very successful pocket protest including small signs and acorn messages. This is Isabel Albatross reporting from Clover Park.” It is all a bit disappointing.

  Violet and Rose look around to see if they can spot any of their small signs from last weekend. They only find two, which have been blown into the bushes and are much too crumpled and rained on to be read. Even the one Violet tweaked between the wooden slats of the bench with the brooch is gone. That is the most discouraging thing of all.

  Violet and Rose lie quietly under the oak tree and look up into the leafy branches and think together.

  Suddenly, Rose says, “What about the petition?”

  It sounds a bit like a sneeze, so Violet says, “Bless you,” and they both giggle, which makes them feel a bit better.

  “Maybe if there was a long list of people who agree with us, it would help,” says Rose.

  So Violet takes out her notebook, thinks very hard to remember Nicola and Lara’s petition, takes her pencil out of her pocket, and writes:

  Underneath it she signs her name and draws a small violet beside it. Rose signs her name and draws a small rose. They ask Vincent if he would like to sign the petition too, and he says he would. But that is only three names, which is not a very long petition.

  Rose thinks. “One evening my mama and I were driving home past the park, and we saw a bat in the tree. I bet it would want to save the tree.”

  Since bats can’t write, Rose writes Bat underneath Vincent’s signature in the sort of swooping writing that bats would probably have if they could write. Then Violet has the idea of writing “bees,” which she has sometimes seen buzzing in the low branches. She writes it in buzzing letters. They also add some sparrows, some ants, two grass­hoppers, a butterfly, a grayish moth with a wing injury, a black cat (who once got stuck and had to be rescued by the fire department), and a friendly huntsman spider. Then, after the small animals’ and insects’ signatures, they write probably in parentheses because Vincent says you can’t actually add extra names to petitions, although he is sure that the animals would sign if they could.

  Even with the added names, it is still a short petition, but it is much better than nothing. Rose slides the top of the page under the notice on the tree so that it dangles down underneath, which will hold it there for a little while at least. Perhaps no one will notice it. Perhaps more rain will come and wash it away. But for the moment, it is the only other idea Rose and Violet have for their protest.

  It is an early morning start for everyone in the Mackerel house the next day. Mama has three big baskets of knitted things, and Vincent has a new batch of china birds that he has been cleaning and getting ready. Nicola, who sells her handmade jewelry at the markets, has quite a lot of earrings ready too because she is saving up to buy an easel for her room. Dylan will be busking on his violin as usual. And Violet, who has been too busy with small signs and acorn messages to have anything of her own to bring to the markets, will be helping everyone as well as eating poffertjes from a cup with a stick.

  Usually everyone just sits sleepily at the table at breakfast before going to the market, slightly wishing they were still in bed. But this morning when the alarm clock buzzes, even though it is not completely light yet, Vincent goes outside into the garden in his slippers to see if the newspaper has been delivered, since it sometimes comes quite early. Violet goes out in her slippers too. They are hoping
the newspaper might have published his letter about the oak tree.

  Vincent unrolls the paper and goes straight to the letters section. Violet looks over his shoulder. It would be quite exciting to see his name there. They look closely at the page and check and double-check to make sure, but it is definitely not there.

  “Perhaps it will be published next week,” suggests Mama at breakfast.

  “That will be too late,” says Vincent.

  “The oak tree will be gone by then,” says Violet.

  Violet helps load the boxes, baskets, tables, and big umbrella into the van, and they drive to the market.

  It is quite a nice morning when the sun comes out, and Violet does a very good job of matching china birds with the knitted nests.

  Lots of people are stopping at the stall to look at them and to try on Mama’s scarves and to look closely at Nicola’s earrings, and quite a few of them are buying something. Dylan is playing the new concerto he had learned for the recital, and there is a nice sound of coins dropping into his violin case now and then.

  It should be a very good market day. But the pocket protest is not working, and that is all Violet can think about even as she is eating her poffertjes. Vincent is not smiling very much either. Violet suspects he is thinking about the oak tree too.

  When they all arrive home from the market in the afternoon, there is a surprise on the doorstep, which is Rose wearing a very beautiful spotty dress. Violet is not surprised about the dress because she knows Rose has been at a birthday party. But she is surprised to see her waiting on the doorstep. Rose is flapping a piece of paper in her hand.

  “Look! Look!” squeals Rose as Violet clambers out from the van.

  It is the short petition they left on the oak tree. Violet looks and sees right away why Rose is so excited. There are two new names on the petition, printed in very neat, curly old-fashioned writing.

  and

  “We drove past the park on our way home from the party,” says Rose, “so I asked Mama if I could hop out and check the petition, and then I saw it!”

  Later in the afternoon, Mama, Nicola, and Dylan add their names to the petition, so it is a little bit longer. And after that, Violet, Rose, and Vincent go back to the park and put the slightly longer petition back underneath the TREE REMOVAL sign.

  It is quite hard to know what to think. On the one hand, there is less than a week to go until the oak tree will be chopped, the newspaper did not publish Vincent’s letter, and no one seems to have noticed the pocket protest. None of these are very cheering thoughts. But on the other hand, Albert Trivelli and Eva Trivelli (probably) have seen the short petition, and perhaps they are the sorts of people who will mind about the tree and find a good way to help. That is an extremely cheering thought.

  As well as sitting under the oak tree, watching the insects go golden for a little while in case it is the last weekend they can, Violet and Rose look very closely at the goldish plaque that says IN MEMORY OF EVA.

  Even on Sundays there is not much sleeping in for anyone at Violet’s house, and usually the waking up of people is done by Violet, who would like someone to help her open the marmalade or explain what a piccolo is. But this morning it is Vincent who wakes Violet up by sitting down on her bed with a slight bounce and a newspaper rustling noisily in his hand.

  “Look! Look!” Vincent is saying. Violet opens her eyes just a crack.

  “Did they publish your letter?” she asks sleepily.

  “Better than that!” says Vincent.

  Violet rubs her eyes and sits up so she can look properly. Then, when she sees the paper, she wonders if she is actually still asleep and dreaming. There is a huge picture of the oak tree. And beside the picture there is not just Vincent’s letter. There are lots of letters. So many that instead of publishing them with the ordinary letters on Saturday, they have all been saved up for a Sunday Special. And there is a whole section about the mystery acorn messages.

  “I had no idea there were plans to cut down the beautiful old tree that my sisters and I played in as children,” wrote one lady who found an acorn message at the library.

  “The oak tree is the nicest part of the view from my office. It would be a terrible shame to lose it. I would like to join these protestors in their efforts to save it,” wrote a man who found an acorn message at his bus stop.

  Vincent and Violet are so busy reading the letters out loud to each other and gasping and making sure that they both are really, truly awake that it takes them quite a while to notice what is on the opposite page.

  It is another photo, but with tattered edges. At first Violet thinks it must be of a different oak tree because the oak tree is a bit smaller, plus there are houses with gardens behind it instead of the block of flats that are behind Clover Park. Underneath the tree there are a man and a woman with old-fashioned clothes and hats and very big smiles. Across the bottom of the photo, someone has written Albert and Eva Trivelli, 1948, in faded curly writing.

  “ ‘Eighty-six-year-old Albert Trivelli was twenty-one when he and his wife, Eva, bought their first home,’ ” reads Vincent. “ ‘They were married at Clover Chapel and lived in a small house with a garden looking out onto the park. Some years later, not too far away, they opened Chateau Trivelli, a small hotel still run by their son, Henry.’ ”

  Then Violet reads out loud one of the parts where Albert is being interviewed.

  “ ‘After my wife died, I moved into a smaller home only a short walk away, and soon after that, our old house was knocked down to make room for some flats. But I still walk to the park most evenings to watch the colors in the oak tree change as the sun goes down, because that was something Eva and I always did together. That is why I built the bench there in memory of her.

  “ ‘I was terribly sad to see that the tree was to be removed and to think that no one would mind but me. But then I found a small sign on the bench near Eva’s name, and I realized that at least one other person minded. Then, when I found a short petition, I realized that a few did. Even if the oak tree is removed, it will be a great comfort to me to know that other people think it is as beautiful and as special as I do.’ ”

  At the end of the article, Vincent reads, “ ‘In light of the concerns of local residents, the Clover Times has been in contact with the council to discuss the preservation of the oak tree at Clover Park.’ ”

  Violet and Vincent do a noisy sort of dance together, and it goes all the way to Vincent and Mama’s room, where Mama is still trying to be slightly asleep. But she wakes up quite quickly, and she doesn’t mind Violet and Vincent excitedly reading the letters and the article out loud to her, even if sometimes they are reading different parts at the same time.

  Violet, Rose, and Vincent decide they will go to the park a bit later than normal to see if Albert Trivelli comes to watch the colors changing in the oak tree as the sun goes down. They would all like to meet him. Vincent says if they arrive at about the time they normally leave, which is when the birds and cicadas are at their noisiest and the insects are almost perfectly gold, they might be able to find him there. Violet and Rose think it is an excellent idea.

  There is no one at the park when they arrive, but they decide to sit and wait for a while, just in case.

  When the green leaves start to turn slightly purple in the changing light, a man appears on the path. He is much, much older than the man in the photo in the newspaper, and he walks with a stick. He is wearing a hat, and Violet and Rose feel almost certain that it is Albert Trivelli. But it isn’t until they smile and wave and he smiles and waves back that they are sure. Because he walks quite slowly and it is too exciting to wait for him to reach the bench, they run over to say hello.

  “Was it you who made the small signs and the petition?” Albert asks Violet and Rose.

  “Yes!” they answer together.

  Albert shows them the sign they had tweaked between the slats of the bench. It has been folded in his pocket.

  “It chee
rs me up every time I look at it,” he tells them.

  It is a bit of a squish to fit all four of them on Eva’s bench, but they do eventually manage it. Albert shows them how, after turning gold and then purple, the leaves go almost navy blue before they turn into black shadows against the darkening sky.

  “Will you come back to our place and have a cup of tea with us?” asks Vincent when there are no more colors to see.

  “Well, why not,” says Albert.

  They walk, a little more slowly than usual so that Albert can keep up, back to Violet’s house. He tells them a story about how he and Eva once hung a rope swing from the oak tree for their son, Henry, when Henry was quite small, and how Henry did such amazing tricks on it that the neighbors thought he was a monkey, which gives Violet and Rose the giggles.

  Violet and Mama made a ginger cake not too long ago, and there is enough left for everyone to have a slice. When Rose’s mama comes to collect her, she decides to stay for a piece too.

  Vincent pours tea, Mama looks for a milk jug, and Violet gets some whipped cream out of the fridge in case anyone would like it with their cake.

  When they are all busy chatting, Albert says quietly to Violet, “Is that another one of your small signs? I noticed it when you opened the fridge door.”

  He is pointing to the RIGHTS FOR HONEYMOONERS sign she made on the night of all the rain. So Violet explains about the shoestring book and the leaky washing machine and the Theory of Seeing Small Things.