by Lyn Gardner
“We think it’s not good if you are seen here at the theatre, Jack,” explained Pablo. “That Jasper, he is a rude bully who wouldn’t like you being here.”
“But you need to be here, Dad,” said Olivia, “because Pablo’s got something to show you.”
“What is it?” asked Jack.
“This,” said Pablo, holding up two pieces of rope.
Jack looked at the rope and whistled. “This didn’t fray or break, it’s been cut clean in two.”
Pablo nodded.
“Pablo says it couldn’t have been an accident. It’s been done deliberately,” said Olivia.
“It is not the first time, Jack,” said Pablo. “Like you, I find that wires I have already checked are mysteriously coming loose. At first I thought it was bad luck and then I thought it was me. I thought I was, how do you say it…?”
“Incompetent,” said Jack.
“That’s right. Incompetent.”
“That’s what I decided I was,” said Jack sadly. “I came to the conclusion that I just wasn’t up to the job.”
“No, Dad. You are up to the job and so is Pablo. But somebody really doesn’t want the flying system to work.”
“Sabotage!” said Jack.
Pablo and Olivia nodded. “Yes, I’m very certain,” said Pablo.
“The cut rope certainly points that way,” said Jack. He frowned. “But who would do such a thing? It’s an insanely dangerous thing to do. Somebody could be killed.”
“That’s why we’ve got to find out who’s responsible and stop them,” said Olivia.
“And that’s why I’m keeping a twenty-four-hour watch on the rigging,” said Pablo. “I want to know who is doing this and why.”
Pablo let Jack and Olivia out of the theatre and they walked off down the road. They hadn’t gone far when Olivia’s mobile rang.
“Livy? It’s Katie. I can’t talk for long. Tomorrow. Saturday. Twelve noon. That’s when he’s going to start to cut the trees down. You need to mobilise everyone. Good luck.”
“Thanks,” said Olivia.
Her dad looked at her in surprise. “Who was that ringing you at almost midnight?” he asked.
“An unexpectedly good friend,” said Olivia with a grin as she started texting furiously, and Jack knew not to press her further. He trusted Olivia and knew she’d tell him when she was ready.
They hadn’t gone very far when Olivia suddenly asked, “Are you doing anything tomorrow morning, Dad?”
“Why? What would you like me to do?”
“I think we’re going to need some adult help,” said Olivia, and she told Jack at top speed about Alicia’s sinister phone calls, and the threat to the Swan, and about Mr Wilkes-Cox’s determination to cut down the trees, and all the while she talked she continued to write and send messages.
Chapter Eighteen
Mr Wilkes-Cox and Bill Jukes stared in astonishment at the sight in front of them. It was Saturday morning and when they had arrived at the site a couple of hours ago there had been nobody around down by the river. It was a blustery day, not the kind of weather for walkers or families to be out and about in. They were delighted; it would mean fewer people to see what they were up to, and once the deed was done there would be nothing anybody could do about it. The trees would be gone.
“It’ll be easy,” said Bill Jukes. “We’ll get in there and get the trees down. It should only take an hour or two with all this equipment. You’ve got plenty of workmen to do the job?”
“Ten of the best,” said Mr Wilkes-Cox. “I’m paying them handsomely to ask no questions and just get on with it as quickly and efficiently as possible. It’ll all be over and done with in time for a late lunch. Provided we don’t run into any problems.”
“We won’t,” said Bill confidently. “Nobody knows what we’re going to do, and by the time they cotton on it’ll be too late. The trees will be gone and the new flats will have a beautiful and – for us – very profitable view of the river.”
“But what if someone challenges us?” asked Mr Wilkes-Cox.
“We show them this piece of paper that says it’s all signed, sealed and approved and that you’ve got permission to cut the trees down. And you have. I signed the form myself. It’s all official; nobody can dispute it. It’s watertight.” Bill Jukes chuckled. “We just don’t want people asking questions in case they get really interested in the tender process. If they do it could come out that it wasn’t legal and that Alicia Swan put in a higher bid and should have got the building, instead of me practically giving it away to you. You know what these Save the Earth types are like; they like a cause to rally around. Once the trees are gone it’ll be plain sailing. So if anyone asks, I’m simply here to make sure the whole operation goes smoothly. And it will, after that very nice back-hander you gave me. It’s going to pay for a holiday villa in Spain.”
Initially it looked as if he was right and everything would go smoothly. The workmen had moved all the equipment into place and everything was set to go. But then they had demanded a tea break. Nobody liked Mr Wilkes-Cox’s blustering, bullying tone. They had sensed that they were involved in something underhand and shady, and they decided to play it for all it was worth. They all disappeared to the café across the road, saying they’d be back in twenty minutes. After a minute or two, Bill Jukes and Mr Wilkes-Cox had joined them as it had started to spit with rain.
Twenty-five minutes later, when nobody had moved, Mr Wilkes-Cox looked at his watch pointedly and announced it was time to make a start. “Or I’ll dock your money. I’m not paying you to sit around in cafés,” he’d said.
The sun had come out and the wind had dropped. They’d all trooped out of the café and back across the road. They heard something before they saw it. It was the distant sound of music and someone drumming, and it became louder and louder as they drew nearer. They hurried down the side of the derelict building and were stopped dead in their tracks by the sight that met their eyes. A look of fury crossed Mr Wilkes-Cox’s face.
A couple of hundred people, most of them children, had surrounded the trees. There were mothers with buggies, and lots of people dancing to Kasha Kasparian’s band. A number of small children were climbing the trees and playing pirates. There was bunting threaded through the top branches of the trees and a banner had been draped between two of the oldest and most beautiful ones saying: “Save Our Trees. Put the Planet before Profit.” Another banner read: “Swans in Solidarity with Trees (and Polar Bears).” A third read: “Any Fool Can Destroy Trees.” Jack had just finished fixing up a zip-wire and a queue of children had already formed to use it, and he was helping them down with the aid of some of the older Swans.
Bill Jukes gulped. Mr Wilkes-Cox turned a dangerous shade of red. He marched towards the trees.
“Oi,” he shouted. “Get out of the way. We’ve got a job to do.” Nobody took a blind bit of notice; few people even heard him. Mr Wilkes-Cox turned an unattractive puce colour.
“Clear off,” he yelled and he ran towards the band and kicked over the drums. The crowd became ominously quiet and everyone turned and stared at him.
“What a baby!” said a woman, making the people around her grin.
“My six-year-old has better manners,” said another woman, and everyone laughed. Aeysha and Georgia clapped and cheered. By now Mr Wilkes-Cox was a ghastly purple.
“Your six-year-old hasn’t got a piece of paper entitling him to cut down these trees,” Mr Wilkes-Cox shouted into her face.
“He wouldn’t want to cut them down. Only an idiot would do that. They’re beautiful,” said the woman.
“They are,” said Jack, moving up very close to Mr Wilkes-Cox. “You clearly don’t understand something a six-year-old would find simple: we don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” Everyone cheered.
Cosi marched right up to Mr Wilkes-Cox and wagged her finger in his face. “What makes you think you’ve got the right to cut down my future and the future
of all the children here?”
“I don’t care about your future, or your children’s children’s future. It’s not my concern. I won’t be around to see it,” said Mr Wilkes-Cox, striding towards one of the diggers. “I’ve got a right to cut down these trees, I’ve got the paper and the official stamp to prove it, and I’m going to start right now.”
“Over my dead body,” said Cosi, sitting down in front of the digger just a few metres from its toothy jaws.
“And mine,” said Kasha, sitting down next to her. He was joined by his friend, Jazz, who was joined by Kylie Morris. They linked arms with Olivia, Georgia and the other Swans. Tom got out his phone and began filming the scene. A couple of other people did the same. Kasha and Jazz began tweeting.
“And mine and my children’s,” said a woman, taking her place with a baby in her arms. Bill Jukes was beginning to look worried. He realised that the situation was getting out of control. He didn’t want anything to draw attention to him or his signature on that piece of paper, and he was worried about the people filming on their mobile phones. If it was discovered that he had taken a bribe from a property developer he’d go to prison. This wasn’t working out quite as he’d hoped it would. Several of the workmen were looking unhappy too.
“We didn’t come here to hurt anyone,” one of them muttered.
“I thought we were just cutting down a few trees,” said another. “Nobody said anything about a load of kids. I’m off.” He turned and walked away and the others followed. Furious, Mr Wilkes-Cox leapt into the cab of a digger and turned the ignition. The machine roared into life and edged menacingly forwards.
“This isn’t a good idea,” shouted Bill Jukes. But Mr Wilkes-Cox ignored him and still the digger edged forwards. The seated crowd began to murmur anxiously, and some of the children burst into tears as the digger crept forwards very slowly towards the people sitting in the front row. Cosi saw what was happening and she started to walk towards the moving digger.
“Cosi!” cried Olivia. Somebody screamed. Mr Wilkes-Cox panicked and fumblingly applied the brake. Cosi stood her ground. She didn’t even step back and the digger stopped just a few centimetres from her toes. Cosi leaned forward against the front of it with her arms folded as if it was the most natural place in the world to stop for a rest. The only way Mr Wilkes-Cox could move the digger forward was by running her over. Kasha was tweeting furiously.
“Get out of my way!” roared Mr Wilkes-Cox. But Cosi just stared him squarely in the eye and didn’t budge. Mr Wilkes-Cox swung down from the cab and moved round towards Cosi, looking as if he might take a swing at her. Cosi didn’t flinch, but Jack stepped in between them. Bill Jukes put a restraining hand on Mr Wilkes-Cox’s shoulder, and at that moment there came a cry of “Doodle doo, cock a doodle doo” from the very top of the tallest tree. It was a most eerie sound. “Doodle doo, cock a doodle doo,” it came again, and as it did a crocodile appeared from the bank of the river behind the trees and moved very fast across the ground straight towards Bill Jukes and Mr Wilkes-Cox. Its monstrous jaws were opening and closing as if it was extremely hungry and urgently in need of a large snack.
A look of horror crossed the men’s faces as the crocodile ignored the rest of the crowd and zoomed straight towards them, its giant mouth wide open. The crocodile looked incredibly realistic, and Bill Jukes and Mr Wilkes-Cox were so terrified that they didn’t notice the odd tick-tock noise that came from its belly, but simply turned on their heels and ran. The crocodile followed close behind them, snapping at their feet. The crowd laughed and clapped, and up at the top of the tree, Cosmo, Tom and Aeysha continued to doodle-doo delightedly. People crowded around Cosi before Kasha and his friends hoisted her on to their shoulders with a big cheer, although Cosi looked terrified to be so far off the ground. Olivia went over to Jack and hugged him.
“Aren’t you pleased that you agreed to go back to the theatre last night to get the crocodile?”
Jack grinned. “It was an inspired idea. I’ll never forget the look on Wilkes-Cox’s face.”
Eel came rushing over to give the remote control back to Jack. “That was such fun!” she said.
“It was,” said Olivia. Kasha lowered Cosi to the ground and Olivia squeezed her hand. “You were so brave, Cosi. You saved the trees. And the Swan.”
“You showed immense courage,” added Jack. “I’m really proud of you, Cosi.”
For a moment Cosi looked as if she was going to cry, and she began to speak. “I’ve been such a coward, I need to tell—” but she was cut off by Cosmo sweeping her up in a massive bear hug and the cheer that went up among the crowd drowned her out anyway. “We saved the trees! We saved the trees!”
“We did,” said Jack quietly. “But for how long?”
“You think they’ll be back?” asked Georgia.
“I know they will,” said Jack. “Mr Wilkes-Cox won’t give up that easily. It’s rather lucky I’ve unexpectedly got a lot of time on my hands.”
“What do you mean?” asked Eel.
“I can conduct my lessons out here. We’ll fix up a swing and a high-wire between the trees,” said Jack. “I’m going to live in the trees.”
“Wow,” said Eel. “Can I live in the trees too?”
“No, you cannot, Eel Marvell,” said Alicia, who had just returned from shopping and come to investigate. “What on earth is going on here? I’ve just seen two men, one who seemed to be Katie Wilkes-Cox’s dad, running down the road looking as if they were being pursued by all the devils in hell.”
“Not devils, Gran. It was just a crocodile,” said Eel, as if this was a perfectly normal thing to happen to anyone in London on a Saturday morning. The band struck up again, Kasha began to sing and the crowd started to dance.
“I think you’d better get the croc back to Pablo at the theatre before anyone realises it’s missing,” said Jack. “Then I’m going to need some help here. Alicia, I’m going to need – among other things – flour. Lots of it. We need to hurry. You and Tom and Cosi and the others need to get to the theatre by late afternoon for the first preview tonight.” Only Jack noticed that Cosi looked as if he had just announced her imminent execution.
Chapter Nineteen
Alicia and Jack were sitting in the lower branches of a large tree drinking tea out of a Thermos. It was late afternoon. Olivia and the others had helped bring him bits of wood and rope from the Swan as well as several hoses and blankets and a sleeping bag before they had gone to the theatre. Jack had been flat out all afternoon and he’d just finished fixing up some wires so he could move between the trees quickly and easily. He’d also borrowed two of Pablo’s trapezes and fixed them to the branches. Some children and their parents were still playing on the zip-wire, and Kylie Morris and her mum had just left after bringing Jack a chocolate cake.
“Have a slice, Alicia, it’s delicious. If I eat all of it, I’ll fall out of the tree.”
Alicia was rather surprised to find herself sat on a branch. She had thought that her tree-climbing days were long over; her arthritis often made it troublesome for her to even get up and down the stairs. But Jack had helped her, found her a cushion so she could rest her back against another branch without falling, and given her a blanket. And although they were only just a metre or two off the ground, Alicia had found the whole experience unexpectedly exhilarating.
“It takes me right back to my childhood. It must be forty years since I last sat in a tree, Jack,” she said. “It’s funny, when you’re a child you never know that you might be doing something for the very last time. You don’t think to yourself, ‘This the last time I climb a tree, or dam a stream or walk along that wall on the way to school.’ We don’t notice adult preoccupations taking over, do we? We feel just the same, but one morning we wake up and we’re quite grown up, and it crept up on us while we had our backs turned.”
Jack nodded. “It’s probably just as well, Alicia, that we don’t notice, otherwise we’d spend our childhood constantly saying goodbye to thin
gs, like you do when you go on holiday. ‘This is the last time I’ll have breakfast here and this is the last time I’ll sleep in this bed.’ If you were always saying goodbye to childhood, you couldn’t really live it; you’d be too self-conscious about it.”
“It’s true,” said Alicia. “But inside I still feel as if I’m twelve, not fifty-two. I don’t know where the time has gone.”
“Alicia,” said Jack softly. “I wish you’d told me about the threatening phone calls. I could have done something to help.”
“I know you would have done, Jack, but I thought they would eventually just stop when I made it quite clear I wouldn’t sell.”
“If you get any more we should call the police.”
“I rather think I might have had the last one,” said Alicia. “It can only be Mr Wilkes-Cox who’s behind them, and now he knows what he’s up against I think he may give up. But I do wonder whether there might be a connection between the calls and the sabotage at the theatre.”
“What an interesting thought,” said Jack.
Alicia smiled. “I bet Mr Wilkes-Cox was mortified to have been outwitted by a bunch of children and a mechanical crocodile.”
“I’m just worried that it might make him more determined to cut down the trees and get his hands on the Swan. I’m not sure you’re right to think this will stop him. He seems like a man who will stop at nothing.”
Just then, Eel, Georgia and Aeysha arrived. They were already dressed to go to the first preview of Peter Pan.
“Are you really going to sleep here tonight, Dad?” asked Eel enviously.
“Not just tonight. Every night, if necessary. What we need is to get some really good publicity for what’s happening here. That’s the way to stop it.”
“Kasha is putting some of the video clips of Cosi facing the bulldozers on YouTube and tweeting about them,” said Georgia.
“That’ll help. The trouble is that if Mr Wilkes-Cox has got permission to cut the trees down then there’s very little we can do about it. We can protest for all we’re worth and mobilise local people, but with the law on his side all we may really be doing is delaying the inevitable. Let’s hope that Katie can provide Liv with some more insider information about her dad’s activities,” said Jack.
