Olivia and the Movie Stars

by Lyn Gardner

  “Who?” asked Alicia, a picture of innocence. Jon just looked at her. “Olivia went back to the Swan after the interval to see Jack, and I’m afraid you’ve just missed Cosi.”

  “That’s right,” said Jasper. “Cosi was so sorry she had to go without seeing you. She and all the other children have gone to the Swan. But it was such a pleasure acting opposite my daughter tonight. She was flawless.”

  “Yes,” said Alicia. “The whole thing was a triumph. When word gets out, Peter Pan is going to be a smash. You should be delighted, Jon.”

  Jon opened his mouth but at that moment the stage manager arrived and announced that the BBC wanted to interview him straightaway. He left, muttering darkly under his breath.

  “Your Olivia is a fine actress,” said Jasper softly. “So generous too in what she’s done for my daughter tonight. Do you know why she did it?”

  “I can guess but I think you need to ask Cosi that,” said Alicia. Then she added, “You’ve got to let Cosi go, Jasper. She doesn’t want to be part of the Wood family dynasty. Children have to find their own path in the world. You’ll still have Cosmo. He enjoys acting, and he was very good tonight. Almost as good as Livy. He’s come on brilliantly. Set Cosi free and she’ll fly. I’m certain of it.”

  “You’re absolutely right, Alicia,” said Jasper. “I’m beginning to realise I’ve clipped Cosi’s wings too much. She needs her childhood back before it’s gone forever.”

  Alicia smiled. “Now, I must get back to the Swan and find out what’s happening with the trees.”

  “I’ll come with you,” said Jasper. “I want to do anything I can to help.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The bulldozers and diggers rumbled over the uneven ground towards the trees, their bright lights making Jack and Cosi screw up their eyes against the dazzle. They stopped a hundred metres or so from the trees with their engines gently idling. Cosi felt something inside her, a tickle of possibility, as if she was at the start of something completely new in her life.

  “Come down from the trees!” shouted Mr Wilkes-Cox through a loud hailer. “Do not put yourselves at risk. You cannot stop us. We have permission to cut down the trees, and the law is on our side. We will use it if you resist, and you may get hurt. Please come down.”

  “Are you ready, Cosi?” shouted Jack over the noise.

  “Yes!” she shouted back and she felt as if she’d grown to about three times her normal size.

  “I might have to leave you here and use the zip-wires to go and defend other trees, if necessary. There’s only so much we can do from just one tree on our own.”

  “No problem, Jack,” said Cosi. “I’ll be OK here. I know what I’ve got to do.”

  “I am going to count to ten,” shouted Mr Wilkes-Cox. “If you have not come down from the trees by then, the bulldozers will move in.” To Mr Wilkes-Cox’s surprise, Jack and Cosi took up the count. They seemed so confident but how could just one man and a girl defend all those trees by themselves? He had expected that they would give up without a fight when they realised what they were up against, and he was counting on Jack starting to feel very sleepy any time soon.

  “… eight … nine … ten …!” shouted Jack and Cosi in unison with Mr Wilkes-Cox.

  “Come and get us!” called Cosi, laughing loudly like a child playing a game. Mr Wilkes-Cox was so furious that he nodded towards one of the bulldozers, which began edging towards the tree where Cosi and Jack were sitting. That’ll frighten them down, thought Mr Wilkes-Cox. The bulldozer rolled closer.

  “Hold your nerve, Cosi!” warned Jack. The machine moved towards the tree and when it was just a few metres away Cosi and Jack turned on the high-pressure hoses they’d been keeping out of sight and aimed them straight at the windscreen.

  The driver couldn’t see anything and a few seconds later he could see even less as a bag of flour broke against the windscreen and flour splattered everywhere. The bulldozer ground to a halt.

  Mr Wilkes-Cox gritted his teeth and nodded to two of the other diggers. They roared into life and trundled menacingly towards the tree. The same thing happened. This time the drivers leapt out of their cabs only to be drenched with water. They were getting very angry. Three pieces of equipment were now out of commission because of the sticky mix of water and flour across the windscreens. Using the windscreen wipers simply smeared the mess across the glass.

  Mr Wilkes-Cox, drenched and splattered with flour so that he resembled a deranged zombie, retreated a little distance away to where Bill Jukes was standing watching. “There’s only two of them, so they can’t defend every single tree in the line because they haven’t got the reach,” advised Bill. “Try and take out the trees at the far sides.”

  Mr Wilkes-Cox shouted and pointed and one of the diggers headed towards the trees at the far end of the row, beyond where Jack and Cosi’s hosepipes could do any damage. But no sooner had it headed that way than Jack set off on the wires he’d strung over the tops of the trees. Jack was fast and agile while the digger had to negotiate the uneven ground. Jack reached the farthest tree at the same time as the digger and immediately started spraying it with water before following that up with two well-aimed bags of flour. They split across the windscreen in a pleasing exploding-star formation. The driver couldn’t see where he was going so he leapt out of the cab and ran away but not before he too was targeted with flour and water.

  Another digger began to roll towards the tree, while on the far side another was heading towards the tree furthest from Jack, right at the other end of the row. Jack looked around desperately. He couldn’t be in two places at once. Cosi had just disabled another bulldozer but the men were busy washing the gunk off some of the others and they’d soon be back in commission. She was doing a fantastic job in the middle, but she couldn’t get to the far end of the row where a digger had almost reached one of the trees and already had its jaws wide open.

  Jack pelted the nearest digger with flour and turned to start clambering back towards the threatened tree at the other end of the row. An astonishing sight met his eyes. Cosi had leapt off the platform where she’d been standing and was whizzing down the zip-wire to the next one. She landed with a thud, but didn’t stop. She simply picked up the hose resting there and sprayed water all over the digger before landing a bag of flour on its windscreen in a perfect bull’s eye. Jack reached her just as another digger started to approach.

  “I’m so proud of you, Cosi,” he shouted. “That was an amazingly brave thing for someone who is afraid of heights to do.”

  “I remembered what you said, Jack,” gasped Cosi as she flung another bag of flour at the digger. “If you care enough about something you learn to live with your fear and use it to your advantage.”

  Jack looked around. “We’re not going to be able to hold out much longer on our own.”

  “So it’s just as well that the cavalry has arrived,” shouted Cosi as the Swan children, led by Olivia, Tom and Pablo, ran into view and were soon swarming all over the trees.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “I’m afraid,” said Police Inspector Slightly rather sadly, “that I’ve looked at the documents and it appears that Mr Wilkes-Cox and Mr Jukes here are telling the truth. They do have the right to remove these trees. Mr Jukes is in charge of planning and he has approved the application. The papers have an official stamp, which makes it all legal. They are only trying to do what they are entitled to do, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you all to come down from the trees and let them get on with their job.”

  There was real regret in his voice. He thought that the trees were very beautiful, but the law was the law, and although Mr Wilkes-Cox seemed a nasty piece of work and Bill Jukes a little shifty, if they had the law on their side there was nothing he could do to stop them. It was a pity, and what was even more of a pity was that, if the celebrities refused to come down from the trees, he would have to arrest them for obstruction and that would make asking for their autographs a bit tri
cky. Mrs Slightly and the children had been begging him to buy tickets to see that new West End production of Peter Pan, and life might not be worth living if he told them that he had had to arrest the stars and most of the cast. Although she was looking a little dishevelled and covered in flour, he was sure that he also recognised that pretty Chloe Bonar from off the telly too.

  When reinforcements had arrived, in the shape of Olivia and the others, the tide had soon turned. By the time Georgia, Aeysha, Kasha and some of the other Swan pupils turned up, Mr Wilkes-Cox and the diggers were in full retreat. The Swans started celebrating their victory and congratulating Jack and Cosi on doing such a good job.

  “I couldn’t believe it when I saw you on the zip-wire between trees,” said Olivia to Cosi. “You’re a real hero.”

  “She really is,” said Jack and Jasper simultaneously. Cosi’s face lit up with joy to hear her dad talking about her like that.

  Mr Wilkes-Cox was just mounting a second attack when they heard the distant sound of sirens and within seconds three police cars had arrived. The policemen, who had had a long, very tiring day investigating several reports that a crocodile was loose on the streets of London, were rather bemused by the sight that had met their eyes: an entire landscape covered in what looked like flour, a dozen abandoned diggers and bulldozers and lots of people who looked as if they’d just been caught in a sudden snowstorm.

  They had called for reinforcements and Inspector Slightly had arrived shortly afterwards. He had studied the pieces of paper that Mr Wilkes-Cox had thrust into his hand and eventually pronounced that Jack, Olivia and the others must abandon the trees. He was inclined to believe Alicia when she had told him about the threatening phone calls she’d been receiving but she had been unable to provide any evidence. He had no choice but to act within the letter of the law and remove the protestors.

  “No,” cried Cosi, sitting down on a branch. “I won’t move. You’ll have to remove me by force.”

  “Us too,” cried Cosmo and Jasper.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” shouted Tom.

  Jack had his mobile out and was texting furiously. “Who are you texting, Dad?” asked Eel.

  “Some journalists,” said Jack. “I spoke to them this afternoon, and although they said environmental issues weren’t really front-page news they said to get back to them if something big happened. Well, this is as big as it gets: the all-star cast of Peter Pan in a stand-off with the police as they refuse to give way to tree vandals. I can see the headlines now.”

  Inspector Slightly was beginning to look very stressed. He called for back-up and was waiting for it to arrive. It looked as if it might be a long night ahead. He was worried. The law might be the law, but it wouldn’t reflect well on the police if they were seen to be removing children from trees so that those trees could be cut down, particularly as he agreed with the protestors.

  He had a talk with Mr Wilkes-Cox and tried to persuade him that he should abandon his attempt to cut down the trees that night, but the man had been adamant that he wanted to continue. The last straw was when two journalists and a photographer turned up, followed swiftly by a camera crew and TV reporter. The reporter and the journalists had clambered into the trees and were now conducting interviews with Jack, Jasper, Cosi and Cosmo, while the camera crew was filming the children. Eel was performing arabesques while perched on a branch and Tom was doing some daredevil stuff on the zip-wire. Pablo was also attracting a lot of attention by doing a routine on one of the trapezes. Then another TV crew turned up.

  More police arrived, some with dogs. The children started to clap and sing “How Much is That Doggie in the Window?” Kasha kept throwing the dogs treats he kept in his back pocket for his puppy, which just made the animals overexcited. The children had now all linked arms and were singing “It’s a Hard Knock Life – for Trees”, and everyone had clapped and cheered when Ric Nighthall turned up in his Nana costume and made everyone laugh, including all of the policemen, who showed every sign of siding with the children.

  Mr Wilkes-Cox was getting very impatient. He started shouting, “It’s a complete circus!” at Inspector Slightly, who had decided that Mr Wilkes-Cox was deeply unpleasant.

  The inspector sighed again. It was time to stop the mayhem. He picked up the loud hailer so he could be heard over the din and shouted: “Quiet, please! I’m asking you to come down now or I will have no choice but to send my men in to remove you all. I don’t want to do this but you will leave me with no choice. Please come down.”

  The grown-ups looked at each other. It was one thing holding out against Mr Wilkes-Cox, and a completely different one to hold out against the police. They all knew that Inspector Slightly was not bluffing, and they couldn’t put the children at risk. They had made their point, they had done their best, but there was nothing more they could do. The law had got the better of them. Slowly they began to make their way down from the trees, coaxing the children along. Some of the children were crying. Pablo and Tom were helping them down.

  Mr Wilkes-Cox nodded at one of the workmen, who fired up an engine.

  “Mr Wilkes-Cox, please,” said Inspector Slightly firmly. “There are still some children in the trees.” Cosi was sitting on a high branch, sobbing uncontrollably. Jack climbed up towards her.

  “We’ve failed,” she cried. “We’ve let the trees down.”

  “Cosi,” said Jack, “I have to ask you to come down, because that is the responsible thing to do.” Then he grinned at her. “But of course you must make up your own mind what you’re going to do. I can’t order you. You’re not my daughter.”

  She looked at him, then stood up in the tree and cried, “Cock a doodle doo! Cock a doodle doo!”

  Jack slid quickly down the tree and went to talk to Inspector Slightly. “I did my best to persuade her to come down, Inspector, but I think it best if you go up there yourself and talk to her.”

  Inspector Slightly looked up at Cosi. He hadn’t climbed a tree since he was a boy. He put a foot on the lowest branch.

  Mr Wilkes-Cox suddenly completely lost patience. He leapt into the cab of a bulldozer, turned on the engine and started to drive it towards the tree. Everyone scattered, and as the machine rolled forwards, a small figure appeared out of the darkness shouting, “Stop! Stop!” Everyone turned towards the figure, who ran past them all and straight into the path of the bulldozer.

  “Katie!” yelled Mr Wilkes-Cox, jamming the brake on just in time. He jumped out of the cab. “What are you doing here?”

  She ignored him and walked up to Inspector Slightly who was now perched on a tree branch, and thrust some papers into his hand.

  “Read these,” she demanded. Inspector Slightly quickly scanned the documents. “I finally found the password for Dad’s e-mail account. He didn’t outbid Miss Swan for that building; he bribed Bill Jukes to let him have it for almost nothing, and he’s been paying someone to put the frighteners on her too. Even the authorisation to cut down the trees is false.”

  Inspector Slightly had finished scanning the e-mails. He jumped down from the tree and turned to Mr Wilkes-Cox and Bill Jukes. “I am arresting you on charges of conspiracy to defraud, and for bribery, corruption and harassment,” he said. “You must accompany me to the station.”

  A great cheer went up from the crowd. Bill Jukes looked frightened. Mr Wilkes-Cox gave a great roar of rage and then went very quiet. His eyes glittered murderously as he stared at Katie as he was led away. Olivia put her arm around her, and Tom, Aeysha and Georgia all gave her a hug. Alicia came over too, and wrapped her arms around her.

  Up in the tree, Cosi watched the police retreat, gave a great whoop of joy and a cock a doodle doo then started to speed down the zip-wire towards the ground. She misjudged her landing and as she hit the ground there was a loud crack. For a second, her face contorted with pain, and then she said brightly, “Oops! I think I’ve broken my leg.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Not long after the arrests, an ambulanc
e arrived to take Cosi to hospital. Jasper went with her, and Jack, Olivia, Cosmo and Tom followed in a taxi. Cosmo had really wanted Tom to come. It was confirmed by X-ray that Cosi had broken her leg, and the ward sister was astonished when everybody, including Cosi, cheered loudly at the news. She thought these theatre and circus people were very strange. The sister told Jack off again but her eyes were laughing and she blushed as she did it. Jack grinned back.

  While they were waiting for Cosi’s leg to be plastered, Jasper took her hands between his and told her how sorry he was that he had forced her into acting throughout her childhood years.

  “Well, at least I’m out of Peter Pan,” said Cosi cheerfully.

  “You’re out of acting, period, if that’s what you want,” said Jasper. “I was wrong in putting the family name before my family. I’ve not behaved well, but I hope I’ve learned my lesson.” He suddenly looked very sad. “I’ve not told you this before, and I’m not telling you to try and excuse my behaviour but because I want you to understand what motivated me.” He took a deep breath. “It’s because of my brother.”

  “But you always said you were an only child, Dad,” said Cosmo, surprised.

  “I was after the age of eight. I had an elder brother, David. He was the talented one. Everyone said what a great future he had as an actor. He played Peter Pan. He was captivating. He was thirteen when he died in a skating accident. My parents never got over it. He was their pride and joy; he was the one who was going to carry on the Wood family name and become a great actor. Everyone said so. After David died, I vowed to myself that I would do it instead and that my kids would, too. It was a silly promise, and I hope you’ll both forgive me because I can never forgive myself.”

  There was a silence like a sliver of glass, and then Cosi said, “Come here, Dad, and give me a hug.” Jasper moved into her arms and she continued. “I was wrong when I said that you were like Captain Hook. You’re much more like Mr Darling. Mine and Cosmo’s very own Mr Darling.”