Page 30 of Autumn in Sycamore Park
‘Two coffees, please,’ Jennifer said. ‘We need our fuel before we resume our vigil.’
‘Coming right up.’
They got their coffees and headed back over to the protest. A few more people had shown up. Jennifer was delighted to see the Jarder twins with their dad, Ron, both girls with A4 sheets of paper with pictures of Big Gerry taped to the fronts of their coats. And also there, much to Jennifer’s surprise, was Gavin Gordon with Marlie beside him. He was carrying a wooden sign with All Trees Matter written on it in black marker pen, with a scribbled picture of a tree underneath. He gave Jennifer a shy glance, before throwing a glare at the Jarder twins, as though to warn them not to say anything at school. With her dad’s back turned to talk to someone he knew, Kelly Jarder put a finger to her nose and stuck out her tongue.
‘Good to see the kids getting involved,’ Amy said. ‘Isn’t it—Oh. My. God. I don’t believe it. You’ll never guess who’s here!’
Before Jennifer could turn around, Amy had reached up and slapped hands that smelled of egg over Jennifer’s eyes. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Guess, guess, guess!’
‘Rick?’
‘No!’
‘Old Don Jones?’
‘No!’
‘Michael Jackson?’
‘No, no, no!Look!’
She pulled her hands away and pointed. Jennifer stared. Michael Jackson would have been less of a surprise. Striding through the gates with a scarf tied around his neck and a woolly hat pulled down to his eyebrows, was Greg Downton.
‘Well, perhaps he’s come to offer Big Gerry some divine intervention,’ Amy said. ‘Oh, God, that was good. And, woah, there I go again!’
Downton spotted them, gave them a sour nod, and wandered over. ‘So, this is what you do with your free time, is it? I’ll have to campaign harder for weekend classes.’
‘Are you here to support Big Gerry, Greg?’
Downton shrugged. ‘Cut it down for all I care. I just wanted to see where the festival’s going to be held. I come down here and it’s mayhem. So many tree huggers I’m surprised the thing doesn’t fall down.’
‘It’s not really a hug on a tree that big, though is it?’ Amy said. ‘I mean, your hands can’t touch.’
‘Is that the definition of a hug, is it?’ Jennifer said. ‘Your hands have to touch on the other side?’
‘Of course it is. Otherwise it’s just an embrace. So technically, we’d be tree embracers.’
‘You women are off your nuts,’ Downton said. ‘I suppose that’s what standing out in this cold does to you. Fries your brain.’
Angela came squeezing through the crowd and patted Jennifer on the shoulder. She gave Greg and Amy a quick smile and then said, ‘Regina’s going to speak to the crowd. This should be interesting.’
Over by Big Gerry, Tom had set up a small microphone and amplifier. He helped Regina Clover to stand on a bench right in front of the great tree’s trunk. Regina, a woman who looked well past retirement age and pretty angry about it into the bargain, grumbled about the bench’s unevenness before realising the microphone was already switch on. Then, giving a little cough, she looked up at the crowd.
‘Thank you for coming,’ she said. ‘It’s much appreciated that you all showed up, but what’s more important is how many of Brentwell’s residents didn’t show up. Most of them, actually.’
‘They’ve got to pay their taxes!’ someone shouted.
‘I can tell how much the few of you here love this old lump of collapsing wood,’ Regina continued, ‘but unfortunately times change. While it will be put to a vote, because this is, of course—’ she gave a long sigh, ‘—a democracy, don’t expect to see this tree come spring.’ She gave a little laugh as people booed.
‘Nice fur coat, Cruella!’ someone else shouted.
‘Look on the literal bright side,’ Regina continued. ‘You’ll get a lot more sunlight once this monstrosity is gone.’
As more people booed and hissed, she climbed down from the bench, scowled at the crowd, then walked off in the direction of the north entrance.
Angela grimaced. ‘Short and sour, as ever,’ she said.
