Eva's Holiday Read online

  ‘How long have you been here?’ I asked.

  Kate shrugged.

  ‘Dunno, but it was early when I got here. It was still sort of dark.’

  ‘Sort of dark?’

  She gave a tired smile.

  ‘OK, so it was completely dark. I think it was about five o’clock.’

  ‘Didn’t Martha mind you going out so early?’

  Kate shook her head.

  ‘Nah, Martha trusts me not to get into trouble. And I couldn’t take any chances. I know those men are going to come back. So I had to be here. I had to be ready for them.’

  ‘And when they come back, what are you going to do?’

  She shrugged.

  ‘Any bright ideas?’

  I wasn’t sure how to tell her the good news that I didn’t have a single idea, bright or otherwise. But before I could say anything at all, I heard the sound of an engine coming up the hill.

  It was the jeep from the day before, with just Chainsaw Man inside. He climbed out and came over to us. Kate jumped up and threw herself against Jeremy.

  ‘Don’t you dare touch him,’ she hissed.

  ‘So you’re still at this nonsense,’ he said. ‘Well, have fun, because we just have to finish up another job. We’ll be back here by four o’clock this afternoon, and we’re not going to have any messing around. We’re cutting this tree down whether you like it or not.’

  ‘But why?’ I asked. ‘Why are you cutting down this perfectly good, perfectly beautiful tree?’

  ‘Because a man from Dublin has bought this field. He wants to build a holiday home here, but your tree, Jasper, or whatever you call him, is in the way.’

  ‘It’s Jeremy,’ said Kate.

  The man rolled his eyes.

  ‘If you say so,’ he said.

  ‘But it’s a huge field,’ I protested. ‘The man could build his house anywhere else, and the tree could stay. Why does he have to build on this exact spot?’

  The man shrugged.

  ‘I don’t know, do I? I don’t ask questions. I just do my job.’

  ‘Well it’s a horrible job,’ said Kate sulkily.

  The man laughed, but not in a mean way.

  ‘Look girls,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry you’re upset, but do yourselves a big favour and don’t be here when I get back. OK?’

  Neither of us answered, so he gave a big sigh, climbed back into his jeep, and drove off with a loud rev of his engine.

  ‘Now what?’ asked Kate.

  If Kate wanted to know about cool dance moves, or where to buy totally great jeans, and stuff like that, I was her girl.

  When had I become the expert on saving trees from being cut down?

  But then I looked more closely at Kate. Her face was pale, and her eyes were rimmed with red. She looked like her whole world, and not just a tree, was about to come tumbling down.

  And she had no one else to call on. She had no friends, and her only family was an old granny who never seemed to venture outside her own front door.

  So, even though I totally didn’t want to be involved, I knew it was already much, much too late for that.

  ‘Don’t worry, Kate,’ I said. ‘Leave it to me. I’ll think of something.’

  I sat on the rug and thought for ages.

  ‘You should be good at this sort of thing,’ said Kate after a while. ‘Didn’t you say that you helped heaps of people before, when you were trying to do what Madame Margarita said?’

  ‘That was sooo different,’ I said.

  ‘How?’

  ‘I don’t know how. It just was. Now be quiet for a minute and let me think.’

  Kate sat quietly and watched me. Her calm expression made me nervous. I could see that she trusted me completely, even though I had no idea of what to do next.

  ‘The man’s coming back at four o’clock,’ I said after a while.

  Kate made a face.

  ‘We know that, but how does it help us?’

  ‘Because we know that’s how long we’ve got to rustle up some support. Those men won’t listen to you and me, but if there are more people here, they can’t ignore that.’

  Kate smiled, but a second later her smile faded away.

  ‘Who’s going to come here to support us?’

  ‘Maybe some kids from your school?’

  She shook her head violently.

  ‘I’m not popular like you, Eva. Some of the kids in my school call me names and the rest ignore me. None of them would help me.’

  I’d been afraid of that. I should have felt really angry on Kate’s behalf, but there was no time for that. I had to come up with a tree-saving plan.

  ‘Er … maybe my mum and dad would come,’ I said ‘And Joey. And you could go and get Martha.’

  Kate shook her head again.

  ‘Martha wouldn’t come.’

  ‘Er … maybe Cathy and Lily?’

  Now Kate laughed, a loud, scornful laugh.

  ‘No chance. They’d be afraid of damaging their nails, or messing up their hair.’

  She was right, and I felt bad when I realised that up to recently, I’d have been the same.

  Kate folded her arms.

  ‘I’ll stay here and keep watch, in case the men come back early. You go and round up the crowd.’

  I sighed.

  Why did I have to get the hard job?

  I raced back home, and went into the kitchen where Mum, Dad and Joey were still eating their breakfast.

  I told them my story.

  ‘Cooooool,’ said Joey.

  ‘Poor Kate,’ said Mum. ‘We can’t let this happen.’

  ‘I always wanted to be an eco-warrior,’ said Dad. ‘Will I have time to grow a beard?’

  ‘Seriously,’ I said. ‘Who’s going to come and help us?’

  ‘Me,’ shouted Joey. ‘And I’ll bring all my friends.’

  ‘You’ve got friends?’ I asked in amazement.

  Joey ignored my insult.

  ‘Yes, I’ve got heaps. Well three or four anyway. We play soccer on the beach every day. There’s Danny and Simon, and a big guy with red hair – I don’t know his name but I’m too afraid to ask him, and there’s—’

  ‘OK, enough, already,’ I said. ‘I don’t need to know what they’re called.’

  Joey shrugged.

  ‘OK. I’ll just go and ask them to come and help us save the tree.’

  I smiled at him. Who ever would have thought he’d be good for anything?

  ‘I’ll come too,’ said Mum. ‘That poor girl’s been through enough already. Just let me do the washing up first.’

  Dad laughed.

  ‘You’ll save the world, but only once the kitchen’s clean?’

  Mum pretended to punch him.

  ‘Help me, so,’ she said. ‘And then we can get on to the important stuff.’

  ‘What about you, Dad?’ I asked. ‘Will you come and protest?’

  ‘It’s not exactly my idea of a fun day out,’ he said. ‘And I had planned to fix those loose windows at the back of the house, but your mum’s right. We can’t let this happen. So you go back up there and stay with Kate, and we’ll be along in a while.’

  On the way back to the field, I met an old man called Miley, who hangs around near the beach, collecting firewood. I told him the story, and he stood there nodding slowly. I wasn’t sure if he’d understood.

  ‘It’s for Kate,’ I said. ‘We’re doing this for Kate.’ Miley smiled.

  ‘Kate’s a good girl,’ he said.

  ‘So will you come to the big field at three-thirty?’ I asked.

  He just kept nodding his head ever so slowly. I gave up, and continued up the hill.

  ‘Where’s everyone?’ asked Kate when I got back. ‘I thought you were going to bring a crowd of helpers.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ I said, trying to sound confident. ‘They’ll be here. Now just relax for a while. It’s going to be a busy afternoon.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Just after half
past three, Joey arrived with a trail of four little boys behind him. I could have hugged him, but resisted. Kate couldn’t resist though, and Joey pulled away whining, ‘If you’re going to do that soppy kind of stuff, me and the lads are off.’

  I giggled. Kate always seemed so distant, and non-huggable, and I was happy to see a different side to her.

  ‘Don’t worry, Joey,’ I said. ‘Kate just got carried away. It won’t happen again.’

  Joey looked around. ‘So where are the mad men with chainsaws?’

  ‘They’re not here yet,’ I said. ‘But we know they’re coming back, so don’t go away.’

  ‘OK,’ said Joey. ‘Will we climb up the tree to wait for them?’

  ‘And when the men come back we could throw water bombs down on top of them,’ said another boy.

  ‘Or rocks,’ said a red-haired boy.

  I had a horrible feeling he wasn’t joking.

  ‘Great idea,’ I said. ‘That way we’ll save the tree, but we’ll never get to see it because we’ll all be in jail.’

  The poor boy was so embarrassed that his hair and face became almost the same colour.

  I felt sorry for him. ‘I appreciate your enthusiasm,’ I said. ‘But hopefully we can solve this without any violence.’

  Joey stepped forward. ‘Me and the lads will play soccer over here,’ he said. ‘Just call us when you need us.’

  As Joey and his friends walked away, Miley appeared. He was carrying a large, dangerous-looking stick.

  ‘Where do you want me?’ he asked, waving the stick in the air.

  I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

  ‘Just stand over there,’ I said in the end. ‘And when we tell you to….well when we think of something to tell you to do, do it, OK?’

  Miley nodded and went and sat on the grass near the hedge.

  A few minutes later, Mum and Dad arrived. With them were two tall, thin men in hiking gear.

  ‘This is Hans and Friedrich,’ said Mum. ‘They’re tourists from Germany.’

  ‘From Essen,’ said one.

  ‘An industrial city in north part of Germany,’ said the other.

  I looked at Mum trying to ask a question with my eyes.

  Where on earth did you find these two?

  Mum seemed to understand.

  ‘Your dad and I met Hans and Friedrich on the road up here,’ she said. ‘We told them what’s going on, and they said they’d come with us.’

  ‘We are loving the environment,’ said one of them. ‘We are wanting that the trees they are not being cutted down.’

  ‘We are wanting that too,’ I said giggling, but I stopped when I saw that Kate was glaring at me. She was probably right – this was no laughing matter.

  Just then there was the sound of a jeep coming along the road. Everyone stopped talking and turned to look at me.

  It seemed like I was in charge.

  But what on earth was I supposed to do next?

  Long seconds passed, and still everyone was staring at me.

  ‘Er……everyone to their places,’ I said desperately, trying to sound like I had a plan.

  Most people ignored me. Hans stepped forward and spoke politely.

  ‘Where are our places, please?’ he asked.

  How on earth was I supposed to know?

  Suddenly I remembered a TV programme where a group of people were trying to stop developers from knocking down a community centre.

  ‘Er….how about we make a big circle holding hands around the tree?’ I suggested.

  People seemed glad to be doing something, and all the adults shuffled into place, with their backs to the tree. I noticed Mum moving quickly so that she wouldn’t have to hold Miley’s filthy hand. (I didn’t really blame her, but how did she expect to save the world if she only wanted to hold clean hands?)

  Joey and his friends were still playing soccer and ignored my calls. Kate put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly right next to my ear. The boys came running but I wondered if the damage to my hearing was worth it.

  By the time the jeep had stopped at the edge of the field, everyone was in position.

  The battle was on.

  And it looked like I was the commander-in-chief.

  So why did I feel so scared?

  The men climbed out of the jeep and walked slowly towards us. They must have been surprised to see a crowd of people standing holding hands around a tree, like we were doing some crazy kind of dance.

  Miley let go of Dad’s hand, and waved his stick in the air.

  ‘One more step, and I’ll brain the lot of you,’ he said.

  Great.

  Looked like I’d invited the local psychopath to join our peaceful protest.

  The men stopped walking. Chainsaw Man stepped towards Mum.

  ‘You look like a reasonable woman,’ he said.

  (Hah. Clearly he’s never seen her when I leave my clothes on the floor of my bedroom.)

  Mum smiled, like being a reasonable woman was what she’d always dreamed of becoming.

  The man continued, ‘Can’t you talk some sense into these people? The tree has to go, and delaying it isn’t going to help anyone.’

  Mum smiled again. ‘I understand your position, really I do,’ she said. ‘The thing is, I agree with everyone else here. This is the only proper tree for miles around, and I don’t think it should be cut down. So, basically … We’re. Not. Moving.’

  The man stepped backwards.

  ‘OK,’ he said. ‘Looks like the gloves are off. I’m phoning the police.’

  As he spoke, he pulled his mobile phone from his pocket. Before he could dial the number, Joey ran over and tapped him on the arm.

  ‘Hey, Mister,’ he said. ‘Have you got free calls on that phone?’

  ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ asked the man.

  ‘Just, if you haven’t, you’ll be wasting your money, because there’s a big soccer match on in the next village, and all the policemen have gone there. So no one’s going to be available to come here.’

  ‘Unless there’s a murder,’ continued Miley, who looked like he’d be happy to arrange that, no problem.

  Chainsaw Man put his phone back into his pocket and scratched his head.

  I grabbed Joey as he ran back to his friends.

  ‘Well done, kid,’ I said. ‘How did you know about the match?’

  He grinned. ‘There isn’t one. I just made it up so he wouldn’t phone the police.’

  Once again I had to resist the urge to hug him

  When had this boy become so clever and useful?

  Maybe miracles were possible after all.

  Chapter Eighteen

  An hour later, not much had changed.

  Chainsaw Man had made a few phone calls, and now he and his buddies were sitting in their jeep, staring into the field at the rest of us.

  Joey and his friends were playing soccer.

  A farmer had parked his tractor in the lane and had come in to see what was going on. Mum was chatting to him about chickens.

  ‘That’s really interesting,’ I heard her say. ‘I think I might start to keep chickens in the autumn.’

  I giggled. Not long ago, Mum thought of chickens as things that caterers delivered when she was having a fancy dinner party.

  How did she get to the stage where she was thinking of them as things she’d like to have running around her back garden?

  Hans and Friedrich were speaking to each other in German. They were probably wondering how their holiday had turned into some crazy escapade with a bunch of mad Irish people.

  Miley was sitting propped up against Jeremy. His eyes were closed and he was snoring loudly.

  Kate and I were sitting on the rug. I was starting to feel a bit stupid. We were all hanging around ready for a fight, and yet nothing was happening.

  We all jumped at the sudden sound of an engine. It was the jeep starting up, and seconds later it had vanished down the road with the three men inside
it.

  Joey raced over.

  ‘Result,’ he cried. ‘They’re gone. We’ve won.’

  Mum smiled at him.

  ‘I don’t think it’s that simple, Joey,’ she said. ‘They’ve gone for now. But no doubt they’ll be back.’

  ‘Not today,’ said Dad. ‘It’s past their finishing up time. I don’t think anything else is going to happen here today. And besides……there’s this match I want to see, and I know they’re showing it on TV in the pub in the village.’

  ‘Yes, sorry, girls,’ said Mum. ‘I really need to go home and get the tea started.’

  The boys all had to go home too, and Hans and Friedrich realised it was time for them to check in to their Bed and Breakfast.

  The commotion of everyone leaving woke Miley. He jumped up, grabbed his stick and raced down the hill after everyone else.

  The field seemed suddenly quiet with just Kate and me left.

  We sat on the rug, and Kate looked at me, ‘I suppose you’re going away too?’ she said.

  I shook my head, ‘Not yet. I’ll stay until I have to go home for dinner. What about you?’

  ‘I’m staying here,’ she said.

  ‘I know. But until when?’

  She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. We can’t leave Jeremy unguarded. So I’ll stay until the danger is over. For a few days anyway.’

  ‘But you can’t! Where will you sleep?’

  She gave a bigger shrug. ‘I can sleep here. I’ve often done that before.’

  ‘But that was … before … you know … you weren’t on your own then.’

  ‘I know,’ she said fiercely. ‘I was with my dad. But Dad’s not here now is he?’

  I gulped. Kate hardly ever mentioned her dad, and when she did, it always made me feel embarrassed.

  ‘So I’ll have to manage on my own,’ she said, in a quieter voice.

  ‘But you said you had a tent then. You—’

  Suddenly she grabbed my arm. ‘The tent – I forgot I still have it at home. If I get the tent everything will be perfect.’

  She stopped talking and put her head down. ‘But I can’t go and get the tent. I can’t leave Jeremy on his own. He needs me.’