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“Here,” says Jimmy, thrusting something into my hand. It looks like one end of a giant sheet. I take it automatically, still glaring at Mum, who’s deliberately not looking me in the eye.
At least Jett and Violet aren’t here — or Justin Duval, by the looks of things. It seems to just be some crew getting packed up at the end of the day, like Jimmy said.
So that’ssomethingto be grateful for.
“Whatisthis, anyway?” I ask, as Jimmy backs away from me, slowly unfurling the rest of whatever it is. “Whatcan we go ahead with?”
“The protest, o’ course,” shouts Jimmy, who’s now standing a few feet away from me, and obviously thinks I’m as deaf as he is. “Are ye daft?”
“Protest?”
I look at the sheet in my hand, which I suddenly realize has something written on it in large red letters, almost as if it’s been painted in blood.
“JETT CARTER GO HOME,” it says in clumsy capital letters. “YA BIG BAWBAG.”
Good old Highland hospitality; you just can’t beat it.
“Oh my God,” I shriek, dropping my end of the ‘banner’. “Jimmy, what on earth were you thinking? Mum?”
“I didn’t know they were planningthis,” Mum protests, looking surprised. “I saw something about a protest, but I didn’t think they wereserious. Or notthisserious.”
“Of course they’re serious,” I say shrilly, watching as Jimmy rummages around on the forest floor, collecting up his banner. “Well, Jimmy’s serious. He’s been complaining about the film for weeks now.”
“Aye, and I’ll keep on complainin’ until I get them to put a stop to it,” says Jimmy, looking even more wild-eyed than usual. “I’m no’ havin’ this lot disturbing the beasts. Especially now there’s Edna’s Wee Hamish to think about.”
Wee Hamish must be Edna’s lamb, I suppose. I’m too annoyed to have been almost dragged into this ‘protest’ of Jimmy’s, though, to bother congratulating him, so instead I grab the end of the sheet-banner and try to pull it away from him. Behind me, Mum covers her mouth in horror.
“Maybe we should go, Lexie,” she says in a loud whisper, which is almost drowned out by some kind of forklift truck starting up behind us. “Before someone sees us here. I’m starting to think this isn’t a good idea.”
“Oh, are you?” I reply, slightly hysterically. “You’restartingto think that, are you? Well, it’s a shame you didn’t start sooner, then we wouldn’t be here.”
I give the banner a sharp tug, but Jimmy’s surprisingly strong for his age, and he pulls back, almost knocking me off my feet. I immediately retaliate, and within seconds, Jimmy and I are engaged in a spirited tug-of-war with a large white bedsheet, while Mum flaps around us, all of us illuminated by the bright lights still coming from the movie set.
“Stop it, Jimmy,” I shriek, hauling on the bed sheet banner. “This is ridiculous. No one’s going to care about your stupid one-man protest!”
“I’m no’ just one man,” yells back the farmer, with his usual startling lack of logic. “I’m all of us! And if ye send me away now, I’ll just be back tomorrow wi’ reinforcements. I’ll bring the whole village if I have tae! There’s plenty of folk who’d love tae see the back o’ these clowns. Look at the damage they’ve done a’ready!”
I glance over my shoulder in the direction he’s pointing. Behind us, the forklift is busily clearing some felled trees from the area they’ve been filming in. I guess they must have taken them down to create more space. A little further away, the remaining crew have all stopped whatever it was they were doing, and are standing in a group, watching us. One of themhas a large camera on his shoulder which seems to be pointing straight at me and Jimmy.
Great. More bad publicity.
That’s all I need.
Unless…
“I won’t let you close down this movie,” I yell theatrically, doing my best to project my voice, the way I’ve seen Jett do when he’s practicing his lines. “I won’t let you ruin this for Jett! Not while there’s breath in my body!”
There. Putthaton TikTok and see if you can still somehow paint me as the villain.
“The show must go on!” screams Mum wildly, getting into the spirit of things.
Jimmy pulls hard on the bed-sheet. I pull right back. There’s a loud crashing sound from somewhere. I think it might be the blood pounding in my ears.
“Watch out!” shouts someone urgently, from the direction of the crew. “That’s coming down!”
Jimmy and I glare at each other furiously, each just as determined as the other to gain control of the banner.
You’ve finally met your match, Old J. You can’t even curse me, because I’ll just curse you right back.
