‘I wasn’t suggesting that …’ My voice shakes. I’ve lost the crowd. They’re all muttering among themselves about various injustices they’ve faced over the years that I don’t know anything about.
James drapes his good arm around my shoulder, making me jump because I hadn’t heard him get up. He was the last person I expected to stand up for me in this. I’m pretty sure he’d like to never hear the words “Nutcracker Lane” again.
‘What my law-abiding friend here is trying to say is simple – do you want to come back to Nutcracker Lane next year? Do you all want it to still be here?’ His voice is calm and measured, and there’s something about him when he speaks that makes everyone fall silent and listen.
‘Yes,’ comes a collective response.
‘Great, because that’s what we all want.’ He takes his arm from around my shoulders and walks over to the wish-granting nutcracker and points up at it. ‘Do you all remember how the community rallied to bring this guy home once before?’
There’s inconclusive murmuring and James gives a quick recap of the story he told me the other night, and then continues. ‘Nutcracker Lane works on the idea that wishes comes true … Well, they don’t.’
Typical James. He hasn’t changed that much then.
‘We’re all adults here. We know that cracking a nut in this thing’s mouth won’t make it a reality, but we also know that half the power of wishes is the idea of manifesting what you want and working towards it, effectively making your own wish come true. So if we want to save Nutcracker Lane, we can’t just make a wish and stand back to hope for the best. We have to make it come true.’
God, he’s good. Everyone’s gone quiet to listen to him and he doesn’t seem even vaguely perturbed by so many eyes on him. He’s still wearing his Grinch jumper and his arm is back in the sling now, and his hair has fallen to the opposite side than usual like he’s pushed it back a few times. I never expected him to get involved in this. I thought his involvement would end at handing over the nutcrackers, but the fact he’s got up too, and is trying to calm this crowd of people he barely knows, buoys my confidence.
‘We all know that people used to love it, and we all know that in a few years’ time, if it goes, people will reminisce fondly and wish it was still there,’ I say. ‘That interim time is where the magic happens, and we’re currently standing in it. We have a chance to save Nutcracker Lane before people can start reminiscing about the good times when it used to be there.’
‘Exactly,’ James agrees. ‘What if we don’t report equal earnings, but we all earn enough that Scrooge can’t possibly shut us down? What if we all have our best year ever?’ He’s got a sort of authority about him that makes anything sound possible when he says it.
‘I’m in.’ Hubert, bless him, is the first to agree even though he hasn’t got a clue what we’re suggesting yet.
‘If it was that easy, we’d have done it years ago,’ the bloke from the craft shop mutters.
His cutting remarks shook me just now, but James gives him a bright smile. ‘But we’re not talking about years ago. We’re talking about right now. If we have one Christmas left before Scrooge does irreparable damage then we need to make the most of it. If we fail, at least we’ll have tried.’
Craft Shop Man reluctantly mutters something about being “in”.
While I explain a bit about my plan to spread the nutcrackers far and wide, James goes over to the box he left on the bench and gets a handful of nutcrackers out. He gives one to Lily and winks at her as he comes back. I attach a “Save Nutcracker Lane” flag around one’s neck and give another two a string of bunting to hold, joining them together, and explain that we could line our shop windows with these, as well as hiding them in every conceivable place around our county and getting people talking about Nutcracker Lane.
‘A whole new generation of children will be captivated,’ Hubert says excitedly.
‘We could get the newspapers involved!’ Carmen shouts, and I’m glad that we’re on the same page. ‘And the TV cameras!’
‘People will talk about hundreds of nutcrackers popping up around town!’ one of the carol singers shouts.
When I look up at him, James is grinning at me.
‘People will love finding them. Like free Christmas decorations. Kids love that sort of thing. Have you seen how some places hide books for other people to find? It’ll be like that but with nutcrackers!’
‘And we can all take some and distribute them around where we live. We’ll have covered all of Wiltshire in no time!’
James and I share another look. I don’t mention that we’ve already thought of all this stuff because it’s amazing to see everyone getting involved.
‘But we have to work together,’ I say loudly to be heard over the racket as everyone starts chattering between themselves about good places for putting nutcrackers. ‘We have to go back to supporting each other, showcasing each other’s products, talking each other up, helping each other out. We have to show Scrooge that we’re in this together and each and every one of us deserves our place. Even if this fails and we lose Nutcracker Lane, at least we won’t lose the friendships we’ve made here.’
Everyone mumbles an agreement and the group is suddenly filled with hugs and apologies and people saying things like, ‘It’s been so lonely without anyone to have lunch with,’ and ‘I’ll be in first thing tomorrow for a batch of my annual peppermint crèmes. I haven’t known what to do with myself without them this year.’ It warms my heart to the core, and when I look up at James, he’s looking proud and sentimental, and I step
