Twin Change - 1. TC Chapter 1

It looked like each of their destinies, was to take them to separate parts of the word, he was a full-time teacher, and part time jazz musician and she is a full-time concert musician, often travelling around the country and around the world. When they met, 20 – year old Kyle Tobiason had just graduated from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, with a diploma in music and a diploma in primary education and 23 - year old Christina Murchison was in her second year with the Scottish Symphony Orchestra, having graduated from Kings College at London University, with a degree in Music.

Where they met, was on a five-day West Coast Outback Tour, from Perth to Exmouth. Both were on holidays, and they had both decided to spent their holiday in Western Australia. Day one of the tour, was mostly spent getting to know everyone that was on the 4-wheel drive bus journey, that consisted of the bus driver and a tour guide, plus 14 travellers, most of them coming from outside of Australia. The first leg of the journey was from Perth to Jurien Bay, where the tour group visited the sand dunes at Lancelin, the famous Pinnacles desert, exploring the Drovers Cave National Park, and snorkelling around the coral reefs and islands just off shore.

As the first day neared the end, and the group was settling into the backpacker accommodation, near the south end of town, Kyle watched the tall young Scottish lady, with fiery red hair as she chatted with other members of the group. When their eyes met for the first time, Christina gave a big warm smile, which made Kyle’s heart beat harder, and he returned the smile. It wasn’t until sometime later, as the group gathered for dinner, that Kyle plucked up the courage to walk up to Christina and say hello to her, and from that moment on, they were barely apart for the rest of the journey.

Day two, the tour group travelled to Kalbarri, with stops at Stockman’s Gully National Park, Port Dennison in Dongara, Geraldton to see the HMAS Sydney memorial, the town of Northampton, and the Kalbarri National Park. Day three, saw the group travel to Denham and Monkey Mia, to see the famous dolphins, stopping first at Hamlin Pool to see the Stromatolites, at the bottom of Shark Bay. Day four was a longer day of travelling, which ended at the Sheep station of Warroora, located at the south end of the Ningaloo Reef, the station has backpacker accommodation, beautiful white beaches and clear waters ideal for snorkelling.

The final day, the tour group continued north, stopping at Coral Bay for a sail cruise and some snorkelling amongst the Ningaloo Reefs, before making the final stage of the tour to Cape Range National Park and the town of Exmouth. On each day of the tour, Kyle and Christina grew closer and closer, with their shared love for music, and exploring the outdoors, and they managed to be able to share a backpacker room together for the last two days of the tour, and for two more days in Exmouth.

When they went their separate ways, with Kyle catching a flight to Broome, and onto Brisbane and Cairns, while Christina was flying to Kununurra, then onto Darwin, they promised to keep in contact, and to try and work out a way to meet again, before heading back to their homelands. That took place in Sydney a few weeks later, where they booked into the Central YHA hostel together, and spent three wonderful days together, exploring all the sights, including the Opera House, Sydney Harbour, Taronga Zoo, and a day trip out to the Blue Mountains.

When the time came for Christina to catch her flight back home to the UK, and Kyle to catch a flight back to New Zealand, they found it very difficult to part ways, but they knew they had homes and jobs to return to, so they planned to stay in contact, and try and arrange a way to be together again. Once they had arrived at their homes, Christina and Kyle were chatting on skype each day, and with it being 12 – hours’ time difference, it was 7am in the UK and 7pm in Wellington New Zealand, where they had their regular chats.

It was about 3 ½ months after returning from her holiday, that Christina was not feeling very well one Saturday morning, and shortly after finishing her daily chat with Kyle, she dashed to the bathroom to vomit. On hearing this unusual sounds, Christina’s flatmate – Michelle, came rushing to check on her, and seeing how pale she was looking, “Girl you look terrible, I am taking you to the hospital, and no arguments, we are going” She said to Christina.

Two hours later, after the dash to the hospital, a period of waiting, and eventually getting seen by a doctor, Christina received the news that she was over three months pregnant, and expecting twins. This was all very much unexpected, and she knew that Kyle was the father, but she was so shocked and confused, that she had no idea what she wanted to do. The next morning, as she turned on her computer and logged into Skype, she held up the ultra sound photo of the twins, in front of the computer camera, for Kyle to see.

At first it was quite a shock for Kyle, but he was also very happy that he was going to be a dad, and he announced that he would start looking into getting a music teaching job in the UK, so he could be with her and the twins. Six short weeks later, Kyle had packed up his belongings and put most of them into storage at his parent’s place, and he was on his way to the UK, to start a teaching job at a Co-Ed private school in Edinburgh.

Kyle spend three weeks living in a B&B, while he searched for a place to live, that he hoped would be his new home for his family. Christina was away on a short music tour with the orchestra, when he arrived, so he had to wait for nearly two weeks, before he could see her again, and because she was on tour, she was only able to skype with Kyle every second or third day. When they finally got together for dinner, a day after Christina had returned from the tour, Kyle proposed to Christina, and she accepted.

A few days later, they decided that because Kyle’s family was so far away, that they would travel to Wales one weekend, and get married in a small welsh country church, which they did a month later, just after Christina had her six - month pregnancy check - up. Travelling by rail into Wales, where they booked into a hotel, and they were married in a small church on the Saturday afternoon, and on a train back to Edinburgh on the following day.

Christina was able to remain full time at work till she was 7 – months pregnant, before going on maternity leave, and when the twins were born, just three days early than the due date, Christina named their two son’s Finn and Felix. Although Kyle had no say in the decision, he was happy with the names that she chose, and made no protest. With the help of Christina’s parents and Kyle, Christina was able to return to work, just one month after the birth, just when the orchestra was getting busy with a large concert programme planned for the next few months.

This happened to come at the time, when a two-week school holiday was taking place, so Kyle was able to be at home to look after his two wonderful identical sons, who each wore a hand bracelet, to make it easier to identify the twins as they were so alike in all ways. Unfortunately, the pressures of work and looking after the twins, started to put a lot of strain on their marriage, and when the boys were just 18 months old, Christina and Kyle decided to try a separation, to see if that would help improve their relationship.

Christina moved back home to her parent’s place, which wasn’t too far away from their rented flat, and Kyle remained where he was. Both came to an agreement, that the twins would remain with Christina and her parents during the week, and Kyle would get to look after the boys from Friday night till Sunday afternoon, and this appeared to be working out well for everyone, until Kyle’s job at the school was terminated due to funding cuts.

When Kyle notified Christina of his job ending, and that he would have to return home to New Zealand, the problem of the twins was something that neither of them wanted to miss out on helping to bring them up, and after one week of heated discussions, it was Christina’s mother who suggested that they take a twin each, and maybe arrange for an annual family gathering at a neutral location.

Two weeks later, just days after the twins second birthday, Kyle and Finn, boarded a plane bound for New Zealand, via Singapore and Sydney. When they arrived at the Wellington airport, both of them were very tired from the long journey, and Kyle’s parents were there to greet them, and to assist with getting their luggage loaded into the car, along with the booster seat, which Finn sat in for all of the journey. Surprisingly, Kyle managed to cope with the nappy changing, and feeding of his toddler son during the long journey, with the willing assistance of the flight attendants.

Within a week, Kyle and Finn had settled into the family home, with Kyle’s parent’s happy to help with looking after their grandson, while Kyle looked for work. As the weeks passed, the communications, between Kyle and Christina, grew less frequent, until it stopped all together. With both of them very busy with their careers, and looking after a son, they seemed to be happy with the arrangement of having a son each, and there was no point in continuing a conversation, when it’s not needed.

With his parents helping with the child minding, Kyle returned to University to study business management, while working part time as a music teacher at a local school, and when he graduated three years later, Kyle was able to secure a job as an administration clerk, for a large accounting firm, which gave him a much better income from teaching music, so he was able to afford a better - quality education for his son. With Finn now aged four years old, he was attending kindergarten for three - half days each week, here he was socialising with other kids his age. Kyle had made sure that his parents started teaching him numbers and letters from an early age, and that had paid off, as he was doing very well at kindergarten.

Each day, Kyle woke up his son, dressed him and ate breakfast with him, before heading off to work each morning, leaving his parents to look after Finn or get him to kindergarten. Arriving home from after work, Kyle would read a few stories to his son, before a bath and dinner, and one last story as Finn settled into bed for the night, while on weekends, Kyle would take his son to the park, zoo or go on a special trip to the beach. On Friday nights, Kyle would go to a Jazz club, to enjoy a variety of Jazz music, and one night about 3 months later, the hotel owner announced that there would be auditions to fill positions for a new jazz band, and at first Kyle thought nothing of it, but as the end of the auditions neared, he stepped forward to put his name down, and with a borrowed saxophone, he played a small piece of jazz music.

Much to his amazement, Kyle was one of the eleven who auditioned that was selected to go into a second round of auditions to be done the following evening, to select the final 7 members of the new jazz band. On Saturday morning, Kyle’s parents announced that the whole family was going on an overnight trip up the coast, and as much as he wanted to stay home and attend the second auditions, he didn’t want to disappoint his son, and so he said nothing, and helped to prepare for the trip.

When the family returned home late Sunday afternoon, they were tired, but had a wonderful time together, and Kyle had not regretted going, as it was times like these that are most memorable, and he decided to go to the jazz club once a month instead of each week. So, on the evening that he attended the jazz club session, his friends greeted him, happy to see him, and enquired to why he missed the second audition for the second band. Kyle explained that he had a family commitment, so he couldn’t attend, as it was important to him to spend time with his son.

When Kyle arrived at the club a month later, he was informed that one member from the new jazz band had to resign, so they were looking for a replacement Sax player, and Kyle’s friends encouraged him to step up and apply for the position, which he did and was given the job, even though it meant nearly every weekend performing at one or two jazz clubs around the North Island, which Kyle wasn’t too pleased about, but it meant getting a performance fee, which was beneficial for him and his family.

For the next three years, Kyle kept very busy between work, his music commitments and spending time with his son. In that time, he had advance with two promotions at work, which was taking a lot more time away from time with Finn, and eventually he decided that he needed to make some changes, and what was to be his last time with the Jazz band, he announced his resignation, due to increasing work and home commitments.

By now, seven-year old Finn was in 2^nd year in primary school, where he is near top of the class in all subjects, and he showed a high talent for music, Kyle had bought him an electric keyboard for his sixth birthday, and he has been practicing at least an hour each school day. At school, the music room had a baby grand piano, and Finn has individual piano lessons three times a week. Kyle received a report from the music teacher recently, saying that she can no longer teach Finn, as he is well beyond her music abilities, as he can read music very well, and play some very difficult pieces of music.

Wondering if this is the same case for his other son, so Kyle sent an email to his ex-wife. “Dear Christina, I hope that this email finds you and Felix well. I have had Finn taking music lessons since early last year, as he has an aptitude for music, and recently his teacher has informed me that she is no longer able to teach him anymore, as he has gone past her abilities to teach him.

Finn is also near top of the class in all of his other subjects, and I am wondering if this is the same case for Felix, I have attached a recent photograph of Finn, and I hope to receive a photo of Felix in return. Kind regards, Kyle”. The following morning, Kyle was pleased to see that he had received a reply from Christina, “Dear Kyle, I am well thankyou and Felix is doing very well at Grammar School, I have been in a relationship with a wonderful man, and we married last spring.

Please do not contact me again, as I wish to concentrate on my future relationship. I have attached a recent photo of Felix, and seeing the photo you sent me of Finn, they are still identical in looks. Good luck with your future endeavours. Christina”. Kyle was a little surprised by her attitude in not staying in contact with her other son, and looking at the photo that she had attached of Felix, I agreed that they do both look identical. Kyle showed the email and photo of Felix from Christina to his parents, and they too were very surprised to Christina’s attitude, and as they looked at the photo of their other grandson.

After some discussions, Kyle agreed to accept his parents offer to help fund Finn’s private education, and so the search began to look at what schools were available. After weeks of searching, and visits to numerous schools, Kyle and his parents chose Scots College, a private school in Strathmore, that wasn’t too far away from their home in Miramar, and Kyle even liked the idea of attending a more formal school, even if he had to wear a strict uniform.

From the start of 3^rd year, Finn began attending the Scots College, and once again he was doing very well with his grades, he also was doing Music, Art and sports as extra activities, with his grandparents attending all the hockey, athletics and tennis matches, that he competed in, which Kyle attended if his work allowed him to. On his 9^th birthday, on a Saturday in March, a year after starting at his new school, Finn was treated to a large birthday party, which he invited his five closest friends to attend, where they went to the local Water Adventure Park, and everyone had a great time.

Kyle gave his son a laptop computer for his birthday, and installed some programmes, including a number of music programmes and skype, so he can keep in touch with his school buddies, with the condition that he is online when his computer is in the lounge room or dining room at home, or library at school. Soon after Finn’s 10^th birthday, Kyle bought a three-bedroom house in Seatoun, just two suburbs down from his parent’s home, so on school days, Kyle was able to drop Finn off at school, and collect him from his parent’s place, as they would collect him at the end of the school day.

Once day while doing homework on a study period in the school library, Finn decided to do some online research on other school age music prodigies, after learning from his music teacher, that he could become a very successful music artist. It was while doing this that he stumbled across a newspaper article from Scotland in the UK. “Ten year - old child prodigy, wins Glasgow’s junior music competition” was the title of the article. “Felix McDonald, youngest son of Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s very own Christina Murchison and Dr Dougal McDonald, a senior Cardiologist, who attends Hutcheson’s Grammar School, took out the award at the recent at the recent Junior Music Competition, and he is now eligible to compete in the Scottish Junior Music awards later this year”.

Finn nearly fell off his chair, when he saw a photo of the boy standing between his parents, and he was staring at his own picture. Finn did a google search of Felix McDonald, and there are three articles listed, one being the one he had just read, and two others, that were a year and two years old. The first story, had a photo of just Felix on his own, and Finn could see that it looked like him two years ago, except Felix was wearing a kilt. “Eight year - old school boy, wins inter school music talent competition” was the title of the article, and after reading it, he saved both articles to his Favourites list, before going to Google again, and typing in Hutcheson’s Grammar School.

Once he found the school’s main website, Finn clicked on the Primary School link, and then the Arts and Music Link, where he found the email address for the Music Admin department, which he clicked on, which opened up a blank email page. “Dear Sir / Madam, my name is Finn Tobiason, I am ten years old and I live in a suburb of Wellington in New Zealand, and attend Scots College. I recently came across some articles about one of your students – Felix McDonald, who has won some awards.

When I saw the photo of him, I was shocked to see that he is identical in looks to me, I have included a recent school photo of me, when I was performing before my school at assembly recently. If you would be kind enough to pass on this email to him, I would be greatly appreciated. Yours Kindly, Finn Tobiason”, Finn stopped for a few moments and reread what he had typed out, to make sure he had no spelling mistakes, before clicking on the send button.

Once sent, Finn closed down his laptop, and packed it into his backpack, before going to the main library counter, where he asked one of the staff what the time would be now in Scotland, in the UK, and he was informed that there is a 12-hour time difference. Once back at his locker, Finn looked at his watch, which read 2.05pm, so it is very early morning in the UK, so with just a few minutes left before needing to go to his next class, he quickly gathered the books he needed, and headed for his next class.

When he arrived at his grandparent’s home that afternoon, Finn, did as he always does, and sit at the dining table and work on his homework, and every now and then he would glance up at the clock and wished there wasn’t such a large time difference between New Zealand and Scotland. Once again when he arrived at home, having completed his homework, he changed out of his school uniform, and he went out to the back yard, where he lay under a tree and read a book, glancing every now and then at his watch hoping that this boy that looks just like him, will get the email that he had sent.

Before dinner, Finn quickly checked his emails, then realised it was still too early, and just before going to bed he checked them again, but still nothing, and it remained the same for the rest of the week. “Ok young man, you need to explain this sudden change of behaviour that your grandparents and I have noticed, this past week” Kyle said sternly to his son, just as they finished their Friday night dinner, and caught expectantly, Finn did not know what to do or say, as he fiddled with his hands for a while before he realised that he was doing that, and promptly placed them under his legs.