Frontier - 11. FR Chapter 11

“That is a great game, I will have to challenge you guys one day. How was your afternoon play with the Fenton children?” I asked them.

“Good, but they act like spoilt snobs sometimes,” Jedd said to me, and both boys chuckled.

“Just make sure that you don’t say that outside of this room. They are paying guests remember, so you have to be on your best behaviour. Let me tell you about our first group of guests.

“They were three couples from the USA, and we learnt within 24 hours, that they were bigots and obnoxious. That means they were nasty mean people, and even with what we learnt about them, all the crew remained polite and well mannered, so they had no cause to give us a bad name,” I said to the boys.

“Ok, Anton, we will be good,” Neale said to me with a smile.

I headed up to the fly bridge, to get some fresh air after sorting the confrontation between Simon and Mum.

“What is wrong mate?” Jasper said to me when he saw the look on my face, and I was about to let him know, when the Sat phone rang, and I answered it.

“Hello, Anton. I have just got off the phone with your mother,” Gramps said to me when I answered the call. I let out a groan when I heard that, making Gramps chuckle.

“Your mum, wasn’t too happy when I spoke to her just now. She says you have been taking sides, when a disagreement was happening between her and Simon,” Gramps added.

“Gramps, that is not the case, and I hope that you put her straight on the matter of who is in charge. If she is not prepared to fit in to our already established system…” I said very annoyed. I hung up the phone, too angry to continue the conversation, and I dropped it into the drawer, slamming it shut and storming downstairs.

When I went back down stairs, I found mum arguing with Simon again.

“That is enough arguing, Mum. You have no say in how things are run on board this yacht. You are either to abide by my ruling, or you can go and live with Gramps, and that is final,” I said and I headed back upstairs. I went to the bow of the yacht, to try and clear my head. After about twenty minutes, I made my way up to the fly bridge.

“Jasper, can you please change course for Exmouth. We need to deal with this once and for all,” I said to the skipper, who just nodded his head and did as requested, by adjusting the course direction slightly.

Retrieving the Sat phone again, I dialled Gramps number, before taking a deep breath.

“Hello, Anton. What have you done to your mother? She is very upset,” Gramps said to me.

“We have just changed course. Can you please be in Exmouth in just over 2½ days. I will be dropping mum and the boys off there, before continuing on to Montebello,” I said to Gramps.

“Very well, I will be there, as long as you are sure about this,” Gramps said to me.

“As much as I love my mother, she has caused a lot of friction on the yacht, just in the short time she has been on board. I cannot have crew members arguing constantly, when we have guests on the yacht,” I said to Gramps.

“As you wish, Grandson. You are in charge, so it is your decision,” Gramps said to me.

“Yes, it is my decision. I gave her a chance to work on the yacht at different times to Simon, and I turn my back for a short while, and she is back arguing with Simon again.

“I told her that she is to abide by my ruling or go live with you”, and she decided to continue the arguing. So I have made the decision, that she is to return to the mainland. I haven’t told her that part yet. I will wait till morning, when I have calmed down a bit more. I will see you in Exmouth. Goodnight,” I said to Gramps and ended the call.

Jasper looked at me as I placed the sat phone back in the drawer.

“Am I being too harsh on her?” I said to Jasper, and he remained silent on the matter, so I headed downstairs and went to my cabin on the pontoon.

I must have fallen asleep, as I woke up to the sound of knocking on the hatch door to my cabin.

“It’s me. Can I come in?” I heard Simon’s voice.

“Yes, come in Simon,” I replied and moments later he was seated at the end of my bed. There was a lot of silence for some time, before Simon eventually spoke.

“I am sorry that I have caused all of this trouble with your mother. She is changing everything around, and trying to order me about, and it’s hard to get food prepared for guests, when she is always badgering me,” Simon said.

I could see that he was upset about all of this. I took a deep breath and let it out, before I spoke.

“Look, mate, it is unfortunate that there is a clash of personalities between you and my mother, but just remember that I am the boss, not her, so try not to get too worried about it.

“We have changed course to Exmouth. When we get there she and the two boys will be getting off. My Gramps will be there to meet them. Once breakfast service is over, she will be informed of my decision, and she will have no part of yacht duties from that point on, so just hang in till then, and it will get better once she is gone,” I said to Simon, and I leaned over and gave him a sideways hug.

“Thanks, Boss. That’s good to know. I will see you at the helm at 0100 in the morning,” Simon said with a smile and he left to go to his cabin.

After having a shower, and changing into a fresh uniform, I headed over to the aft main deck, and looked out towards Christmas Island in the darkness. There was a slight moon tonight, which allowed me to see that the seas were a little choppy tonight. I went into the office to check the weather update, and once I had gathered that, I headed upstairs to the fly bridge, where I handed the weather report to Jasper.

“You’re over three hours early for your shift?” Jasper said to me with a smile.

“Simon woke me for a talk. I will be letting my mother know of my decision after breakfast service, so things will get back to normal after that I hope,” I said to the skipper, who just nodded his head in understanding.

After some more silence, Jasper cleared his throat.

“Look I know that you have had a difficult time this past week and a half. Are there any thoughts on what you want to do next year?” Jasper said to me.

“Well, yes, actually. I have been thinking about that a bit. I want to go to university and study either Marine Biology or Oceanography or Veterinary Science. That way I can put the yacht into good use with my additional qualifications,” I replied.

“That is good that you are thinking ahead. Maybe after this charter, we should return to Jurien Bay, so you can finish your high school education first,” Jasper suggested.

“And we can do charters on weekends and holidays,” I added, and Jasper smiled and nodded his head.

“But what about the lads? If you are going back to school, we can’t keep paying them for doing nothing,” Jasper asked.

“That is a problem that I need to sort out. I’m thinking of maybe giving them an extra month’s pay, plus airfares and spending money for their trip home to Canada,” I said to Jasper.

“They won’t be too happy about that, but there is nothing else we can do about it. I think you are right to make that decision,” Jasper replied.

The following morning, after I had finished my shift at the helm, I headed down to the galley to get some breakfast. I was very apprehensive about facing my mother after all of yesterday’s tensions.

“Good morning, Anton. A cup of tea and some toast?” She said to me as I arrived at the bottom of the stairs.

“Good morning, Mother. Yes, and a thin layer of vegemite on the toast please,” I replied to her cautiously.

When my mum had placed the cup and plate in front of me, she turned away then stopped. I could hear her sobbing lightly.

“I am so sorry for the way I behaved yesterday. I guess I have been trying catch up on all the years that I missed seeing you growing up. I understand now, that you are, a bright and responsible young man, and I have been foolish enough to believe that we could continue, where we left off so many years ago. I know now that it is wrong of me to do that,” Mum said to me.

I stood up and approached Mum, and wrapped her in a tight hug. You will always be my mother, but now you have to concentrate on your other two boys, and let me go to achieve whatever I manage to do. I spoke to Gramps last night, he is going to meet you at Exmouth, which is where we are heading now. You can live at the property with Gramps and Isaac at Leeman, and we will see you regularly,” I said to Mum quietly, and I could feel her nodding her head.

Once I had chatted to Mum some more, and eaten my breakfast, I went to my cabin to get some sleep. I passed Simon on the aft deck on the way, to let him know that I had spoken to my mum, and that she would steps aside to let Simon do his job, and only help when asked. When I reached the pontoon, I saw the guest arriving on the main deck for breakfast, and I gave them a wave, before I headed down to my cabin for some sleep.

When I woke up just before noon, I showered and changed, before heading over to the main deck, where the guest children were playing board games with my brothers on the aft deck lounge, while the adults were chatting in the formal lounge.

“Good morning to you all. Did you have a good night’s rest?” I asked.

“Yes thank you, Anton. The children have been going to bed early because of all the activity they do each day, and we have been enjoying the relaxing environment,” George said to me.

“Although we did hear some shouting going on downstairs” Mimi added.

“I must apologies to you about that disruption. We had a bit of a clash of personalities, and it all came to boiling point yesterday, but I am happy to say that all has been sorted, and there will be no repeat incidences of any kind,” I said apologetically.

“That’s good to hear,” George said to me with a smile.

“Now we have a slight amendment to our itinerary. We are currently heading for Exmouth, where my mother and brothers will be departing, so they can spend some time with my grandfather. We will then head to Thevenard Island Resort for three nights.

“From there I can drop you off at Dampier, to fly back to the city, or we will head south west along the coast for 275 kilometres to Coral Bay, where we will spend a day, then further south for 284 kilometres to Monkey Mia, to see the dolphins. Once we have done that, we will head west till we pass Dirk Hartog Island, then head south for 428 kilometres to Kalbarri. We can either drop you off at Kalbarri, or the City of Geraldton, another 145 kilometres south, where there is a main airport, which is about another 4 days after we leave the resort,” I announced to our guests.

“I like the sound of your suggestions, and I think Geraldton will be fine for us to depart from,” Mimi said to me, and I smiled and gave a slight bow, before heading into the office.

“I heard most of that. We will need to get some more supplies in Exmouth, so you may need to…” Jasper said stopping when he heard Suzanne laughing. I headed downstairs to the galley, where Mum was talking with Leon and Kirk, as they prepared lunch for the guests.

I smiled at them, before turning around and heading back up to the office, and outside and up the stairs to the fly bridge.

“I think we have a happy boss’s mother downstairs,” I said to Simon as I stood next to him.

“That is good to hear. What’s happening to cause that?” Simon asked me.

“A bit of gay diplomacy,” I responded and we both laughed. “When we get to Exmouth, we will need to get some supplies, as the guests will be staying with us as far as Geraldton, once we have spent 3 nights at the resort,” I mentioned to Simon.

“I was thinking that this morning, when I had a quick look at our supplies, I will make up a list and phone it through so it’s ready when we arrive, just in case the media gets wind of the Felton’s being in town,” Simon said to me.

For the remaining day and a half of the trip to Exmouth, Simon and my mum’s relationship had improved dramatically, with Simon returning to his role as chief cook, Mum doing breakfast, and she and the lads doing lunch, while Simon was either asleep or on helm duty. Simon informed me that the bill for the groceries at Exmouth would be $650, and that it would be ready for us to collect.

When we arrived at the marina, mid-morning, a taxi bus was waiting on our arrival, and the Fenton family headed off to do some exploring of the region. Meanwhile Simon and I hopped into another taxi, and went directly to the shopping centre, to collect and pay for our groceries, before returning to the yacht, to pack it all away, with the help of the lads. Gramps had arrived by the time we had finished stowing away the supplies, and I said goodbye to Mum and my brothers, handed Gramps an envelope of cash, and they headed off in a taxi. Once they had gone, I returned to town to do a few jobs.

One of the jobs was to organise flights from Geraldton to Perth for the Fenton family as well as flights for Leon and Kirk, to get home to Canada, with a few day’s stopover in Perth, including a day trip to Rottnest Island, and a few days in Sydney, with a day trip to the Blue Mountains and Taronga Zoo.

I returned to the yacht in time for lunch, and there was no sign of our guests.

“Mr Fenton called to let us know they would be having lunch at a resort restaurant, and that they estimate that they would be back by 3pm,” Simon informed me from the fly bridge, after I had looked around the yacht from the main deck. I smiled and headed down to the crew mess to eat, before taking some lunch up to Simon, who was on watch duty. I took over watch as he sat down to eat his lunch.

“Where are the lads?” I asked Simon, curious to know what they were doing.

“Jasper gave them four hour’s shore leave, they will be back at 1500 hours,” Simon said between mouthfuls of salad. I nodded my understanding, and when he had finished his lunch, Simon headed down to the mess to clean up, and to start preparing dinner.

About one hour later, I spotted 2 taxis heading our way, and presumed that it was the lads, but it was the Fenton family and staff. Once they climbed out of the taxis and paid, they began running towards the yacht. Right away I grabbed my phone and dialled Kirk’s mobile number, “Media alert, you need to get back pronto,” I said to Kirk when he answered. The phone went dead soon after, so I guessed that they were on their way.

I hit the galley intercom button. “I need you up here right now, Media Alert,” I said and once again the line went dead. Simon appeared shortly after, and headed to the bow, to untie the forward mooring line, I called Kirk again to find out how far away they were, as the Fenton family clambered on board. “Where are you guys? How long?” I said as soon as Leon answered.

“We are waiting for a taxi. We are at the caravan park near the lighthouse,” Leon said to me.

“Stay there. We will pick you up from there,” I said to him before ending the call.

Simon had just untied the aft mooring line, and I kicked the motor into life, and spun the yacht around, and headed out of the marina, at a higher speed than is usually permitted. Once we were out of the marina, I asked Simon to raise the sails and Jib, as I headed north eastwards away from Exmouth.

“Thank you for the prompt departure. I hope we didn’t spoil any plans,” Mimi said to me with a smile, when she and George appeared on the fly deck.

“Not at all. I just said Media Alert, and that got everyone’s attention, but we are currently minus two crew. The lads are on shore leave. We will pick them up from the beach near the lighthouse,” I said to our guests.

“I’m sorry we cut their leave short,” George announced.

“It is fine, Mr Fenton. It’s all part of the job. By the way, while in Exmouth, I took the liberty to make some arrangements for you.

“I have booked and paid for 1^st class tickets for your family and two staff, from Geraldton to Perth, and 3 night’s accommodation at a 5-star hotel in the city, so you don’t have to run around to get organised. Relax and enjoy Perth and its surroundings with my compliments,” I said to them with a big smile.

“Why, thank you, Anton. That is very generous of you. Here is the $19,200 bank cheque for the additional four days stay on board your yacht, till we get to Geraldton,” George said to me, handing over an envelope.

“Thank you, Sir. Do you require a receipt for the total journey?” I asked.

“Yes, if you don’t mind please,” Mimi’s PA replied with a smile. I pocketed the envelope till I could get to the office to put the cheque in the safe, and to write out a receipt. Once we had travelled 10 kilometres, I changed course to due north, for another 15 kilometres, before changing course to due west. Towards the very top of the Exmouth peninsular.

Two hours after we left the marina at Exmouth, we were now heading south west, directly for the beach, where I could see Kirk and Leon. Simon was now on the aft main deck, having lowered the swim platform and prepared the dinghy for launching.