New Beginings - 12. NB Chapter 12

When I arrived in Toodyay the following morning, I walked to the rectory, which I found locked, knowing that Kyle would be at school, and Annette was probably in her office, but after a quick look there, I found that locked too, so I sat down on a bench on the back veranda, and dialled Annette’s mobile number, which went straight to message bank, “Hi Rev, it is me, I have arrived home, and you are no-where to be found, I have left my gear on the back veranda, I will go for a wander around town till you are back” I said and hung up.

I knew I had to go out to the farm to inspect the fire damage, and meet with the insurance assessor, who would be coming up in two day’s time, and I was glad when I spoke to Annette, she agreed to come with me for support, as I was a little uncertain how I would react when I see the burnt ruins of the house and other buildings.

I spent the next three hours wondering around town, waiting for Annette to ring me back, and when she didn’t, I walked back to the rectory I heard activity inside, as I approached the back door, I was glad when I saw Kyle’s face as he was preparing a snack in the kitchen, and I knocked on the window, which made him jump in fright. “thanks for that, just what I needed... not” Kyle said to me as I walked inside, and he gave me a hug.

“Welcome home brother, how was things on the farm in FI?” Kyle said to me with a big smile, “Yes all is good, Tom and Margaret have organised me a Permanent Residency Permit, so I guess you can say I am a Falkland Islander now” I said with a big smile. “That is awesome news, I wish I could go and visit there one day, from the photos you have sent, it looks like an amazing place” Kyle replied.

I sat down at the dining table and Kyle made me a sandwich and poured me a glass of orange juice, and I asked Kyle about how things were going at school. Kyle mentioned that his mum has some news about the music recording we did last year, with a request being made that we do some more recordings at other churches and chapels around the state. “Actually I have an even better idea than that, but lets wait till Rev gets back” I said with a big smile, as I though some more on this idea that was forming.

As I stood up, and made my way to the sink, to place the plate on the bench, I spotted a manila folder that had a photograph peeping out of it, which made me stop dead still. “What is it, what is wrong?” Kyle asked me, “I know we are not to look into anything that is church business, but that photo... it looks like...” I said as I choked up and started to sob.

I reached over and grabbed the photo, and there she was, it was my mother, and the lady next to her, who looked very similar, I thought was my aunty Marie. I held the photo to my chest and started crying as I sank to the floor, leaning against the kitchen cupboards. I don’t know how long I was crying for, but suddenly Annette was sitting beside me trying to comfort me as best as possible.

After some time, I was coaxed off the floor and we sat down on the lounge, where I tried to stop crying. “Whe... where did you get this photo of my mum and aunty Marie” I asked between sobs, and Kyle appeared with a class of water for me, and a damp face flannel to wipe my face. Once I had recovered enough, I asked the question again, “where did you get the photo from?”

“It is quite a long story, but firstly let me ask you a few questions, which may help to clear things up a little, do you remember where your mum and aunty are from?” Annette asked me, and I nodded my head yes as I looked at the photo, of the two young women, aged in their early twenty’s probably. They were born in the UK, and mum met dad, while he was on holidays, my aunty met a foreigner, Italian I think, and they married and moved to Europe, I only met her once, when I was on holidays in Italy when I was 10 years old” I replied.

Annette smiled at me before continuing on, “Your Aunty Marie, did marry a gentleman from Europe, his name was Alexandre, and they had a son first, then twin sons 8 years later, just a year after you met her in Italy, and she died due to difficulties during birth. The twins survived, and we looked after by their paternal grandmother. Suddenly I realised that some of what Rev was saying sounded familiar.

“Hang on a moment, I am a little confused, you are saying Aunty Marie died of child birth difficulties 11 years ago, and that the twins live with their paternal grandmother, and they have a older brother, 8 years older than them?” I asked, and Annette nodded her head, “that sounds very much like what Sebastian told me about his parents, and twin brothers” I said in a confused manner.

Annette passed me a second photograph, it was of Aunty Marie and a boy aged around ten, and he looked just like me, then she passed me another photo, of Aunt Marie, the same boy and a man that I had never met, and suddenly clicked, “Are you telling me that this boy is Sebastian, and that he is Aunt Marie’s oldest son?” I asked Annette, and she smiled and nodded her head yes.

“Holy Cow” I heard Kyle say from near by, “Kyle James Davies, you go and do you homework this moment” Annette snapped at her son, “Oops sorry mum, ok I am going” Kyle replied and he left the lounge room. “The reason that Sebastian has been so persistent in trying to talk to you, is because he is your first cousin, and he would dearly like you to get to know him and his twin brothers. When he learnt from a shop assistant on FI, that you were in church the previous Sunday, he spent the rest of the week looking for you, and he couldn’t get anyone to tell him any more information” Annette said to me and I chuckled.

“That is because we Falkland Islanders don’t like busy body strangers interfering with our lives” I commented, forgetting that Annette didn’t know about my new status on the islands. “Ok I know there is more to that comment, but lets deal with this issue first. When Sebastian couldn’t find you, he caught the next flight out to Chile, and onto Australia, bringing his brothers with him, and five days ago they turned up here, armed with all this evidence as proof of who they are, and the connection with you” Annette said to me.

I was speechless, I didn’t know how to take in all of this news that I was not alone, that I still have family members, and that they have been looking for me. I stared at the photo of Mum and Aunty Marie, and sighed loudly. “So what happens now?” I asked Annette. “Well Sebastian, and his brothers, Louis and Joachim, would like to meet up with you, they are in Perth, staying at a hotel.

“I have to be back at university in a few days time, so it will have to be before then” I eventually said, “How about you take them for a day trip to Rottnest Island” Annette suggested, and after some thought, I nodded my head in agreement. Annette handed me a piece of paper, which had a hotel name on it, and a room number, before she stood up and left the room.

I was not sure what to do, so leaving the note on the lounge seat, I went out the back door to take a walk so I could think about this a little bit, and I ended up spending nearly two hours wandering around town, before I realised that the sun was setting, and it was nearly time for dinner, so I started the walk back to the rectory. “I was beginning to worry about you” Annette said to me as I entered the kitchen via the back door.

“I’m fine, I just needed some time to think all of this through” i replied as I sat down at the table, “Go and wash your hands, dinner is almost ready, and call Kyle too please” Annette said to me with a smile, and I stood up and headed to the bathroom to wash my hands and face. I was halfway through the bathroom door when I suddenly realised that the shower was running.

“Oops sorry mate, dinner is ready” I said as I backed out of the bathroom and closed the door, feeling a little embarresed at walking in when Kyle was in the shower facing towards the door and sporting one very hard penis, which Kyle didn’t even attempt to hide. I went to the laundry and washed my hands there, hearing a squeal coming from the bathroom, due to the sudden change of water temperature.

A few minutes later, Kyle appeared dressed and looking a little annoyed at me, “I will get you back for that brother, you wait” he said to me as he sat down, and I just gave a little smile, as we bowed our heads for the meal blessing, before we ate. “If I do go to Rottnest, will you come with me Kyle?” I asked, “Nope sorry, I have to get everything prepared for school, starting on Monday, and what was that idea you had, when I mentioned the request for doing more recordings at churches around the state” Kyle replied.

“Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that” I said as I turned to look at Annette, “They have had such a positive response from the broadcasts, that they want you boys to do some more recordings” Annette said to me, “I have an slightly different idea on that subject, how about if Kyle and I spend two weeks travelling through New Zealand recording our singing in some of the churches in those countries, there are some magnificent churches over there, and I am happy to cover all of Kyle’s transport and accommodation expenses” I suggested.

“What about food and drinks?” Kyle asked, “oh you will have to go out in the streets and beg for that” I replied with a big smile, which resulted in me receiving a hard kick in the shin in response, which made me lift my leg suddenly, banging the underside of the table, making all of us jump in fright, as the drinks of orange juice splashed all over the table.

I pushed back my chair and rubbed my very sore shin. “Oops, sorry mum” Kyle said with his head looking down, realising that the mess on the table was all his fault, and he tood up and retrieved a dish cloth from the kitchen, to clean up all of the spilt drinks, then top up the three cups with more juice.

“I will think about it, and in the mean time, I expect you to get better than average grades at school, if you want to go on this extra special excursion, which I presume will have to be during the mid year holidays” Annette said to Kyle, “I will mum, I promise, I would love to go to New Zealand with Huon” Kyle said with a big smile. “Can you call Sebastian for me, tell him I am willing to take them on a day trip to Rottnest, and I will meet them at the Ferry terminal in the morning” I asked Annette.

“I should make you do that, but since this is a special case, I will do it for you, just this once” Annette replied with a soft smile, and I nodded my head happy that Rev was doing this for me. After dinner, Annette went into her study, while Kyle and I cleared away the dishes, and stacked them in the dishwasher, and as we finished Annette came out of the study, with her hand held phone against her ear.

“Yes he is here, but he is a little nervous about all of this, it was quite a big shock when he saw the photo of his mum and Aunty Marie” we heard Annette say on the phone, and there was a period of listening befroe she spoke again,”we talked for some time about all of it, before he connected all the dots, and realised, that I was talking about you and your twin brothers... ok hang on let me ask... “Huon, the twins want to speak to you” Annette said to me, as she held the phone out towards me.

Reluctantly at first, I slowly stepped forward and accepted the phone from Rev, who indicated towards the study, but I decided to jsut sit down in the lounge. “Ciao questo è Huon parlare” I said in Italian, which caught Kyle and Annette by surprise. “Ciao Louis e Joachim, è bello parlare con te” I added, and I smiled when I heard the twins squeal in delight, forcing me to hold the phone away from my ear for a moment.

“Come vorresti andare a Rottnest Island per vedere alcuni quokkas?” I said asking the twins if they wanted to go to Rottnest Isalnd to see some quokkas, and I chuckled at their question, what is a quokka? “Una quokka è come un piccolo canguro, ma è molto più piccolo” I replied describing them as being like a little kangaroo, but alot smaller, and their was some more squeals of excitement.

“Passare il telefono al tuo fratello maggiore, così posso parlargli” I said asking the boys to pass the telephone to thier older brother, so I could speak to him. “Ciao Sebastian, organizzo domani per i traghetti per le 9 del mattino, presso il terminale principale del traghetto di Fremantle, ti vedrò lì, e possiamo parlare ancora di più” I said to sebastian, saying that I would arange for the ferry tickets, and that we will meet at 9am tomorrow at the Fremantle Ferry terminal. “Very well, I look forward to spending the day with you my cousin” Sebastian replied in English.

“When did you get so good at speaking Italian?” Kyle asked me once the call had ended, “Well I did learn a bit when I was in Italy with dad, when I was 10 years old, and I took it up as a class in years 7 to 9 at school, so it wasn’t too hard to pick it up, I am also learning Spanish too. We have a Chilean farm hand working on the farm now, his English is ok, but it is easier to give him instructions in his native language” I replied.

“That brings me to what you said earlier, you said We Falkland Islanders” Annette said to me, “Well unknown to me, Tom and Margaret had arranged for me to get a Permanent Residency Permit with the Falkland Island Government, so I am now officially a Falkland Islander” I replied with a smile. “Wow, that is incredible” Kyle said careful not to swear in front of his mother.

“It is, I have been accepted as part of the community, and I have publicly sung once in the cathedral, during church service, but I didn’t hang around for them to work out who I was, only four people know that it was me, and they are keeping it my secret, it is a beautiful cathedral, that has an archway made out of whale bones at the front” I said in reply. It was then that I came up with another idea, but I decided to keep it to myself for a while, and make some enquiries, before I announce it to Annette and Kyle.

The next morning, after having a hot shower and changing into some long shorts, and collared shirt, with sandshoes for footwear, I came out to the kitchen to find Annette busy packing a backpack. “I had Kyle find your camera, so that is in here, along with sunscreen, and some bottles of water, and some snacks, but I guess you will buy more over there, don’t forget your wide brim hat, as it is going to be a hot day today” Annette said to me.

“Actually, I left my hat at the farm, I guess I will have to buy another one” I admitted, and Annette smiled, “Did you arrange the tickets” Annette asked me, “No they were closed by the time I tried to call last night, and I tried calling a few minutes ago, and still no luck, I will have to call them on my way to Fremantle” I replied. “You better hurry if you want to get to Fremantle by 9am, don’t forget to allow for peak traffic, since it is Friday, have you got your wallet and car keys?” Annette said, as she handed me the backpack. I patted my pockets, before nodding yes to the two items being in my pockets, and I was rushed out the door.