Outback - 5. OB Chapter 5

The next morning Julia was again sedated, and both patients were loaded onto the plane, Barrett transferred the video clip to the nurses phone, to be handed to the police. They departed just after 6 am.

“Bas,” Matthew informed Bryce, “After my family’s belongings are packed, I will drive back to the city”

At 7am, Bas telephoned his parents in the city. “Hi Mike, I am sorry, but we have had a bit of trouble with Matthew’s family. Julia became very angry and crashed on of the Utes into a building, even though her son was in the car! Barrett was able to get video footage of the event and it was handed to the police for Investigation, because the doctor had to intervene to stop any further injuries to anyone. Both Julia and Christopher were sedated and taken back to the city, this morning.”

“I am sorry too and that you had to deal with it, son” Mike voiced with sadness.

That evening Bas received a call from Matthew, and Matthew apologised for what his wife had done. He apprized Bas that Julia had been charged with drunk driving, endangering the life of a minor and reckless driving causing damage. Matthew said that she has being held in custody because he refused to pay the bail, furthermore he had seen his lawyers, filed for divorce, custody of Christopher, and was granted a restraining order against his wife. He also had called his brother, to tell him of the court outcome and the impending divorce.

After spending a weekend in detention, Julia was horrified when the magistrate agreed with the prosecutor's, that the video footage was enough proof to find her guilty of all three charges, and sentenced her to three years in custody, to serve 18 months before eligible for parole. Furthermore, the magistrate granted the father, Matthew Silverton a divorce and custody of their son Christopher. Matthew was not in court when this was happening, but in a café nearby with Christopher. A telephone call from the lawyer informed him of the magistrate’s decisions.

After Matthew finished the call from the lawyer and turned to Christopher, “Christopher, I need to talk with you.”

Looking a little scared, “Yes daddy” he quivered.

“Son, that was my lawyer telling me about your mother. Because of her actions, she will be in custody for at least 18 months and as long as 3 years. Also, the judge granted me a divorce and he gave me sole custody of you.”

While his father talked, Christopher started to cry, “Daddy I know I’ve been naughty, I’m sorry for being a brat.”

“You know what you have to do now, right?”

“Yes, sir,” Christopher was sniffling, as he try to stop crying. “Apologise to Bas and everyone at the station, for me bad behaviour? Can I send an email?”

“That would be a good start,” Matthew agreed, “I also suggest we make a fresh start, move to a new city, new job for me and new school for him. What do you say?” Realising that he would not be seeing his mother for some time, he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement to the decision.

Back at the station, the mustering team had arrived, and had a day to settle in before the job started. That evening, Bas, Barrett and the mustering contractor manager held a planning meeting in the office, which Bas decided to keep at the village, instead of moving it back to the homestead. However, he decided to move some of his belongings back to the homestead, until he decided what to do when his parents return in two months’ time. He knew he would return to the village in the near future. He was already planning either, to extend the rooms he had at the village, to include a study and a covered patio, or he would have a separate new transportable cabin built behind the admin office, he hadn’t decided which yet.

With the mustering in full swing, Bas ensured all safety precautions had been taken with the new contract crew and the station staff, as he did not want a repeat of last year. He also wanted some additional work done to catch some more of feral camels. The previous group caught had been sold to camel farms around the country. Bas also wanted an idea of numbers of other feral stock, in particular donkeys and goats. Both did a lot of damage to fences and water points around the station. With the additional station staff this year, everything ran a lot smoother with the muster, even with the extra jobs; it was still all completed in six weeks.

After the mustering crew had left the station, and all the cattle to be trucked out had left, the station staff were given four days off to relax. All, but the three brothers, Jake, Chris and Mark, decided to remain on the station. The brothers chose to spend a few days at the nearest town. While they were away, the transportable cottage that Bas had ordered was delivered, and placed behind the admin office and library. The cottage has three bedrooms, a large lounge, a back and a front veranda, with a 50 metre long linking covered walkway to the village lounge. In addition, a large 4-person spa pool also arrived, and was installed alongside the walkway between the cottage and the village lounge. Decking, fencing and trees were established around the new feature. With his parents due home three days after the staff return to work, Bas spent those few days off catching up on admin work, and some relaxing, enjoying the peace and quiet of his retreat.

The peace was interrupted by the arrival of the fortnightly supply and mail truck, which had arrived, a day late. An announcement over the radio from Barrett had announced its arrival, which meant all hands on deck to help. Bas casually got up from the lounge where he was having a leisurely afternoon nap, to make his way to the homestead to assist. His first job was to receive and sort the mail, some for the staff members, but most of it was business mail, all except one letter from overseas, from Liechtenstein. Bas's heart skipped a beat, as he silently stared at the letter for a long time.

Leaving the other mail on the table, Bas slipped the one letter into his pocket, walked out the door, and drove off to the hot spring, where he knew he wouldn't be disturbed.

"My dearest lost son Bryce. How many times I have dreamed of this moment, of writing to you tell you how long I have wanted to hug and kiss my darling first born. I hope this reaches you before your 17th birthday on March 16th, my boy is nearly a grown man, with all my love, I wish you the best birthday wishes ever, and I do hope that we can be together again soon. With all your investigating, I presume you are aware that your dear father passed away, due to a work accident. I also presume that you know you have a tribe of younger brothers and sisters, ha ha.

They are perfect little angels (most of the time), Christine is near 13, Marcus just turned 11, twins Amos and Jonah are nearly 9 and Nadia will be 7 in July. I have made sure they learn English at school, and it is our main language spoken at home, although German is the main language in this country, with Italian as the secondary language. After your father’s death, I returned here to Liechtenstein, as my parents - your grandparents own a small farm, both have passed away now, and with the help of the children, we are keeping it going, but sometimes it’s a real struggle. I hope this letter finds you well and having a good life, I never found out who the couple where that adopted you. I hope they are nice people and that you had a good childhood. I look forward to hearing from you soon darling son, your loving mother, Natalia Murchison."

Bas was not sure how long he sat at the spring after reading the letter a second and third time, it was only when he heard a vehicle approaching at high speed that he snapped out of his daydream. Barrett jumped out of the Ute and walked quickly to his boss, and apologized for the intrusion, but his parent’s vehicle had hit a rogue bull on the road just out of town. He was sorry to inform him that his father was killed, but his mother was alive with minor injuries, and is recovering in hospital. Bas drove back to the compound and went straight to his office in the village. There he telephoned the hospital to get some more information, Bas's call was transferred and his mother answered. She told him, she had a broken leg, some cuts and bruises, that’s all. She started to cry when she said her husband had passed away Bas said he knew and that he was sorry for her loss.

Four days later Bas drove into town to collect his mother from hospital, to attend the funeral of his father, and after an overnight stay at a hotel, they drove back to the station, mostly in silence. As they cross the boundary into the station after nearly 6 hours of driving, Bas pulled over under a tree to stretch his legs for the third time today. Sue asked, “Bas what on your mind? I can see something is up?” as she caught up to him for a brief stroll.

With a big sigh, “Mum, I have been searching for my birth parents for some time now. I received a report back from investigators. They said birth father had died in a work accident two years ago, and that my birth mother is from Liechtenstein, and after her husband’s death she return there. Plus I have 5 younger siblings.”

There was another silence, and then Sue asked, “Have you tried to contact your birth mother?”

Bas sighed again, “Yes, I have been sending letters to a number of newspapers in her country. On the day of your accident last week, I received a letter from her.”

Sue could see that her adopted son was still apprehensive, but decided to let it rest for now. They returned to the vehicle to complete the last hour and a half hour of the journey, with Bas notifying Barrett of their arrival at the station front gate, via radio. The evening before Bas had telephoned Barrett to ask for the homestead to be ready for their arrival, including bringing all of his belongings back to his old room in the homestead. He also asked if Barrett and his family would like to move to the cottage at the village, where they would have more privacy, but also have added responsibilities with taking care of the runway, which Barrett gladly accepted.

When they arrived at the station complex, Barrett and Sarah where at the homestead to greet them. Barrett helped with the luggage, while Sarah helped Sue into the homestead and made a cup of tea, having prepared a light afternoon tea for their arrival. As the four of them sat in the lounge, Derrick and Betty Finch walked into the homestead lounge, followed close behind them were their two boys. Bas introduced the new members of the station staff and their family to Sue, and they chatted for about half an hour before the Finch family excused themselves so they could prepare dinner, while the boys completed their homework.

Bas and his mother sat silently in the lounge for some time, before Sue asked, “Bas, what’s troubling you?”

Bas took some time before he answered. Finally, he asking, “Sue, now that you are back, I would like... no need some time away from the station. I want to make a trip to Europe to visit his birth mother and siblings.

Sue was slow to respond, “Bas, I am glad you found your birth mother and siblings. I think you should go. That it was a great idea to go and visit them.”

“Thanks Sue. Barrett should be able to do most of the admin and managing of the station, while I am away. You would only be needed for approval of any major projects.”

Over the next few weeks while waiting for the passport application to be processed, Bas showed his mother everything that has happened during her absence, including all the building projects, the relocation of the admin office, the accommodation village at the airfield, and the additions to the compound. When Bas had the passport in his possession, a credit card issued in his name, as insisted by his mother, his recently acquired full drivers licence, and all his travel plans were finalised, he was ready to go. Driving down to the roadhouse with Barrett, Bas would catch a bus to the city, while Barrett drove back to the station. After the long trip to the country city and the 6-hour train ride to the capital, Bas had set aside a few days to do a few things before leaving for overseas, the first being to see the family lawyer regarding his fathers will.

At the lawyer’s office, Bas learned that his father had built up quite a big fortune from investments, and the cattle station had been doing very well over the past two decades. Bas learnt that he was to inherit all of the property and fortune of his father, while his mother had a well-financed retirement established, that will make her very comfortable for many years.

After some enquiries, Bas learnt that the two nearest stations to his, plus the next two nearest were all up for sale. He decided to expand the business by purchasing all four properties, with all five stations totalling 6.4 million acres. Bas asked the lawyers to establish a new company specifically for just the 5 stations, keeping the other investments separate. He named the new company - "Murchison Pastoral Investments", with him as managing director, with his mother - Sue, plus Barrett and his wife Sarah as Co-Directors. Bas wanted a survey of the other 4 stations completed by the time he returns, and that it is to consist of quality of fencing, estimates of stock on the land, list of all machinery on each station, and list of housing and other buildings on each station, including what level of condition they are in. Once these plans were finalised, Bas prepared for his first trip overseas. Bas would travel first to Bern in Switzerland, then a short flight to Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, from there he would spend a few days looking around before catching a train south the city of Triesen to the south the town of Garnis, where his mother lives.

Luckily Bas had studied languages during his schooling, learning French, German and Italian, as he found learning languages quite easy, so when he finally arrived in Europe, he had no difficulties in speaking to the locals and understanding them. Bas found Liechtenstein to be a beautiful country. Although he was only planning to spend two days in the capital, he ended staying 4 days longer so he could get to see a lot more. On arrival in Triesen, there was still a lot more to see, so it was another three days before he finally arrived in the town of Garnis. Bas booked into a hotel, and he determined to spend a few days looking around before actually making contact with his mother, who had no idea that he had travelled so far to see them. Bas firstly had a good walk around the town to see what they had; he even passed the local school and wondered if any of them went to that school. Being a Saturday, the schoolyard was empty, so Bas continued to look around. When his tummy growled wanting food, he went to a nice looking café and bakery, on the main street. Ordering a cup of tea and, cake, plus a large salad sandwich, he sat down near the side wall, to watch the people coming and going.

About half an hour later, while finishing his second cup of tea, a middle-aged lady entered with three children in tow, a girl and two boys who looked like twins, this immediately got Bas's attention, as he wondered if it was his mother. He watched her order a few loaves of bread and five small muffins, three that were passed to the three children standing near her. The little girl tugged on her mother’s coat, whispering in her ear when her mother bent down to hear what she had to say. The lady paid for her bread then turned and looked directly at Bas, went ghastly white in the face and fainted. Having already paid for his meal, and not wanting to cause a scene in the café, Bas got up and left, not wanting to cause a scene in the café. Bumping into another boy as he left, Bas said sorry in both English and German and kept walking back towards his hotel.

Looking back briefly, he saw the boy racing towards the woman who fainted and wondered if that was his other brother. It wasn’t exactly how he wanted to meet his birth mother, and once back in his hotel room, he thought back to the events that had just happened. Did the woman faint because she recognised him to be her long lost son?

Bas didn’t know what to do, especially if he was the cause for the woman to faint. How was he going to approach her without upsetting her? Bas decided he would stay in the hotel for the remainder of the day. He would go to church in the morning to contemplate on what to do next, in regarding meeting his birth mother and siblings. However, late in the afternoon, Bas was restless and he needed to take a walk. During this time, he passed the large Protestant Church, and there was a middle-aged gentleman sitting on a garden seat not far away. In his best German, Bas asked if he was the local minister, and if so did he have a few minutes to talk.

The minister took a long hard look at the young man and commented, "Before me sits a young stranger, from a strange land, but somehow he looks very familiar, like I have known him for many years".

Before answering, Bas thought about the minister’s words for a few moments, "That may be very true, if you know a widowed lady by the name of Madam Natalia Murchison".

The ministers face smiled very broadly, and tears welled in his eyes, "It gives me great joy to see that Natalia's long lost son has come to find her. You must be the reason why she fainted in the café earlier today?”

Bas laughed and nodded his head yes, "Sir I was so shocked at what happened I didn’t know what to do but leave and return to my hotel. Maybe you would be able to assist me in meeting her without so much public attention".

The minister smiled and replied that he would gladly do that, and he leading Bas into the cottage next to the church, offering a chair in the lounge room for Bas to sit. He picked up the telephone and dialled a number, "Natalia, its Reverend Mica speaking, I have some information on that gentleman who you saw in the café earlier today, can you come over now on your own.... oh you are... that’s good...ok see you soon, goodbye".

The minister went into the kitchen to put the kettle on, just as he returned, there was a knock at the door, moments later Bas's birth mother walked into the lounge. Bas stood up, walked a few steps closer and said in German, "Hello Mama, I’m your son Bryce, from Australia, I’m sorry to have frightened you earlier today."

Natalia raced into Bas's arms and they hugged for a very long time, Bas soon realised that his mother was quietly weeping on his shoulder. Eventually they separated when they heard the minister place a tray on the table with a fresh pot of tea, before he went outside to continue his gardening. Shortly thereafter, they both sat down, and Bas poured them both a cup of tea.

Changing to English, Natalia asked, “Have you been planning this trip for long?”

Bas said, “Actually, it was last minute decision. After some recent events that happened at the station, I needed a break, and I wanted to meet you so here I am! Are the three children in the café, the twins and Nadia?

Natalia smiled, nodding yes, “And that the boy you bumped into just outside, was Marcus. He said you apologised in English, then very fluent German.”

Bas said, “I was always good at learning languages at school. I studied French, Italian, as well as German.”

Natalia told Bas. “Soon after seeing the advertisement in the local paper, I told the other children that they have an older brother who lives in Australia. They kept on wanting more information about their big brother, but all I could tell them was that you were nearly 18 years old, and adopted out soon after born. When you sent the reply letter, I read the letter aloud to the children after dinner. Since then, they have wanted to hear the letter again every week since.”

Bas laughed. “I have an idea! I will write a letter, telling them a bit more about myself, and then ask them to look out the front window, where I would be waiting.”

Natalia liked the idea and so Bas started writing, then reading it out load for his mother to hear.

"My dear little munchkin sisters and brothers, this is Bryce your big brother from Australia. I was adopted by a wonderful couple who could not have children. They were very kind, generous and loving, but where we live is in a very harsh environment. I live on a cattle station - a very big farm, 940 thousand acres in area. Yes, it is enormous! We have to be very self-sufficient; the station has wind and solar generators for power with backup diesel generators when required. Additionally, we grow a lot of our own fruit and vegetables. We have dairy cows, goats and chickens (we call them chooks). We even have wild camels! My daily routine consists of very early morning starts, mostly at 5am, after feeding the animals including horses. I have breakfast and start school at 7am.

School on a cattle station is called 'School of the Air', because like other station children like me, we speak to a teacher by two way radio, plus we use the fax and now internet do all our school work, it’s also known as home schooling. At noon, we have finished our school for the day. After lunch we have all afternoon to play or in my case to work on the station. I have always been very good with school and have spent the last three years doing a part time college diploma. Recently my adopted father died from a car crash, my adopted mother was injured but she recovered, and recently returned to the station. For the past 6 months, I have been running the station mostly on my own with some assistance from the senior stockman and his wife, and my adopted mum. Is very proud of what I have achieved in that time. I guess you are wondering who that young man was that made your mother faint in the café today. Why not go to the front window and see what’s out there......"