Adventures of Devon Carlton - 15. ADC Chapter 15

Devon had gone into the study to call his parents in Australia, to tell them to get Michael and Margaret to cancel their plans to travel to Scotland, as his plans may soon be changing but he didn’t know how or when, so he couldn’t give any more details.

After the phone call, Devon took Adam and Sue Kilthorne down to the duplex, and Sue said it was a lot larger than their current apartment, with this having a large back yard with lawn, while they have a small back courtyard and no room for a garden. Both of them were very happy with the duplex and accepted Devon’s offer to move in, as soon as it is ready for them, Adam gave Devon his list of equipment that he felt was needed to help keep the properties well maintained, and Devon said he would order it right away.

Once back at the cottage Devon said he was going into town for a while, and he would be back in the late afternoon, he suggested they take the buggy down to the back property where there is a bunkhouse, that needs a bit of a tidy up, as he has four guests returning from a bus tour later today, and they are staying for a few more days.

Picking up his mobile and remembering to turn it on, as it has been off since Saturday night, Devon climbed into his car and made his way into town, as his phone beeped 8 times with messages.

Once in town and seated at a café for some brunch, Devon looked at the messages, 5 were from Edgar and he ignored them, the other three were from Robert.

“Hey buddy, been trying to call you since Saturday night, to let you know we are currently in Edinburgh, and we would like to catch up with you, are you able to come down and spend some time with us? Warm Regards, Robert EQD” Devon smiled and decided that he needed to get away for a while so he texts back,

“Hey guys, sorry about being out of contact, a few dramas happening up to this way, yes I would love to come down and see you, give me a few days to get sorted and I will be there, are you at the same hotel? Dev”, as he was eating his brunch, a reply came “Yes, we are” Devon just smiled and kept eating.

From the café, Devon went to the travel agents and arranged five 1st class tickets on the overnight train to Edinburgh, plus three suites at the hotel where his friends are staying, once that was organised he went to the bus terminal to wait for the arrival of his twin brothers and two friends, and he didn’t have to wait long as the bus was 45 minutes early.

On the car trip back to the cottage, Devon told them of the disaster of the past few days, and that the boys were sent home packing with horse included, he told them also that he had arranged a special surprise for them, so when they get back to the Bunkhouse they are to pack their suitcases as they were going on a special journey.

Adam and Sue were still there when they arrived, and as the four guests made their way down to the bunkhouse to pack, Devon informed his two staff of the change of plans, that he was going away for a week or more, and asked them to keep an eye on the property while he was away, and he gave them a copy of the keys for the cottage and bunkhouse, the property gates and sheds, plus the keys to the two duplex units, his mobile phone number and also the number for his parent in Australia, plus 3 week’s pay in advance.

When the guys returned with the car loaded up with their luggage, Devon added his suitcase which he quickly packed with a week’s worth of clothes, and they headed into town and parked in a secure car park not far from the train station.

Devon knew that his brothers and friends were booked onto the same train but in four days’ time, he was able to upgrade it and change the dates easily enough, and they didn’t complain when they learnt they were going, 1st class.

Once their luggage was checked in, and with 4 hours till they had to board the train, they went for a walk around town, had a light snack at a café, did some souvenir shopping and wandered back to the station.

Meanwhile Edgar had borrowed a friend’s push bike at school and ridden to the cottage straight after the end of the last class of the day, and after knocking on the door what seemed like for twenty minutes with no answer, he looked in the gap in the locked garage door to see the car was gone. Edgar pulled out his phone and dialled the number for Mrs Kilthorne.

“Hello this is Edgar, do you know where Devon Carlton is, his home is all locked up and the car is gone,” he asked hoping to get a good reply, “I’m sorry Master Edgar, but Mr Devon has gone away for a week or more. He didn’t say where he was going, or when he would be back, just asked us to look after the place while he was away, I’m sorry that’s all I know, goodbye” she said and hung up the phone not wanting to answer any more questions.

Edgar sat on the side of the laneway crying for some time before his phone rang, and it was his very angry mother, wondering where he was, when Edgar said his location, he was told to get back to the school with his friend’s bike right away.

Instead of doing that Edgar ran down the driveway to the bunkhouse, and lay down in the sheltered part of the lean-too and cried till he eventually fell asleep from exhaustion. When Edgar was eventually found by his parents, the bike was returned to his friend’s place, and they made the drive back to the estate in total silence.

While shopping in Inverness, Devon had purchased a new SIM card for his phone with a new phone number, and once he activated it he sent a text message to EQD, “This is my new phone number, I will be at the hotel tomorrow, see you then, Dev”, next Dev sent a text message to Mitch, Gary, his twin brothers and to Sue Kilthorne, “This is my new phone number, do NOT give it out to anyone without asking me first, Devon”, and all four of them looked at Devon strangely when they read the message.

“I just don’t want to have anything to do with the Carlton cousin, for now, ok, that’s why I changed it”Devon explained, and they nodded acceptance of his explanation. After a very nice dinner, Devon and his brothers and friends went to the lounge where they played some cards and chatted with other passengers, before retiring to their cabins for the night.

Two hours after breakfast the train pulled into Edinburgh central train station and Devon had arranged for a chauffeured minivan to collect them, and take them to the hotel.

The twins were sharing a two bedroom suite and Gary and Mitchell were sharing another suite, while Devon had his own suite between them, as they booked in, Devon was informed that a message was waiting for him, and he was offered an envelope, inside was a complimentary note and written on it was – “We are in suite 446, see you soon buddy, Rob”.

Devon smiled as he slipped the note back into the envelope and handed it to the receptionist, “Can you let them know I will call them once I have settled in please” Devon asked as he made a slight head motion towards the other 4 men standing next to him, and the receptionist nodded and smiled that she understood.

The twin’s and Gary and Mitch were surprised at how luxurious the hotel suites are, where they arrived and took some time looking around their suites, Devon went straight to his phone and asked for Suite 446.

“Hey it's Dev here, can you guys come over to my suite, I have my two best friends and my younger twin brothers visiting, and I would like to spring a surprise on them if you don’t mind,” Devon said as soon as James answered the phone.

James gave a chuckle and repeated the request to the others in the room, “Sure buddy we will be there in a few moments” James replied, “Oh yeah we are on the same floor, Suite 403 is mine, thanks James” Devon said and hung up just seconds before the twins and his friends walked into his suite as he had left the door slightly ajar for them.

They all sat down and chatted excitedly for a while, as they were still amazed at how to flash their rooms are when there was a knock on the door, Devon didn’t bother looking to see who it was he just opened it wide and five young men walked straight in.

With their backs to the door, the guys didn’t know what was going on until Mitchell started to ask as he turned to face Devon, “Hey Dev, who was it at…” Mitchell didn’t finish the sentence as he recognised the 5 young men right away.

Devon gave a chuckle at Mitchell’s sudden stop mid-sentence. “Guys I would like you to meet my good friends, the Celtic boy band, EQD”, Devon announced as the twins turned around to see the visitors and froze in total shock that such a famous band was in the same room as them. Devon chuckled again, “they are not usually this quiet, I guess it was just too much of a surprise,” Devon said to the band members, as Gary and Mitchell finally stood up and walked towards them.

“Hi, I am Mitchell we met some time ago on an island in the Pacific, this is my friend Gary”, Mitch said shaking hands with the five guys again.

“I guess I didn’t expect to see you guys up close again since your tour has been going so well, and you'renow famous worldwide” Gary added as he shook hands.

“These two statues here, are my younger twin brothers, Amos and Flynn,” Devon said directing the band members to the twins still frozen to their seats. The twins squeaked out a hello and shook hands with the band members, before dashing off to get their mobile phones, returning moments later and asking Devon to take a photo of them and the band, which Mitchell happily did.

“Guys I will be back soon, the band wants me to chat with their manager about something, so hang loose till then ok,” Devon said and he followed the band members out of the suite and down the passageway to their suites. Once inside Devon was given a warm bear hug by each of the band members, and he shook the band managers hand, as they all sat down. “Devon as you know we are writing new material for our new album, and we the band want you to be part of it,” Robert said.

“We think we can help you overcome your stage fright and it won’t take long for you to get used to the public life, just remember to always carry your phone with you at all times, and never go out of the hotel on your own, and as you already know we try to use disguises sometimes too” Thomas added.

“Wow guys, I don’t know it’s a tricky decision, sure I don’t have any future plans at the moment, I have just recovered from my two accidents, and this right hand of mine keeps cramping up, so it looks like I’m not going to be an architect anymore, so I guess I can try it and see how it goes, but I want to remain anonymous for a bit longer” Devon said, the band manager stood up and shook Devon’s hand, “Welcome to the band, I sure you will have a grand time” he said with a big smile.

“We have a studio booked, so we can run through all of our current songs with you, so we can work out where to fit you into them, we start at 1 pm today ok,” Hugh said happily, Devon screwed up his face as he knew of a conflict of events happening. David saw this and walked over to Devon, “What’s wrong buddy”he asked Devon who sat down and thought for a moment.

“Well as you know I have my twin brothers and friends staying with me at the moment, they have just 4 more days before they fly to Heathrow and then home to Australia, because of some events happening at my new home in Inverness, I paid for a 4 day bus trip for them to look around Northern Scotland, and now I’m doing it again, abandoning them when they came all this way to spend time with me”, Devon said sadly, and just then his phone beeped.

“Dev, Gary and I are going to do some sightseeing and shopping around Edinburgh, the twins are staying in the hotel, see you for dinner, Mitch”, Devon smiled then a thought came to him.

“Well one problem sorted, Gary and Mitch have gone sightseeing, and I just had a brilliant idea, last week I managed to show the twins that I wasn’t the only talented singer in the family, and we sang Amazing Grace together with a grand piano, and Mitchell had telephoned my parents to let them hear us, and we were a hit with the family, so I was thinking maybe with the studio available is it possible that we could do a recording of us three ?” Devon asked hopefully, and he looked at the band manager for an answer.

“I see no problem with that, if we can do it this morning before lunch, it would be better for the band,” the manager said. Hugh asked Devon for his swipe card for his suite, and Devon passed it to him wondering how the twins would react to being kidnapped by EQD, Thomas was on the phone arranging for the limo to come to the service entrance of the hotel, while David grabbed his bag that contained the bagpipes in it, and they all left the suite.

Hugh, Thomas, Robert and James went to Devon’ suite and soon came back out with two stunned young men, who looked at Devon for some answers and Devon just smiled, as they waited for the elevator to arrive.

After a ten-minute drive, they arrived at the studios, and were escorted to the biggest studio in the building, which they had reserved for two weeks, Amos and Flynn were still a bit shocked and not sure what was happening, and their big brother was refusing to tell them anything, as they stepped into the studio, which has a grand piano in the centre.

“Now guys just like we did in the bunkhouse last week, let’s see if we can do this again, this time we can record it and send it home as a special gift, David will provide the bagpipe music and Thomas is a wiz at the piano, so all we have to do is sing” Devon said to the twins, knowing it was for their mother the twins agreed to do this but were still nervous with the band being there.

After a few attempts, the twins managed to relax, and they tried one more time, this time the band came in with the background harmony, and suddenly the twins were in full voice, and Devon softly dropped out, to let the twins sing the whole 2nd verse on their own, when the song was over, it was the band members and the manager who applauded Devon and the twins, who just went red as a beetroot, because EQD was clapping for them, the studio engineers played back the song, and everyone just listened.

“Wow, that is absolutely magnificent, do you guys know any other songs” Robert asked the twins, who looked at each other before answering at the same time, “There is an Australian song that is well-known thanks to The Seekers, we often sing it when one of us is in the shower and the other is shaving”, Devon laughed as he had seen this occur and admitted he hadn’t taken much notice of the singing because of the noise of the shower and the sink tap running, but he knew the song.

“Guys, I like this song too and I know it, you may have heard it, it’s called; We are Australian,” Devon said as he took over the seat of the piano from Thomas.

“You lead Dev, we will come in soon after,” the twins said and Devon nodded as he paused and tapped his foot gently three times before starting to play. When the song was over, the band members once again applauded, and Dev looked up at the recording room, and the engineer gave your thumbs up, as he rewound the tape and pressed play, Devon picked up a slight mistake, and asked if they can rerecord it, and the engineer nodded, before Devon asked the band to do harmony on the short chorus, and they agreed.

The second attempt was much better and sounded a lot better with the band included as backup harmony, and listening to the playback, it sounded perfect, so it was set as the master, and copied onto a few disks, so the twins could take a copy home, the band has a copy and Devon has a copy. Returning to the hotel for some lunch, in the band’s suite, they happily chatted as they ate, and the twins were feeling a lot more relaxed around the band members, who each autographed the CD Disk of the latest recording.

Meanwhile in one of the bedrooms, Thomas was on his laptop computer, where he had loaded the two recordings, then signed into the EQD account for I-Tunes, and loaded the songs online – “EQD Supporting the Carlton Trio” was the title that he made to the two new releases, and when he came back into the main room, he smiled and nodded to Robert, to say that it was done.

After lunch, the twins decided to go and do some shopping and sightseeing of their own, while Devon would be busy in the studio with the band, and so they made the journey back to the studio in the Limo, to start working on their next album, as three songs had already been written.

They went through all of their old songs, to see which songs best suited Devon’s voice, and selected five that were the best ones, plus two of the new songs also. At 8 pm the exhausted band members returned to the hotel, and retreated to their rooms for some much-needed rest, except for Devon who was interrupted from going to sleep when the twins knocked on his door.

“Have you heard it, it’s great, and it reached No 10 on I-Tunes in just 6 hours since release?” the twins said at the same time, which confused Devon more as he had no idea what they were talking about. Flynn went over to the television and turned it on and adjusted the channel till he found a news channel broadcasting entertainment news.

“The latest I-Tunes release from Celtic boy band EQD, has sparked a rush of purchases for their new supporting role, for the group known as the Carlton Trio, nothing is known about this new group, and it is suspected that maybe one of these members, is the mysterious guest singer, EQD has had to perform for them at a number of their concerts, we wait in anticipation for more news” the reporter said.