Job Vacancy - 7. JV Chapter 7

When we arrived at the house, it was still dark outside, but the front porch light was on, so I knew that Mrs Hill was awake, and probably making breakfast for everyone. Once the cabs had gone, with a huge pile of luggage at the doorstep, I unlocked the front door, and ushered our mum and my sister inside, while Aiden and I brought all the luggage into the hallway.

Mrs Hill was soon on the scene, and warmly welcomed everyone, and lead the ladies down to the kitchen, while we brought the luggage inside and down the passageway to near the elevator, which was quite a task to complete. In the kitchen, we were all given cups of tea to warm up, along with toast with vegemite, which Mrs Hill had grown a liking to also, which surprised me when I first learnt this.

Once we had warmed up a bit, Mrs Hill took Michaela and Mum up to the second floor, while Aiden and I brought up the luggage, once the lift had returned to the ground floor, and it took three trips to get it all up to that level. I heard Mrs Hill suggest taking the elevator when going upstairs and the stairs going down, so as not to wear out the elevator too much, as they are expensive to repair.

Mum was quite shocked by the size of her bedroom suite, with bathroom and walk-in-robe, and even Michaela’s room was quite large too. I lead Aiden up the stairs to the attic, where his bedroom is located, and although it is smaller than our sister’s room, it was still a good size, and the bathroom was very nice too.

When we checked out the storeroom, we were both surprised to see that it was now a small lounge room, which was quite a surprise for me, as the last time I saw the room it was full of boxes. I suggested to my brother to catch up on a few hours of sleep, and that I would wake up in about three hours.

Mum and Michaela had elected to do the same, so I headed downstairs, and went to my quarters to have a short two-hour nap, to catch up on some sleep too. When my alarm woke me at 9 am, I washed my face and after grabbing a cup of tea, I headed to the main office, just beyond the Drawing Room, to check for emails and any messages.

I found one email from Mr Wright, which I wasn’t expecting. “Hi Davies, Tulloch is missing you already, as he has become a real grouch, laugh out loud. He is working hard, to keep himself from thinking about someone, he has grown quite attached to.

No need to rush back, as Tulloch has everything under control, just send me any information that I need to know, and I will see you back here, for the last week of the tour, starting in Ottawa. Regards Preston Wright.”

After reading the email a second time, I picked up the phone and contacted the travel agent, to alter my travel arrangements back to Canada, with an extra 4 days added in the UK to spend with the family. After going through the rest of the emails, with one being a report from the Canadian Literary agent, stating facts and figures on how well the tour was going, I made notes in the business diary, before shutting off the computer and heading for the kitchen again.

“Ah, there you are, Michaela and Aiden are both looking for you, they are in the courtyard,” Mum said to me when I walked into the kitchen, before Mrs Hill and Mum continued their conversation, so I headed out to the courtyard, where my siblings are sitting at the small round garden table, with Aiden reading a book out loud to Michaela.

I watched for a while, pleased that they were settling in so well, after such a long journey, until Aiden stopped when he saw me, and Michaela jumped up and rushed towards me. “Hello, young lady, did you have a good rest?” I asked as she jumped into my arms, and I swung her around in the air, which made her laugh.

‘Yes, thank you, big brother, now do that again” she responded when I started to put her back down on the ground, so I swung her around again and again until I announced that I had to stop as I was getting too dizzy, and I pretended to stagger around, after putting Michaela back on the ground, which made her laugh some more.

I saw Mum leaning against the door into the kitchen, watching us, smiling happily but also with tears in her eyes, which made me wonder what she was thinking. “Ok you lot of rascals, come inside, as morning tea is ready,” Mum called out, before heading inside again, and we quickly followed. ‘Have you all had a tour of the house yet?” I asked, after eating one biscuit and starting another one.

“No, will you show us where everything is?” Michaela replied, “I sure will little one, just drink up, and finish your snack and we will get started,” I said happily. “I have already shown her and Mum upstairs in the attic, so no need to go up there again,” Aiden commented, after finishing his glass of juice.

“By the way, I am not needed back in Canada right away, so I will be staying an extra four days, and we will be back ten days later, once the tour is over,” I announced. “That is nice dear, but don’t let us drag you away from work,” Mum stated, “It is ok Mum, it was Mr Wright who suggested it, as he has a local literary agent there helping him, and I can easily work from the office here,” I said.

“That is awesome, more time you can spend with us,” Aiden commented happily. “The office, by the way, is off-limits to you two little ones, as it is our place of work, if I am in there, just get Mrs Hill to come and tell me if it is urgent,” I added, and I saw Aiden and Michaela nod their heads in understanding.

Starting from my quarters, I showed my siblings where I live, before going through most of the ground floor, except Mrs Hill’s quarters, the administration office and the three garages at the front, which I was informed are prone to get flooded, so they have remained empty.

Michaela stated that she liked the front sunroom and that she would spend a lot of time in there from now on, while Aiden said he liked the library the most so far. I informed my siblings that apart from using the staircase, all of the first floor is off-limits, as it is the owner’s residence, and he is not to be disturbed when he is in this area of the house.

On the second floor, Michaela and Aiden had already seen the bedrooms, but when I showed them the front recreation lounge, they were very pleased with such a large room, which I said they had free access to, as long as they don’t jump around a lot when the owner is in his residence on the first floor.

Back on the ground floor, I showed them the back way to get to the front garden, so that they won’t drag dirt through the middle of the house on the first floor, as well as from the stairs on the ground floor up to the garden, via the centre passageway. I watched them, as they explored every inch of the front garden, and also check out the view of the River Thames, with boats regularly going past.

Leaving my siblings in the garden, I headed back inside, and into the office, to check emails, and also check on reviews of each city that we had visited so far in the Western half of Canada, with most of the reviews being quite positive, which was very pleased about.

Over the next week, Mum, Aiden and Michaela settled into their new home, with Mum assisting me in the office for half a day in the mornings, and assisting Mrs Hill for the afternoon, with house duties. Apart from managing the day-to-day running of Mr Wright’s business, I managed to arrange for Aiden and Michaela to be enrolled at a nearby co-educational independent school, for 9 to 18-year-olds.

Mum left it up to me to organise it all, and so I joined them, as they went on a school tour, looking at the prospectus, and making the initial applications. After I have flown back to Canada, both Michaela and Aiden would be sitting the common entrance examinations, to see if they are suitable to study at the school.

For Michaela, it was just Mathematics, Science, and English, but for Aiden, who is four years older, his exam will involve Mathematics, Science, English, Geography, History, Religious Studies, European Languages and Latin, of which Aiden only knew basic French and German.

Aiden would be attending Orleans Park School, Twickenham, while Michaela would be attending Orleans Primary School, which is just 240 metres down the road., and it is just over 1.8 kilometres from the house on Friar Lane, Richmond, so it is an easy short distance to school each day.

The day before Mr Wright and I were due to fly back to England, I received a text message from Aiden. “Both of us did well in the exams, we have been offered places at the two schools. When are you coming home? The family is missing you. Aiden.”

I smiled when I read this, and sent a reply, “Well done, both of you, leaving Canada late tomorrow, see you in two days, Big Bro.”

When we arrived back in London, Mr Wright spent five days just relaxing, after an exhausting book tour, while I continued to work in the office dealing with the day-to-day business and handling enquiries, for future media appearances, of which there were quite a few of them.

At the start of a new week, Aiden and Michaela began attending their new schools, and Mr Wright returned to his office, to begin preparations for media appearances, which he decided on what programmes that he would appear on. When he began writing his next book, Mr Wright retreated to the study, behind the library, where it is a lot quieter and less disrupted from the office and the rest of the house.

At the end of their first school day, Michaela and Aiden arrived at the house, entering via the courtyard and kitchen, as instructed, so as not to disturb Mr Wright, and after some afternoon tea, they made their way up to their rooms to change out of their uniforms, and to do their homework, before being permitted to go to the games room on the first floor to play.

When Mum and Mrs Hill returned from a shopping trip, they were a little flustered, and I wondered why. “Be a good man, and inform Sir, that the weather forecast is predicting heavy rain in the upper reaches of the Thames,” Mrs Hill said to me when I finished making a cup of tea when they arrived.

“Anything else I need to know?” I asked, “No, just tell him, he will know what it means, and I will start getting things prepared here,” Mrs Hill replied, and so I did as ask, and headed to the study, to pass on the message. “What does this mean sir?” I asked, straight after.

“It means young man, that we need to get a few things sorted before the heavy rains start here in London,” Mr Wright said as he stood and made his way to the door, heading for the kitchen, with no sign of Mum around. “Did you get extra provisions?” Mr Wright asked his housekeeper.

“Yes sir, I went well above what we usually get each week, plus some more just in case. I even called into a camping store and bought two of those camping toilets, just in case, and I have ordered another three dozen sandbags, which will be delivered before dark this evening,” Mrs Hill replied, and I looked at her and our boss with a frown.

“Let me explain when we have very heavy rain in the upper regions of the Thames, it means that we are likely to have flooding, in the lower reaches of the river, as we are in the high-risk region, and although the front door is a good one metre above the street, this doesn’t mean that water can’t still reach higher than that mark, and in the past, it has.

In the courtyard store room, we have two dozen sandbags, and some heavy-duty plastic, when your Mum gets your brother, I need you both to lay down some plastic, on the street level and weigh it down with four bags, at the steps of the courtyard, then double sandbag the gate, interlocking it with the plastic sheeting.

You will have enough sandbags, to have four layers, which will be about 600mm high. Then do the same thing to the front door to your quarters. The roller door at the front of your lounge, already has a 600mm high waterproof wall, to stop any water seeping into the lounge, so it is just the front entry that we need to worry about.

When the extra sandbags arrive, we will do the same thing with the front door of the house, the back door to the kitchen, and the passageway to the front garages. That will cover all external doors, so we should stay nice and dry, and the only other worry is the drainage systems, which could become blocked,” Mr Wright informed me, and now I was beginning to understand the urgency of it all.

“Just hold off on doing something just yet, I just had an interesting thought,” Mr Wright said as he stepped over to the telephone in the kitchen, and retrieving a business card from his wallet, he dialled the number. “Hello Julian, this is Preston Wright speaking, do you by any chance have four spare concrete barriers available for say a few weeks?” we heard the boss ask on the phone, which had all of us puzzled, as Mum and Aiden entered the kitchen just as the boss asked the question.

“Good, can you have a crane deliver them to my place in Richmond before dark today?” we heard Mr Wright ask, “Excellent, I look forward to seeing you, bye for now,” Mr Wright said before ending the call, and he laughed when he saw all of the puzzled faces looking at him.

“I have a contact, who makes and hires out concrete barriers, the ones you see on streets to stop vehicle access to places, anyway, he is going to deliver some here shortly, so we don’t have to fully rely on sandbags, which can get damaged, and waterlogged, and he is bringing some more of those for us as well,” Mr Wright explained.

Within an hour, as it was starting to get dark, a truck and a crane arrived at the front of the house, where a barrier was placed on the front steps of both doors and pushed up tight against the sandbags and the building. When that was done, extra sandbags were used to fill in all the space between the front door and the barrier.

The 1.5-metre high barrier would now provide an ample barrier against flood waters, with the added protection of the sandbags. Another barrier was placed at the side gate to the rear courtyard, and filled up with sandbags, to make it watertight. The remaining four barriers and sandbags were placed in front of the three garage doors, to reduce flooding inside there, and risking flooding coming into the house that way.

Once all was done, the crane and truck left, with Mr Wright’s friend Julian, invited to stay for dinner. “You know I have a place not that far away too, and I too have placed some barriers in my front doors for flood protection, so we both think alike,” Julian said as we sat down in the drawing room, while we waited for dinner to be ready.

Mr Wright and I filled him in on what happened with the book tour in Canada, and about the added guests in the house, namely my Mum and siblings, and Julian mentioned that he too has guests, with his mother, his much younger brother and his family of two children, staying with him, which is a bit of a squeeze for space, in a three-bedroom home.

After a pleasant meal with Mr Wright’s friend, we said goodnight to him, and he wished us the best of good fortune for minimal flood damage before he drove off to his home.

The following day, after a night of heavy rains, we gathered in the kitchen for breakfast, to listen to the latest weather forecast, with Mr Wright feeling a little under the weather, he had elected to stay in bed, so he was delivered his breakfast.

The forecast was for heavy rain and squally winds for at least three days, which meant that we are more likely to get floods, so Mrs Hill sent Mum, Aiden and I to the local Tesco Supermarket and Whole Foods Markets, to gather extra food supplies.

We also went to the nearest camping store in Chiswick, on the north side of the river, to get additional supplies, including two dozen bags of firewood, kero lamps and bottles of kerosene in case of power outages, and Mr Wright has suggested getting two camping inverter generators, to provide power to the fridges and freezers if the power does go out, plus plenty of long extension cords.

When we returned with all the supplies, which also included 40-litre containers of petrol to run the generators, we began to haul it all inside, having to negotiate the concrete and sandbag barrier at the front gate. While we had been away, Michaela and Mrs Hill had been busy baking, lots of biscuits, bread, and cakes, to keep us well-fed during this crisis, and it looked like that my sister had been enjoying the time in the kitchen.