Papa Stour - 16. PS Ch 16

“He is doing fine, now stop fussing and get on with your business,” Aunty Beas interjected from the kitchen, and Robert laughed again. “Always straight to the point, hello Beatrice,” Robert said.

“Right, where was I? Oh yeah, I am sending Mum to Strahan for an unspecified time, depending on how things pan out, I want her to look at a better option for office location, as where it is now is hidden away. Robert, can you tell me who set up the website, and sho has control of it please?” I said.

Robert told me the name of the computer company that hosts the website, and the name of the person, that set it up and manages the website, which is located in Launceston, which I was pleased about, as I can deal with that side of the problem.

“Wait a moment, he is calling me right now,” Robert said and we were put on hold, and we waited for Robert to return to our call. “Hello are you still there?” we heard Robert say, “Yes, go ahead,” Mum responded.

“It appears that the women that Jacques has employed to run the office have just crashed our website, I suggest that you get Jacques there pronto to see what has happened,” Robert said, and I grabbed my spare mobile and dialled the number for the sat phone.

“Hello Jacques speaking, who ever you are, can you please call the police in Strahan, and tell them to get to number 2 Harold Street, Strahan right away,” I heard Jacques say before the phone sounded liked it dropped, and all we could hear was a lot of crashing and banging going on.

Wanting to keep the phone line open, I dashed to the house phone and called the police, and reported an urgent matter happening at the address of the office, and I put the mobile to the phone so the police could hear for themselves.

Once the call to the police had been made we continued to listen to what the sat phone was picking up at the office, and moments later there was a loud shrieking scream that made all of us jump in fright. Robert said that he would call back later when we know a bit more about what was happening, he ended his call, we continued to listen, and suddenly everything went quiet, as we waited to hear what happens next.

After a few minutes we heard footsteps, and the sound of the sat phone being picked up, “Hello, is anyone there?” a male voice asked, “Yes, this is Alexandria Crawford speaking. Business Executive for Tas Adventures,” Mum responded.

“Ms Crawford, I am Officer Liam Dunn, do you have any idea what happened here, there is a man unconscious on the floor, and the place has been ransacked,” the officer asked. “Yes, we have been in contact with Jacques who is the skipper of our Catamaran Yacht, as he was having some issues with the women running the office, I think her name is Angela Prentis,” Mum said.

“The Ambulance is here now, so the gentleman is being looked after, and it looks like he has just regained consciousness,” the officer informed us, “What happened, who are you talking too?” we heard another voice say, “Jacques, this is Edwin speaking, are you ok?” I asked over the phone.

“Yes sir, just a bump on the head, where that crazy woman hit me with something,” Jacques replied, “We will take it from here, thanks, goodbye,” one of the officers said before ending the call. It was nearly two hours later, before we received a call back from Jacques, informing us that he had a check up with the medical centre, and that he only had mild concussion.

He also informed us that Angela Prentis has been arrested and charged with criminal damage, and assault causing grievous bodily harm, and was not allowed bail, and was being sent to the women’s detention centre near Hobart.

Mum informed Jacques that she would be travelling down to Strahan in the morning to try and get things sorted, and try and get a better person to run the office, and Jacques was pleased to hear this.

The next morning as I prepared to go to school, Mum was making sure that she had everything, and I reminded her to take the phone, also to take my laptop computer, so she can use it for work. After saying that, I wondered if I had anything on the computer that Mum would disapprove of, but it was too late to worry about that now.

At lunchtime, the lads and I went outside to eat our lunch, because it was a nice day, and I needed to call Mum. “Tas Adventures, Alex speaking,” Mum said when she answered the call, “Hello Mrs Crawford, can I make a Lunch order please,” I said, “Very funny son, Aunty Bea gave you your lunch, now what are you calling for, if it is about the business, I have everything in order, or getting that way,” Mum said.

“Sounds like I chose the perfect woman for the job,” I replied. “I called in a cleaning team to clean up the mess, and the office is now back to what it was or close to it, and since there is no cruise on for a few days, Jacques has been in here helping me.

I have met all of the crewmembers, who are all very dedicated young people, I have located a better building, that is more out in the open, and it is on the Esplanade, in what used to be the Coffee Shack.

It has been vacant for only a short while, and it will be perfect for the business, and instead of leasing it, I was able to purchase the building outright, which makes it a better outcome in the long term,” Mum announced.

“Sounds good, what do you need to get the place in order, before you can move into the new location?” I asked, “Well a fresh coat of paint, inside and out, and I have asked the local council permission to build a free standing carport at the back of the building, which has been granted,” Mum said.

“Good, I will also arrange for the purchase of a vehicle and have it trucked down to you, which can be shared between you, Charles and Elizabeth. Anything else, just put it on the card, and we will see later if it is a business expense or just a family expense, I will leave it all up to you,” I said to Mum.

“I have one other bit of news, I was peering at a window of a real estate agency, and stumbled across a bit of property that would be an asset to the company, it is a shack & shed located on the shore of Risby Cove, opposite town. Located on the esplanade, number 48 to be exact, it has its own private jetty, so I went ahead and purchased it, and the yacht now has a permanent mooring,” Mum announced.

“That is great news, I have to go now, and finish my lunch before the bell sounds, I will talk to you later,” I said to Mum. Later that afternoon, Mum called me on my mobile, shortly after I walked in the door at home, and we chatted for a good hour about things that Mum wanted me to know.

The website was back up and running again and all of the bookings had been restored, including my two bookings, which I was pleased about, and Mum had found a woman that was almost her age, who wanted to get back into business, now that her children are all grown up and left home.

Beverly sounded like she knew what to do and do it well, and Mum was very happy with her, and together they were working on getting the new premises painted and furnished, ready for the move over to the new office in a few weeks time.

Jacques was happy with the Yacht’s new mooring, and he moved into the shack next to the shed, while the crew elected to stay in their cabins on the yacht when working, as the Cove was a lot smoother than where it was anchored before.

Mum ended up staying at the manor on the weekends, with Charles going to collect her every Friday evening, and after nearly three weeks away, she called the evening before to say that se was ready to come home.

After some continued delays, the house that I bought on the corner of Rosella Road and Jetty Road had finally been settled, and with Mum now back from Strahan, we began the task of beginning to pack for the move.

We spent the whole weekend keeping busy with the occasional stop to allow Mum to talk on the phone with Beverly down at Strahan. Aunty Bea concentrated on carefully packing all of her valuable ornaments that we had collected over the years, and I was assigned to pack my entire bedroom, followed by everything in the store rooms.

By Sunday evening, we were all exhausted, and after a light dinner we retreated to our rooms to rest. Mum had a battle to get me out of bed the next morning, and complaining that was not feeling very well she allowed for me to stay home from school, and she let the lads know when they came to collect me.

During lunch time, I didn’t eat very much and headed back to bed and fell asleep again, as I was a lot tireder than I had thought. By mid afternoon, Mum woke me up with the Doctor standing next to my bed, and he checked me over, and found that I had a slight temperature and nothing more, so I was given a medical certificate to allow me two days off school, to get better.

With packing and moving on hold, until I am better, Mum and Aunty Bea were able to take it easy, and concentrate on looking after me, which started to annoy me with all the fussing. On the Saturday morning, after returning to school for two day, a knock on the front door at 8 am brought a big surprise for us, as a group of men and teenagers stood there.

“What on earth is going on here?” Aunty Bea demanded when she opened the door, just as I was staggering out of my bedroom still in my pyjamas. “Hello Ms Petworth, we have come to assist with the moving, just point us the way, as we will get started,” Tom said.

“Tom, what on earth are you doing here, and… wow, hey Mum, get out here, we have visitors, a whole team of them to help with the move,” I called out to Mum before heading back to my room to get dressed. Both Mum and I reappeared a few moments later, where Tom and Lucas Tucker, Craig and Mr & Mrs Ballard, Brad and Mr & Mrs Cooper were all gathered.

“We have come to help you with the move to your new home, if you will allow us,” Tom announced, “That is very kind of you but who organised this?” Aunty Bea said in response, “My guess is my good three friends here, Aunty Bea,” I said, and all three of them nodded their heads.

“Right, well we have three vehicles all with trailers, so show us were to begin, and we will get started,” Mr Cooper said, and moments later we had people all over the house, helping with packing and loading the boxes onto the trailers.

The first load from each vehicle went in convoy to the new house, with Mum leading the way in her car, and parking near the back of the driveway, which has to entry points, one on each road, since it is a corner block, Mum stood at the back door and directed us to where every box is to go.

Mum and Aunty Bea stayed at the new house to start unpacking while the rest of us headed back for the next load. Leaving the heavy furniture till last, by the time we delivered the second load, we knew that we only needed one last trip to finish the job, and stopping at lunch time after the second trip, I ordered some pizza to feed everyone, although Aunty Bea was a little cross at me for doing so.

After lunch, we finished the last trip of the move, and once all of the heavy furniture was place in their new locations in the house, we thanked everyone for their work today, and let them get back to their weekend.