Another Brother - 3. Bro Ch 3

A few days later at Gran’s funeral, which the lawyer had informed me had been pre paid, with all the arrangements been made by Gran in advance, there were about a dozen elderly people that I did not know, but guessed were friends of Gran’s. The only other people to attend, were Mr & Mrs Castalia, a very frail looking and wheelchair bound Mr Perugino, Mrs Young from the school, George, Toby, Margaret, Samantha and Julia, my Uncle Henry and Aunt Kitty, and my little brother Oscar, who looked very sick looking and rather skinny and frail, which was a big shock to me.

The funeral was short and simple, and once it was over, condolences were given to me and my brother and other relatives, and while this was happening, I had the first chance to finally stand right next to Oscar, and I grabbed his hand and held onto it, as he tried to fight back tears.

When I saw my Aunt and Uncle approaching, I quickly wrapped Oscar in a firm hug, “Listen to me bro, I am going to see to it that you get properly looked after, as it is clear that it is not happening at our relatives place, do you still have your mobile phone?” I whispered into his ear quietly.

“No, they took it from me, and won’t let me have it back. Our cousins keep a very close eye on me at school and report back to their parent, if I am seen having fun with friends, or talking about them, and I get punished if they see hear about this,” Oscar quietly replied.

“Stay strong bro, we will get through this together,” I said out loud for all to hear after taking a step back from my brother, and he was immediately snatched away by our uncle and pushed behind him. “Stay away from him, he is not your concern, he is our responsibility, and we do not want you medalling in our affairs,” Uncle Frank growled at me, after checking to see that no one else was in hearing range.

“Mr and Mrs Kimbolton, I am Stephen Master’s the attorney handling the late Mrs Newbury’s estate,” the lawyer said as he approached, and they shook hands, before Mr Master’s turned to me, “Austin, how are things going at your new home, all good I hope?” he said to me, and I smiled and nodded my head yes.

“Your nephew is currently in good care staying with friends, at his request, until he reaches the age of eighteen, now if we may all go into the small meeting room next door, we will read the will of the late Mrs Angela Newbury,” Mr Masters said, and he indicated to the adjoining room. I waited until my Uncle, Aunt and Brother were well out of hearing range, and placed a hand on Mr Master’s arm, to indicate that I wanted him to stay back for a moment.

“I am not sure what is going on, but my brother Oscar, does not look at all well, since I last saw him at our parents funeral. I would like you to make some informal enquiries in regards to how Oscar is being looked after, get children services in if need be, as I think he is being neglected,” I whispered to the lawyer, who nodded his head in understanding.

“What do you mean there is nothing for us, and what about the piano and all the antique furniture in the house, and why is it being held in trust, why not sell the damn place,” Uncle Frank boomed at the top of his voice in anger, on hearing the news that they would not be getting anything from Gran.

“As the terms of the will states, everything goes to Austin and Oscar, once they have each turned 18 years old, and since you are both not blood relatives to the late Mrs Newbury, you are not entitled to anything, apart from what you are already receiving from the boy’s mother’s estate to look after the boys until they turn 18.

Since Austin is not living with you, that leaves you just the small income to cover food, clothes and other essentials for Oscar only. Now that their grandmother has passed away, I will be keeping a close eye on how Oscar is being looked after, meaning, that I expect him to be in clean clothes that are in good condition, that he is getting the food and nourishment that he needs, and all the books and other supplies for his schooling, at attending school each week day,” Mr Master’s announced to my Uncle and Aunt.

“You can’t do that we are his guardian’s we are responsible with how he is looked after,” Aunt Kitty said with a hiss in her voice, which shocked me, at how nasty she sounded. “Correction Mrs Kimbolton, you have temporary custody of Oscar, and as an officer of the court, I will be seeing to it that a review of this status is done at the earliest convenience to the courts,” Mr Master’s replied.

With business concluded, Uncle Frank and Aunty Kitty stormed out of the building dragging Oscar behind them, as he struggled to stay on his feet, and once they were gone, I looked at the lawyer. “I am afraid you may be correct with your suspicions young Austin.

I will be making an application to the courts first thing Monday morning,” Mr Masters said to me. “Can you make some enquiries with the school too please, as Oscar told me that our cousins keep a very close eye on him and report back to their parents on what he does at school each day,” I asked.

Mr Masters turned to me looking shocked, “He is being abused?” he enquired, “yes I strongly believe that, he told me he regularly gets punished at home, after school,” I replied. “Excuse me Austin, I am going to go and see if I can make that application immediately, before the courts shut down for the weekend,” Mr Masters said before he dashed off.

It had been a long and tiring day, and when I arrived back at the cottage, I just wanted to just collapse onto the bed and go to sleep, but that wasn’t quite possible and Mr and Mrs Castalia had asked George to stay over at the cottage for the night, to keep me company, which I didn’t mind.

Sometime during the night, George was shaking me awake, “Hey, wake up, your brother is in hospital, the lawyer, Mr Masters just telephoned to let you know,” George said to me, as I tried to get back to sleep, but on hearing the words Brother and Hospital in the same sentence, my eyes sprung wide open and I sat up.

“Take a bit of time to get dressed and stuff, my Dad is on his way to come and collect us and take us to the hospital,” George informed me, as he walked out of my bedroom, closing the door behind him. About twenty minutes later, we were on our way to the hospital, and when we arrived, Mrs Castalia came in with me, while Mr Castalia and George headed back to their home.

Once Mrs Castalia had spoken to a nurse and then a doctor, she informed me that Uncle Frank, Aunty Kitty and the cousins were fleeing out of the state, and on the way the cousins had shoved Oscar out of the moving vehicle, which has resulted in Oscar now being in a coma in ICU.

It took my brother Oscar six weeks to fully recover physically from his injuries, but he was still very scared and not wanting to be touched by anyone other than me. I had visited him in hospital every day after school was completed, and also a few hours each weekend day, often spending the time just reading stories to him.

With the help of Mr & Mrs Castalia, as well as Mr Masters; Oscar would be in the temporary care of the Castalia family, and in the meantime, Uncle Frank and Aunty Kitty has been arrested, and remain in custody, while their two daughters who are aged 12 and 14 years, have been put into foster care.

With Oscar now living with the Castalia family and attending a different junior high school, I was able to see my brother nearly every day, spending most of the time together, just talking and reading stories to each other. As the weeks passed, Oscar began to fill out again, looking a lot healthier, and he was able to move around a lot easier, much faster than when at Gran’s funeral.

On some weekends, George and Oscar would ride over to the cottage on their bikes, and we would work together with weeding the garden, and keeping it looking spectacular, now that it was getting the attention it deserves. Meanwhile the house at the front of the block had been leased out long term to a family that were new to the area, and I learnt from Mr Masters, that the father of the family was an engineer, who worked up north a lot of the time, while the mother is a librarian, working part time, while their two son’s attend a private school in the area.

One Saturday morning, I woke up early to the sounds of a chainsaw operating really close, and I jumped out of bed and quickly dressed, and with my mobile in hand, I dashed to the fence line separating the cottage block from the main house block.

Much to my horror, I saw a cherry picker, with a man on the adjustable platform holding a chainsaw, and he was trimming the branches of the boundary trees. Quickly I searched and found Mr Masters after-hours number and pressed dial, but the call went to message bank, so I left a message asking to call me back urgently today.

Next, I located the number for the real estate agency that was dealing with the lease of the property, and thankfully it was answered, and I asked to speak to the agent in charge of property leases, and when I was forward to another number it went to Message bank, so once again I left a message, asking to be called back.

Back in the cottage, I changed into smart casual clothes, before making the five minute walk around to the front of the property via the alleyway and roads, and I knocked on the front door, which felt very strange, since it was my former home. “Yes young man, how can I help you,” a tall lady said when she opened the door.

“Yes hello, I have the land that is behind this property, and there has been no approval given for the trees on the back fence to be trimmed or cut in any way,” I said to the lady.

“Is that so, well you will have to speak to my husband about that, he arranged for all of that work, and he is currently away up north working,” the Lady responded.

“Please can you ask your workers to stop chopping and trimming the trees, as it is not part of the lease agreement,” I stated to the lady, “Look sonny, I can not do that, now be a good boy and rack off,” the lady said to me, before slamming the front door in my face, missing my nose by just millimetres.

As I briskly walked back to the cottage, I tried calling Mr Masters again, and this time he answered. “Hello Austin, what seems to be the problem?” he asked, “The problem sir is that the current tenants of the main property, have employed tree loppers and are currently trimming and cutting down the trees on the back fence,” I said to the lawyer.

“Oh, I see, well I will have to go and deal with this personally, I do remember that the lease specifically states that all existing trees or shrubs are to be left undisturbed, and can not be cut down, trimmed or harmed in any way, so they are definitely going against the lease conditions, I can be there in twenty minutes,” Mr Masters stated.

“Please do hurray, and I have tried calling the real estate agency, but the person I need to speak to has his phone on diversion,” I replied, “Ok, I will get onto it, see you soon, bye,” Mr Masters said before ending the call. Back at the cottage, I changed into some work clothes, and as I did, an idea came to mind, and I headed out to the garden shed, and retrieved the long heavy duty garden hose, and I quickly attacked it to the tap and turned it on.

Walking to the back of the block, I aimed the hose up high over the back fence, and moments later there was some cursing going on, and the sounds of the chainsaw stopped. “Hey you over the fence, you are causing a hazard, stop sending water over the fence,” a man’s voice called out.

“Can’t do that mate, the tenants are not permitted to authorise any cutting or trimming of trees along the back fence, so you might as well pack up and go home,” I called back, as I heard the chainsaw start up again, so I turned the hose back on, and I left it on, and when the chain saw stopped again, I kept the hose going, until I heard the platform being lowered, and moved away from the back fence.

Half an hour later, my mobile rang, with the caller ID saying that it was my lawyer calling. “You better come around to the front of the house, as you have caused quite a big issue with that water hose. I have the real estate manager of property leases with me, along with a very irate tree lopper and tenant,” Mr Masters said to me, before ending the call.

I groaned with annoyance, before pressing redial, “Mr Masters, you are my family lawyer correct?” I asked as soon as the call was answered, “Yes, that is right,” he responded, “Then it is your job to sort this problem out, not mine. Remember, I am only 17 years old, so I can’t legally do anything about this, just get that tree lopper off the property, and make sure that the tenants stick to the lease agreement, and leave my Mum’s trees alone,” I said before ending the call.

I expected to receive a call back, but the mobile remained silent, as I headed out to the back garden, to assess what damage had been done so far to the trees, in regards to privacy screening from the trees branches. I was not too happy with the small gaps in the branches that clearly let’s anyone view into the back yard of my home, and using a ladder, I was able to climb up and view from the top of the 2.5 metre high fence, that some of the shrubs had already been cleared away.

I was not at all happy with the situation, as I put the ladder away and returned to the back fence, where there is a small decking area next to the main pond, and I sat down and watched the waterfall for a while. What I thought was only about ten minutes or so, was closer to over a few hours, when the heat of the sun started to make me sweat a lot, and looking at the clock on my mobile I was shocked at how long I had been out there.

Thankfully I was protected by the canopy of the trees, so I would not be getting any bad sunburn, for spending so long outdoors. Once inside, I made myself a cold fruit drink and some lunch, before sitting down in the lounge and just relaxing and listening to some music.

When I went out later to check to see if there was any more happening on the other property, I heard the sound of a ball been kicked around, and not long after the sound of a thud, as the ball hit the fence, probably where the shrubs had been cleared away.

“Hey bro, check this out, there is a gate hidden behind all of these shrubs, I wonder where it goes too?” I heard a teenage boy’s voice say, and at that next moment, the gate rattled as they tried to open it.