Kit - 6. Kit Chapter 6

As I walked into my bedroom, which looked like it had been freshly cleaned, I spotted an envelope propped up against the pillow. I kept looking at it, as I placed my luggage on the floor beside my double bed, and stared at it some more, before picking it up and slowly opening it.

Inside was an email, plus a few pages that had been stapled together. “Dear Mathias, here is the documents that you requested that I have prepared for you, for the transfer of ownership of the property – 8 Kings Park Avenue, Crawley, Western Australia, to your nephew, Mr Kye Mathias Seabrook. Kind regards Peter Langley, of Langley and Banks Law Chambers, Perth.”

I read the email a number of times, not quite believing what it meant. Placing the email on the bed, I began to look at the three-page document, which include the title deeds for the property, with my name listed as the owner of the property.

“Holy sheep droppings…” I said softly to myself, as I battled to believe that this was really true. A peep sound coming from downstairs, brought me out of a daze, and I headed downstairs and entered the study, where I saw a fax received in the basket, which I picked up.

“From Mathias Seabrook; To Ky Seabrook; Subject Kings Park Ave Home. “Hi Kit, by now you have seen and read the email, that I had arranged for our part time housekeeper – Mrs Grantly, to leave on your bed. Congratulations on your very first home, I hope that you will be very happy here, as I have been for most of my adult life.

I am not sure if you know this, but I inherited the property from a great aunt of mine, with the stipulation that the property is to remain in ownership of the family, and now that stipulation is on you, to keep the property in the family.

I am not sure if you have had a chance to have a look around yet, but I have had some renovations done to most of the downstairs area, and the east end of upstairs, with the exception of the laundry and kitchen, which are next on the list, with the west side of upstairs area to be done last.

I hope that you like what has been done so far, and don’t worry, I am covering all of the renovating costs. I have also had the gardens cleaned up, without removing too much so as to keep our privacy from the imposing apartment towers that surround the house. Enjoy your time with your brothers, get to know them, before you decide what you want to do next, and maybe discuss plans with your father, once he is recovered enough. Love, Uncle Mathias.”

I sat down on the couch that is always nearby, but instead of the large old leather uncomfortable lounge that I was expecting, I sat in a very comfortable fabric couch, that felt nice and homely, and this is when I took a good look around the study and realised that it had been given a modern renovation, with a new coat of paint, new curtains on the windows and even some more modern paintings hanging on the walls.

The big old oak desk and large bookshelf with its hundreds of 1^st and 2^nd edition books still there, which made me smile, as I remember sitting in the study, reading one of the books, when Uncle Mathias was busy working at his desk.

“Wow, nice big study your uncle has here,” Marcus commented from the doorway to the study, “My study now, I’ve just learnt that he has transferred ownership over to me,” I commented, “Well congratulations,” Marcus said to me happily, and I smiled at his happiness for me. Together, we toured the whole house, and sure enough, over half of the house had been fully renovated, with my bedroom and the guest bedroom opposite still to be renovated, along with the laundry and kitchen dining area.

While Marcus settled in and went for a walk in the garden, I entered Uncle Mathias’s master bedroom, which is nicely decorated, with a few modern pieces added since I was last home, and out of curiosity more than anything, I checked the wardrobe, dresser and tallboy, which I found to be empty.

I realised that the house was now really mine, and that this room was now my bedroom, and that is when I noticed fresh sheets on the bed. Heading back to my old room, I picked up my luggage, and headed back to the master bedroom, where I began to unpack everything that I had brought with me, before returning to my old bedroom, and transferring everything from there, which included some boyhood belongings, and the few clothes that I had left behind, last time I was home.

I discovered that most of it was too small for me now, so I made a mental note that I needed to drop them off at a charity shop sometime soon. We headed into the nearby suburb of Nedlands, where there are a number of good restaurants, and one of them was Italian, which we decided to try out. Once we were seated and given a menu each, our server soon returned with some cold water, which he pored into the glasses already on the table, before asking if we would like to order some drinks first.

Realising that we may not look young enough to drink, I pulled out my drivers licence, and asking for two cold beers, and the server only briefly glanced at my license, before nodding and walking off to get the order. We overheard an older lady say to our server in Italian, that we looked to young to be able to drink and to check both of their ID’s again.

On hearing this, both Marcus and I retrieved out passports from our inside pockets, deciding earlier that we would carry them with us for the time been, and when the server returned, we showed them to him. “You understood, what my manager asked,” the server asked me, “We could tell from her expression on her face that she thought we are too young, but as you see from our passport’s we are both 18 years old,” I replied.

“Understood, and thankyou for confirming this with me, I will relay that you are both 18 years old, and I will bring you your ordered beers right away,” the server replied, who’s name tag said he is Louis. During the evening, with both of us ordering a three-course meal, Louis was always polite and quick to attend to our requests, but in the background, we continued to overhear the woman complaining about rude and arrogant customers, which I was not to pleased about, as she seemed to be always glaring in our direction.

When it came time for us to pay our bill and leave, we had already worked out a plan to put the woman in her place, as we stood up and headed to the counter. Marcus would be paying for the meal with his platinum credit card, and I had $300 in cash ready to give to Louis as a personal tip for him.

“Thankyou for dining with us tonight gentlemen, we hope that you enjoyed your meal,” Louis said to me as he rang up the bill on the till, with the woman very close by keeping an eye on everything happening, as Marcus handed over his credit card.

“Dinner was delicious and our server was top notch… it is a shame that the management don’t behave the way their staff do,” I said in clear and fluent Italian, which had Louis smile broadly and the woman became quite angry, “What is that saying again my friend? Ah yes, Don’t judge the book by its cover,” Marcus added also in fluent Italian, and much to our surprise, there was laughter coming from the kitchen and Louis was smiling broadly, as the women went very red in the face, and stormed off to the back of the staff area.

“Thankyou Louis, we had a very enjoyable night, mostly thanks to you, here is a $150 cash tip for you and three $50 tips for your kitchen staff, of which none of it, is to go to that woman, understood,” I whispered to Louis in English, and Louis smiled broadly and nodded his head in understanding.

“If I may ask, please sir, where did you learn such good Italian?’ Louis asked us, and we both chuckled, “We both have been attending a private school in Milan, Italy. Good Night,” I replied in Italian, before we both left the restaurant, “Now that was indeed a good night, with entertainment added,” Marcus commented, once we had stepped outside, and we both laughed.

Feeling a little tired still from all of the travelling, we retired for the night soon after arriving home, and I fell asleep in my new bed very quickly, only waking up to the sounds of birds chirping outside my window the new morning, and remembering where I am, I smiled.

“Good Morning birds and good morning home,” I said to myself, “Good morning to you too,” Marcus said from the doorway, which made me jump in fright a little, and Marcus chuckled on seeing this, “Good morning My Lord,” I said formally, and Marcus grumbled under his breath as he disappeared out of sight, which made me laugh, before climbing out of my huge king size bed, and heading to the adjoining large bathroom.

A while later, I arrived in the kitchen, where Marcus was busy finishing making breakfast, which looked great. “It appears that your housekeeper did a major shopping trip before our arrival, as I found the pantry and fridge overflowing with goodies,” Marcus said to me, and I sat down at the breakfast bar, and glanced at the fresh fruit, multigrain toast, muffins, freshly made tea and fruit juice.

“What are our plans for today?” Marcus asked me, and after swallowing my food, I looked at the clock on the wall, which read 8.05 am, “Well, I was thinking of going back to our home town and while the boys are at school, I would check out the house, and see what the situation is there, and maybe pack up some of the boys things, and bring them down to Perth, since they are only two days away from starting their winter holidays,” I replied.

“What are your plans, with looking after the boys?” Marcus asked me, “Well, I thought since there is actually an education fund set aside for all of them, that I would enrol them in my old school here in Perth, and we will live here in this house, while I attend university,” I replied. “University here? But I thought you… we, were going to attend university back in Zurich?” Marcus stated, sounding a little disappointed.

“I did have plans to do just that, but I now have responsibilities, I have three younger brothers to take care of, and the best way to do that for now, until they get settled with what is happening with Dad in hospital and Mum in Prison, is to stay close by here in Perth,” I replied.

“Oh, well that really sucks!” Marcus said to me in a semi angry tone, which I didn’t like the sound of. “I am sorry mate, I just cant go flying off anywhere around the world at a moments notice any more. The time I have spent with you has been awesome, although it has been very daunting too with some of your royal relatives, but I have got over that now. Things have changed for me, and my place now is here in Perth,” I responded.

“I am going for a walk in the Park, I will be back in about half an hour or so, I need some time to think,” Marcus said and walked out of the kitchen and the house, without waiting for a reply from me. I was upset that he did this, and I tried not to think about it, as I finished eating and cleaned up the kitchen.

I decided to send and email to Uncle Mathias, as I had a few questions to ask. “Hey Uncle M, Lord of the Kings Park Manor here, LOL. Just a few questions to ask you about this place. 1; How often does Mrs Grantly come to clean this place, and does she always do the food shopping? 2; What about the garden, who looks after that, and how often does it get tendered to? 3; What about the Council rates and water rates for here, do I need to worry about those?

Let me know soon please, and by the way thankyou for the house, it is a very unexpected and generous gift. I have decided to remain here in Perth, and I am heading up to the property later this morning, so I can have a look at the house and see what needs to be done to the place.

The boys have school holidays starting next week, so I will probably pull them out a few days early, and get them packed and moved down here to Perth, so that I can attend University, while I enrol them to attend my old school in South Perth. Marcus isn’t to pleased with my decision to stay here, but as I have told him, I have responsibilities now, and I have to look after my brothers, until Dad gets better.

He has gone off for a walk in Kings Park to think things over, I half expect him to be gone by the time I return to Perth in a day or two. That will be really sad, and I will miss him terribly, but I expect that I will have my hands full with the boys. Get back to me as soon as you can please, as I have lots of other things to discuss with you, Love Kit.”

Once I had sent the email, I went back to my bedroom and packed a weekend bag of clothes, and I waited for Marcus to return. While I waited, reading a book in the study, my phone rang with Uncle M calling, and we talked for nearly an hour about everything, including a little bit of advise on how to look after the boys, and he informed me that I can call Mrs Grantly if I ever need any help or advise.

I was also reminded that Ryan is only four years old, so he is currently only attending Play Group three days a week, so I would need to arrange a play group or day care for the day, while the others are at school. Trent the second youngest is only six years old, so he is only on Year One and Lucas is in Year Five.

I was busy researching Day Care facilities in the Perth City region, when I heard Marcus returning, and he went straight upstairs, returning to the ground floor about ten minutes later. “I have decided that I can be of no assistance here, and it is best that I head off somewhere, maybe back to family in Melbourne for a while, before returning to Europe.

Keep in touch, and good luck with everything with the family,” Marcus said to me from the doorway of the study, and once again, he didn’t give me a chance to respond, he just walked out of the house with his suitcase and backpack. I was left in shock at his very sudden departure, and I am not sure how long I was sitting in the study, wondering what the hell am I going to do with three younger brothers to look after.

Picking up the phone, I dialled the number for Mrs Grantly. “Elizabeth Grantly, how may I assist you today Master Kye,” she said over the phone, “Hello Mrs Grantly, I guess you were expecting a call from me sooner than later,” I replied, “Yes dear, your uncle had briefed me on what is happening, and I received an email a short while ago, giving an outline of what you and he discussed a short while ago.