Country Retreat - 14. Trouble on the farm

As we had finished washing down the kayaks, I turned to Marcus. “I have enjoyed today, I would like to ask your folks for permission to come here again soon, if that is alright with them?” I asked, “I think that will be fine, we don’t own the property anymore, we had to sell up because some of Dad’s investments went downhill, thankfully the new owners have allowed us to remain here renting for as long as we need to stay, which my parents want to be till after I have finished high school at least,” Marcus replied.

Once back home, after seeing Hugh and Koen off, and after the horses had been put to bed for the night, I said goodnight to my friends, thanking them for an awesome day, and shortly after they had gone, I went looking for Gramps, who was in his study. “Gramps, Marcus and his family don’t own their place anymore due to investment problems, you wouldn’t happen to know who bought it do you?” I asked suspecting that I already knew the answer to that question.

“I think you already know the answer to that grandson. We have known the family for a long time, and so we thought that it would be best to help them out a bit, allowing them to live on the property and to keep the vines and orchard operational,” Gramps replied smiling. “Any more little surprises that you may have invested in?” I asked and Gramps chuckled at this question.

“We originally thought about buying the property next door to the Gresham’s, at Number 21 Swan Rd instead of this place where we are now, but the house was just a bit too big for us, as it has 5 bedrooms and two bathrooms, on just under ten acres of land, with sheds and horse paddocks,” Gramps responded. “So, did you get any other land instead?” I asked.

“Only that one on Swan Street, plus 14 acres of cleared land on West Swan Street, that is used for making hay. I have other plans for our coastal properties that I want to concentrate on first,” Gramps informed me. “I guess there is a price to pay for earning all of the wealth of land, here and on the coast?” I asked, “Yes dear, of course there is. You need to study hard, find the right path you want to follow for the rest of your life and be happy, that is all that we ask in return,” Gran said to me and Gramps nodded his head in agreement with her statement.

“All the properties are in a Trust, so no one can take it away from you, no matter who you marry or even if you stay single, the properties are there for you to use as you wish, although we do have a suggestion for your two coastal properties,” Grams said to me. This caught my attention, and I wanted to know more, but I was getting tired, so I asked that we talk about this some more in the morning, which Gran and Gramps agreed to, as I headed to my room to have a shower and before I have dinner and on to bed early.

As I was trying to get to sleep, I thought about what my grandparents had said to me, and it made me think about what I wanted to do with my life, and the answer, for now, as I wasn’t quite sure yet. For the rest of the holidays, we met every two days, to go hiking, horse riding or kayaking, and as I prepared for the start of a new school year, I thought about what had happened to my life in the past year.

So much had happened and there had been so many changes as well, but now I felt that I was happy where I was now, and I decided that I needed to buckle down and get higher grades at school so that I could have a chance of a good life in the future.

On my first day of the new school year, I was up a little earlier than usual, and I took both horses for a short ride, before feeding them and outing them out into their yards, before heading inside for breakfast. “You took the horses for a ride,” Gran asked sounding surprised, as she was finishing cooking breakfast, and Gamps was reading the newspaper. “Yes, it is such a nice day, I thought that it would be worth doing,” I responded as I sat down.

As soon as breakfast was over, I headed to the bathroom to have a shower and to get ready for school, where I was ready to go half an hour earlier than usual. “Do you know what has happened to our grandson, he appears to be ahead of schedule today?” Gramps asked smiling, “Stop teasing Margie, it is a good thing. Now are you ready Oscar” Gramps responded, firstly to Gran, then to me.

“Do you think you would let me ride to school on some days that are good weather days?” I asked my grandparents, “We will discuss it and let you know,” Gramps replied, as he stood up and gathered the keys for the vehicle, and I followed him out the front door, after wishing Gran a good day. About eight minutes later, we approached the roundabout where we would turn right towards the school. Gramps said that he would collect me at the end of the school day, and wished me a good start to the school year.

At nearly fifteen years old, I am now in the Year 10 at high school, and in a way, I was a little nervous, as I stepped onto the school grounds. Gran informed me that she had received an email from the school, that included my full class schedule for Term One, plus there would be a full school assembly instead of the half an hour of Home Group, which is usually the half an hour before the1st lesson at the start of each week.

“Good Morning Students, just a reminder that student locker areas are in year groups, please refer to the information posters located around the school for the location of your locker. School assembly will be in 15 minutes in the Multi-Purpose Hall. That is all,” an announcement said over the PA.

I quickly located one of the mentioned posters and on seeing where the lockers were for my year, I headed in that direction, and on arrival, I saw Rebecca, Jarrad and Giles waiting for me to arrive, and I gave them a fist bump each as a greeting. “We reserved this locker for you, in between the two of us,” Giles said to me smiling.

“Once again, I presume I have been out-voted?” I asked, and in unison, my three friends said yes, and I laughed. The first day of school was a lot better than I hoped, with no bullying or slander of any kind, and if there was, I am sure that my friends made sure that I was well away from anything that would cause me issues.

As the last bell sounded for the end of the school day, we gathered at our lockers, putting books away that we had finished with and collected any books that we needed for homework, before we headed for the buses or waiting cars to collect us. In my case, it was Gramps in his vehicle, a Toyota Kluger, which is a deep red colour and is quite roomy, with seven seats.

“Hello Gramps, thanks to my friends, I had a great day today,” I said as I jumped into the front passenger seat, after depositing my heavy school backpack in the back, and putting on my seatbelt. “That is very good to hear Oscar, now we have one stop to make before we arrive home, and it is on the way,” Gramps responded. It ended up that we had to do a bit of shopping for Gran, which annoyed the heck out of me, while Gramps just smiled innocently.

I was finding that I was now comfortable at my new school, especially with great friends like Jarrad, Rebecca and Giles. Time seemed to be rocketing past, and I was kept quite busy with several assignments to be completed by a set time and date, so I was concentrating on them as much as possible while I was in a good frame of mind.

When the first long weekend of the year arrived, Gran, Gramps and I travelled north to spend the weekend at the family farm, and I was a little surprised when my two younger siblings came rushing towards me, as I climbed out of the vehicle. “Oscar, don’t you love us any more? Why do you not come home more often?” my sister Amara asked me.

“I live with Gran and Gramps, because I go to a big school in Perth, and I have to be close to where I attend the school,” I explained to my sister, who will be turning four this year. “I miss you, Oscar, why can’t you go to school here in Moore?” my brother Deacon asked me, and I was a little shocked at these questions. As I glanced over to my approaching mother.

“Selena, why are my younger grandchildren asking these questions, you can see that it is causing Oscar some stress, which he does not need to be going through at this stage,” Gran authoritatively asked my mother, “I am sorry that you feel that way Margaret, but my children do have a right to ask their sibling why he is hardly at home any more,” my mother responded. “That is enough you two, stop this arguing in front of the children,” Gramps snapped at both my Mother and Gran.

“I think this was a bad idea bringing Oscar up here for the weekend, maybe we should return home instead,” Gran suggested, moments after I started showing signs of distress, as I felt my breathing get harder, and Gran opened the back door of the vehicle and guided me to take a seat, and suggested that I start doing controlled breathing exercises to help me get through this.

On seeing me being attended by my grandmother, Gramps turned to my mother, “That is enough Selena, look what you have done now, I suggest that you take the younger children inside so that we can discuss this without them seeing all of this,” Gramps said to his daughter-in-law. “But, you have just arrived, and I want to spend some time with my oldest son,” Mum complained.

I motioned to Gran to let me stand up, as I controlled my breathing enough to stand and face my mother. “I may be your eldest son, but you have lost all perspective of what I have been through, all you want is to have a happy family living at home on the farm. I am sorry, but that will not be happening. I have loving grandparents who understand and support me, and I have a supportive group of friends at my new school, and that is where I prefer to be now,” I said.