Holiday Drama - 6. HD Chapter 6

After the service and a light meal afterwards, we thanked Reverend Alex and his congregation for their support and prayers for the lads, and I said I would be encouraging the twins to keep in touch with their church. Back at the hotel, we sat down to talk some more, and I asked the lads how much longer they have of the school year. “Two more terms, we finish in early December, so about 16 weeks away,” Ashton replied. “Yes, but I am sure we would be able to get transferred to a school in Australia if that is your preference,” Jonah added. “Have you had your mid-term holidays?” I asked, “Yes, finished last week, we only get one week off for that,” Jonah said.

“Ok, we are going to go back to the school and ask the headmaster to have you transferred to a school in Adelaide, and I will see if we can get you into the same private school that Grant attends, where he boards during the weeks and comes home on the weekends,” I responded. “That sounds fine by us,” Ashton answered, and Grant nodded in agreement, as I looked at the time and quickly worked out the time difference.

“It’s too late to call the school in Adelaide now; it will have to wait until tomorrow, so in the meantime, I will start arranging for you lads to get your passports, which I have already started on, and once that is sorted, we can book flights for our journey home. I also need to arrange for Grant here to get some remote class lessons, as he was due to return to school himself tomorrow, and also call Mrs Greenwell, once we have a set arrival time back home,” I commented.

“Mrs Greenwell is our part-time housekeeper, who keeps our home in order and also well fed,” Grant said to the lads, who nodded in understanding. “It sounds like you are quite wealthy?” Ashton said to me. “Well, I’m not sure about that. We are very comfortable. I have a nice home, a few property investments, a small sailing yacht and a job that keeps us comfortable,” I replied. “A sailing yacht, awesome, so we can go sailing on weekends?” Jonah asked, “Yes, but with the same conditions as Grant, keep good grades at school, keep up with sporting activities and help with chores around the house,” I responded, “You have a deal,” the twins replied at the same time.

Later that afternoon, with Grant staying back at the hotel, I took the twins back to their school, where we met with the headmaster at my special request. During the next hour, we discussed the future of the twins. I mentioned the plans I had in place to bring them back to Australia, that we were just waiting for emergency passports so they could travel, and that we would leave as soon as we had finalised tickets.

The headmaster suggested that maybe, since it is the second week of a new term, the twins could stay attending school until we are ready to leave for Australia. Leaving the twins at the school to start a new school week, I returned to the hotel, where I firstly contacted Mrs Greenwell to let her know of all the changes that are about to happen, before contacting the airline to make alterations to his and Grant’s flight home and adding the twins' names to the tickets.

In just 12 days, we managed to get the required passports for the twins, including electronic visas, as well as tickets for the same flight back to Australia, with our allocated seats located in business class and the flight scheduled a week later. We had already placed the majority of the twins' belongings into cargo containers and arranged for them to be shipped to Adelaide, for us to collect once they arrived. The journey home was uneventful, and the twins were amazed that we were travelling business class all the way, with a two-day stopover in Perth to explore the area, including a visit to Rottnest Island, historic Fremantle and the beautiful Kings Park.

When we finally arrived in Adelaide, where I had stored our vehicle in long-term parking, it was late afternoon, and we still had a two-hour drive home to Wallaroo ahead of us. I had contacted Mrs Greenwell before leaving Perth, so she had freshened up the house and stocked up the fridge and pantry, and by the time we had collected our luggage and loaded up my vehicle, we stopped briefly for some takeaway food before heading out of the city, with an estimated time of arrival of sometime after dark. “What is this home of yours really like?” the twins asked me, and I smiled and looked over to my son Grant in the front passenger seat, who chuckled.

“Well, it is roomy and comfortable, and it is right on the canal about 1 kilometre in from the canal entry. It is a two-level house, with plenty of lounge and recreation space, including a lap pool and a landscaped native garden at the front and sides of the house,” Grant responded for me, as I concentrated on driving home. “That sounds like a home that you are over-promoting just to make it sound good, even though it is just a basic home, like what we have left behind in Cape Town,” Ashton said.

“I guess you will have to wait and see,” I commented, smiling, and I could see Grant trying very hard not to laugh, since we have one of the largest mansions in the Canal area of Wallaroo, and the vehicle went silent again, as the twins watched the arid conditions outside the vehicle.

“This looks a lot like back home in the Cape,” Jonah said as we continued westwards with sunset now happening. Even though we were less than ten kilometres away from home, I pulled over at a service station in the neighbouring town of Kadina, to top up the fuel in the vehicle and to get some dinner for all of us. Once we had eaten, we set off again, and it wasn’t long before we entered the outskirts of Wallaroo, going around the first roundabout and continuing west. “Welcome to our hometown, population of just over 4,000, which is a little smaller than Kadina, that we stopped at earlier,” Grant announced to the twins.

After a few turns, we were soon approaching the marina, and I was smiling now, as for the past two weeks I had been organising a big surprise for Grant, as Alistair and Hugh had found a 47- metre long sailing catamaran yacht that was for sale, which is five metres longer than our current yacht, and has so much more room. They convinced me to sell my current yacht and to purchase this bigger yacht, with a small financial input from them as 25% owners with Grant and me. At 4.5 metres longer than the previous catamaran yacht, and practically brand new, this yacht has two extra guest cabins to accommodate ten guests, and cabins for an additional two crew, with all cabins being quite spacious, from the plans that my mates emailed me last week.

With Alistair being a qualified open ocean skipper as well as being a qualified Paramedic, and Hugh being a qualified marine engineer, we have had no issues with experienced crew, and I have skipper qualifications, but far less experience than Alistair, so he has always been the senior skipper when we go out sailing. Meanwhile, Grant has completed all the required training to be a qualified bosun, even at his very young age. Over the past two weeks, I have had daily telephone planning discussions with Alistair and Hugh regarding the purchase of the new yacht and placing the older yacht up for sale. They’ve also packed up all of our belongings from onboard the yacht and stored them until we took over ownership of the new yacht, which would happen two days after we arrived home.

One of the discussions that Alistair, Hugh and I had was the allocation of cabins, and it was decided that as Skipper, Alistair and Hugh would have the Captain’s Cabin, while I would have the owner's cabin. For my son Grant, we thought that maybe the single crew cabin on the lower deck forward port side would be suitable for him, while the two single crew cabins aft port side would be suitable for my twin brothers. This will leave two bunk-bed cabins available if we need additional crew when we have guests on board, with two queen guest cabins on the main deck, plus two twin guest cabins and one double guest cabin on the starboard lower deck.

Alister and Hugh have also relocated closer to Wallaroo, buying a house on the western outskirts of nearby Kadina, to be closer to where the yacht will be based now. Hugh has taken up a partnership with the Marine Service Centre in Wallaroo, which is located on the south side of the main freight jetty, while Alistair has taken up part-time work as a professional intensive care paramedic. Their new home is just 500 metres north of the main highway, on 2.5 acres of land, with a 3-bedroom, study and one bathroom house, and is just 3 kilometres west of the centre of Kadina, just 9 kilometres from Hugh’s work, 8 kilometres from the marina and 7 kilometres from the Ambulance base and hospital for Alistair.

As we pulled up to our home, Grant pressed the button for the automatic door for the left-hand garage where I store my vehicle, and the noise brought the twins out of a sleepy doze. “Are we at your place? Wow, it looks huge,” one of them said as I drove forward and parked inside, as the garage door closed behind us. “Yes, it is big, there are four bedrooms on this level, while Dad and I have bedrooms upstairs,” Grant said in response. “Six bedrooms? Wow, that is huge,” came a response as we all climbed out, and we grabbed our luggage from the back of the vehicle. “Just grab what you need for overnight, and we will sort out the rest of your stuff in the morning,” I instructed, as I grabbed my bags and headed inside, and I went straight upstairs to my suite.

After dumping my bags in my suite, I headed back downstairs and went to my office, passing the boys checking out their new rooms, and I wasn’t surprised that they selected adjoining rooms with a shared bathroom. Once in my office, I closed the door and sat at my desk before sending a quick text message to Alistair and Hugh to let them know that we had arrived home safely. “Welcome home. I am on shift tonight, so I can't talk right now. We will catch up tomorrow sometime. Ali,” came a response soon after. A few moments later, another message arrived, “Hey, Ali just texted me that you are home. Welcome back, we will come and see you tomorrow afternoon, once Ali has woken up, Hu,” I smiled as I read this and pocketed my phone.

A few minutes later, I heard a short screech and the slamming of a door, and I dashed out of the office to find out what was happening. Grant was standing near the closed door to the lounge room, with his hand over his eyes. “What's up, buddy? What has happened?” I asked my son with a little bit of concern. Grant slid down the wall and sat on the floor of the hallway for a few moments before answering. “Err, well… it appears that your half-brothers like skinny dipping, and… they are different, from the eyeful I just got of them,” Grant replied nervously.