Andre and Chris - 26. Chapter 26

The next week the boys were still off school and university. Tyron was splitting his time between being part of the awesome4some and responding to issues my customers had logged. Because he didn’t have university commitments Tyron was happy to work the additional hours. Besides the extra money it now also built up his holiday and sick leave entitlements. Usually, Jackson went with him, and I realized they worked well together. They were becoming closer friends.

Ollie, Bradley, Riley and Cooper did a lot of hanging out together and Ollie used up most, if not all, of his cinema vouchers taking them to movies. When they went to see a movie, Sophie was included. They all still found time to record a series of videos for our channel (it was no longer my channel). This week, whenever Bradley stayed overnight, he slept next door in Cooper’s room and whenever that happened Ollie used the extra bed in Riley’s room. Oh, for the days of sleepovers.

Ollie’s bedroom furniture was delivered, and he and his mates organized his room in the townhouse. We continued to live in the apartment because it was just easier with all the vacation activity. We would move back into the townhouse at the end of the school holiday.

Beau and Skye’s parents arrived in the limo on Tuesday to say goodbye as they headed for the airport to start their month in Europe. The four of them had already started on the champagne provided as part of the limo hire. We wished them Bon Voyage and waved them off on the start of their European holiday adventure.

Michael and Jamie burst in after work Wednesday afternoon. After the usual greetings and hugs Michael asked, “Is Ollie Here?”

It was a day when Bradley was not staying overnight. “Yes he’s downstairs with Jackson. Why? What’s going on?”

Michael looked around, as if looking for something he knew wasn’t there. “Mum called me. Paul told her about Ollie being your foster son. She’s pissed with me for not telling her and she wants to meet Ollie. Can we do a video chat with her.”

“Of course we can. Would you like something to eat first?”

“Sounds good. Thanks.”

Andre added, “I’ve made a large quantity of beef and vegetable tikka masala curry we can have for dinner. I can make a salad and cook rice to go with it. Chris has the wine and we made some dessert earlier.”

I sent a text to Ollie asking them both to come upstairs. I offered drinks all round and Michael explained needing to video call his parents.

We all enjoyed dinner and then as a group, video called Michael’s parents. Michael’s mother was not happy that she had to find out about Ollie from Paul. Is this a mother thing? Michael and I were equally reprimanded for not telling her sooner. After Jackson greeted his grandparents as grandpa and grandma, Ollie asked, “Jackie is like my big brother so can I call you grandpa and grandma too?”

Ollie had done it again! He’d won over the grandparent generation, even if they did question Jackson about accepting being given a nickname. Unfortunately, Michael’s mother also put more pressure on Michael about provided her with another grandchild. It was not a discussion Michael or Jamie wanted at that time, or any time.

After Michael and Jamie left Ollie asked about the plaque for his father’s grave. We had not discussed the wording, so I inquired, “Have you decided what you want on the plaque?”

“Sort of. I know I want his name and stuff, but there’s stuff I want to put on it that I don’t know.”

I tried to help, “What stuff don’t you know?”

“OK I know his birthday but I’m not sure about what year he was born.”

“I can understand that.”
“It’s the same with when he . . . he died. I know the month and year, and I think I know the day but I’m not sure.”

I noticed a tear appear in the corner of his eye, so I pulled him into a hug. “It’s OK to be sad about what happened. Just know that when you’re sad, we’re here for you.”

He hugged me back. His eyes were still moist.

Andre reassured Ollie. “Elizabeth will be able to find out those things for us, so you’ll still be able to include them on the plaque. Is there any other wording you want?”

Still in the hug, “I’d like it to include ‘loving husband and father'. Would that be OK?”

Andre and I looked at each other and smiled. Ollie was special.

Andre replied, “Perfectly OK. Anything else?”

Ollie moved out of my hug and hugged Andre. “Thanks. That’s all I can think of.”

I promised that I would call Elizabeth the next day for the information Ollie wanted. Ollie said he’d have a shower and get ready for bed.

I’d forgotten that Jackson was there watching. When Ollie went down the hall, he came over and hugged me and then Andre. “You two are such great parents. You deserve having Ollie in your lives. You all make an awesome family. I’m going to miss you all when I go back home.”

“We’re pleased you’ve enjoyed staying with us. I take it you haven’t been bored.”

“No way. It’s been so much more than I expected. Being with the guys was an absolute blast. The surprise birthday party was unbelievable. So much fun. I’ve loved being here and I’ve learnt so much hanging out with Tyron and working with him.”

Andre commented, “Yes, I’ve kept track of your work hours when you’ve gone with Tyron on work jobs and you’ll be paid at casual rates.”

This was the first I knew about. “So, you’re my Head of HR as well as my accountant?”

“And the problem is?”

I playfully slapped his arm. “None, but then I’m your IT manager.”

“I love watching you two. You are like a happy married couple.”

“You mean like lovers?”

Jackson laughed softly, “OK like a loving married couple.”

Before I could respond Ollie walked in wearing pajamas. Yes, the weather was getting too cool for just shorts in bed.

He said, “Can we watch something on streaming before I go to bed.”

“Anything I particular?”

“Something fun. A couple of episodes of ‘Bluey’? They’re a fun family.”

I tossed the remote to Jackson who started searching. We were all sharing the lounge which wasn’t actually big enough. Ollie sat squeezed between Andre and Jackson and snuggled up to Jackson. I snuggled up to Andre. We were very much a family watching television. After watching three episodes, Ollie said he was ready for bed. Jackson pressed stop on the remote and we all stood, stretched and walked with Ollie to his room.

Ollie slid into bed, Andre and I ruffled his hair and kissed his forehead and Jackson gave him a hug. We all said goodnight.

On Friday the awesome4some were putting the finishing touches to their videos and planning a schedule for posting them on YouTube.

I wanted to make a video on ransomware and cyber hacking of a company’s data. The idea came from media reports of some large companies that had been hacked and their customer data stolen. The company was then held to ransom for the return of the customer data and sometimes with the threat of all the customer data being sold on the dark web. My idea was to alert businesses to the danger and suggest protective measures they should take.

I told the four of them what I was going to do and expected to do what I had always done. Set up a camera and talk to it and later edit and add the graphics. I was quickly told by the awesome4some that I now had a production team. What had I created!!

Ollie set up cameras and Tyron and Jackson discussed my ‘script’ with me. It soon became apparent that while the content was mine the final video was a joint production. The strangest part was that I was not used to having an audience watching while I recorded.

We ended up doing two takes. While Jackson, Tyron and Ollie looked at the raw footage Bradley started chatting with me.

“Uncle Chris I can understand cyber criminals targeting a company to get stuff that they could demand money for, but I read about a boy who committed suicide because he was being blackmailed for what he did online. How does that work?”

“Oh yes Bradley. I read about that one too. He was a victim of sextortion.”

“What’s sextortion?”

“It’s online use of sex to extort money or something else from someone. It’s a combination of sex and extortion.”

“Extortion. That means like to force someone to do something.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But I don’t get it. Why would anyone want to force someone to kill themselves?”

“They don’t set out to, but in this case it was the horrible consequence. What they want varies. Usually, they want money but with girls they may want more porn type photos that they can sell.”

“So he killed himself just because he couldn’t pay? How does that work? Why couldn’t he just ask his parents for the money?”

“Well yes and no. He couldn’t pay but he really killed himself because of what they threatened to make public about him, and let his parents know.”

“I see. Like he was gay and they threatened to tell everyone.”

“Yes like that but more general. There are two main ways they do it. They will send emails saying they have video from your computer camera of you watching porn and masturbating. They demand you send them money or they’ll send the videos to your parents and all your contacts. Usually, you can ignore these because usually they don’t actually have any videos.” I added, “If you’re going to do that, it’s still a good idea to cover your camera.”

“Claiming they have video of you jerking off to porn. Shit, that’s really scary.”

“Another way is scarier. They message you on social media and flirt with you. Like if you’re a guy they pretend they are a girl who’s really interested in you.”

“Like has the hots for you.”

“Yeah like that, and soon they suggest you share photos.”

“Like naked pic?”

“Exactly. And then sexy photos.”

“So she sends a sexy pic of herself.”

“The thing is you’re not messaging the girl in the photo. It’s someone tricking you into believing you are texting the girl in the photo, so you’ll send sexy photos of you or even sexy videos of you.”

“Like naked with a boner or jacking off.”

“Yes exactly. And then later, they tell you they’ll send the photo or photos or video to your parents and all your contacts unless you pay them. The boy who committed suicide was so embarrassed about the photos being posted online and sent to his parents that he killed himself.”

“Shit that’s horrible, but what could he do?”

“The best thing to do is not send those photos in the first place, and certainly not photos with your face and genitals in the same photo.”

He smiled “You mean if I send pix don’t have my face and a boner in the same pic.”

Before I could respond I heard soft laughter. I looked up and everyone was listening to us. Tyron looked around at everyone. “I think we should use that for a video on sextortion. It’s important to get that message out there and I think that a discussion like that is the perfect way, especially if it just looks like the two of you are talking off camera.” The others all agreed.

I looked at Bradley. “Do you think we could do it again?”

“I think so. As long as we can remember what we said.”

Ollie called out, “The exact words don’t matter as long as it’s a discussion. Anyway, if you want to know what you said, I’ve recorded most of it.

We watched the video Ollie had recorded and discussed what we wanted to cover in the video. We didn’t want to have a formal script because we wanted it to still look like an impromptu informal discussion. We thought that would be more interesting and have more impact.

Ollie set up cameras but decided that he would include a handheld to make the filming seem less staged. He wanted the final edit to look like it was recorded on a phone. Some of it could then be used on Instagram.

We went over our previous discussion again, discussed how it could lead to suicide and then provided suggestions for not being “sucked in” as Bradley put it and then discussed what to do if you are “suckered in”. We gave a big plug for Kids Helpline as a phone support line.

Bradley and I interacted comfortably together, especially when it came to me giving ‘technical’ or ‘anatomical’ terms and Bradley changing them to adolescent vernacular.

We were approaching what would be the end of the video when Bradley added, “Uncle Chris I think there are a lot of us young guys who would like to know more about this.”

I could see what he was doing, “I agree Bradley and all they have to is let us know.”

“Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could get a child protection detective to come and tell everyone how they can help.”

I followed Bradley’s gaze and saw that David was standing watching. He had arrived to collect Bradley to take him home. He was looking a bit panicky.

“I think you’re right Bradley. We should find someone to do that.”

“Yeah. Us kids need to know that when things like sextortion happen the cops are there to help us and not to blame us.”

Ollie stopped the cameras and Jackson said “Fucking brilliant. We’ll do the voice over for subscribe and comment tomorrow.”

I looked at David. He was beaming as he walked over to Bradley and pulled him into hug. “I’m so proud of you son.” He then turned to me, “When can I have a copy to show the Super?”

Ollie indicated Jackson and answered, “We’ll edit it tomorrow using video from the three cameras and then send it to Tyron and Bradley. If they’re happy with it, you can have a copy. The awesome4some all nodded agreement.

Saturday morning Jackson and Ollie had breakfast. They were joined by Tyron and then disappeared downstairs to edit the video.

It was Jackson’s last day with us. He was heading back to Melbourne on Sunday. I phoned Michael on speaker to suggest that we all have dinner together to farewell Jackson. Michael liked the idea and suggested a BBQ at their place that afternoon.

“I’m afraid it’s too cold for the pool, but our place would still be better, especially if we make it an early start.”

“Do you want us to help?”

“Probably. How many are we talking about?”

I had to think. “Basically, I’m just thinking of family. You two and us four.”

Andre added, “How about Tyron and his girlfriend? Jackson spent a lot of time with them.”

“I suppose we have to include Bradley then, so the awesome4some can be part of the farewell.”

By now Michael was laughing. “Jackson has built himself in with you lot. You do know, we’re going to keep seeing him.”

“I think we’ll survive.” More laughter.

Jamie who had been keeping count said, “I make that nine for the BBQ. Us four, Tyron and his girlfriend, and the rest of the awesome4some.”

Michael added, “Bring some of your nice wine along with some non-alcoholic. Use an Uber. Let’s start early. Say five o’clock.”

We booked Calvin to take the four of us to Michael and Jamie’s house and arrived at the same time as Tyron and Chloe. We were unloading the esky full of drinks when David drove up with Bradley. There were greetings all round.

David explained, “I wanted to check this out and find out when I need to come back and collect Bradley.”

Michael offered, “You can stay and join us for the BBQ.”

“I’m so tempted to stay but I need to be home tonight.”

I said, “It won’t be a late night as we have to get Jackson to his plane tomorrow morning. We’ll call you when we’re getting ready to leave.”

“No need.” It was Chloe. “We can take Bradley home. I’m designated driver and not drinking.”

David agreed to this arrangement and drove off. We walked through to the outside entertainment area with flames already licking around the logs in the fire pit. Tyron looked around and saw the pool. “This place is insane. Jackson, next time you visit, make sure it’s Summer and get us invited to use the pool.”

Jamie overheard this. “We’ll make sure that when Jackson is here in the warmer weather you are all invited to use the pool, but now we need to cook some food and enjoy the fire.”

Michael started grilling meat and Jamie brought out potato salad and coleslaw. The young ones all wandered off together to explore the five acre block. I poured a glass of Coonawarra Cabinet Sauvignon Merlot for the four of us left behind.

As if by magic the young ones all arrived back when the food was ready. Jackson and Tyron decided to have a beer and the others selected coke. We all served ourselves as we sat around the large outdoor dining table and enjoyed the meal and the company.

Jamie announced that he only had ice cream and topping for dessert. Nobody complained and he suggested we take our bowls and sit around the fire as the day was starting to cool down. Michael added another log to the fire. We sat around the fire pit eating and watched the orange flames reach up and lick around the new log as if tasting before consuming it. Jamie turned out the main lights. We sat in the flickering light and absorbed the radiated heat from the fire.

Ollie held out his hands with the palms facing the fire. “This is like when we went camping, except flasher.” Everyone nodded and voiced agreement.

Ollie continued, “After we ate, we’d sit around the fire like this and dad would play his guitar and we’d all sing. I wish I’d brought my guitar.”

Jamie stood. “That’s a fantastic idea Ollie. I’ve got a couple of guitars. Come on we can get them and play some music.” They went into the house and returned smiling with a guitar each. Sitting next to each other they took their time tuning and whispering to each other before playing.

Ollie tapped his guitar to attract attention and announced, “So we can get everyone singing we’ll start with something everyone knows. Waltzing Matilda.”

We all laughed but it wasn’t long before we were all singing along. It really started to feel like a campfire gathering. Everyone relaxed and all inhibitions about singing disappeared. More songs and singing followed.

The fire crackled and the log dropped into the red coals and surrendered to its fate. Our attention was brought back to the fire. Jamie put his guitar to one side and stood. “Everyone stay here. I have something else for us.”

I looked at Michael. He was smiling. He knew what Jamie had planned.

Jamie returned with a tray with a pile of saveloys, long skewers, balls of what looked like pastry and a bottle each of tomato sauce and BBQ sauce.

Just when I worked out what he had planned, Jamie started to tell everyone. “We’re all going to cook over the fire. What you do is take a saveloy, stick a skewer through the middle long ways like this. Then you grab a ball of damper dough, stretch it out like this and wrap it around the saveloy. Then hold it over the fire to cook.” He then demonstrated and then everyone followed his example. Laughter echoed around fire as we all cooked our damper covered saveloy and tried not to burn it.

This activity was tremendous fun and we all ribbed each about how successful we were. Eventually we enjoyed eating the results of our cooking slathered with tomato or BBQ sauce.

When we had all finished cooking the saveloys Jamie walked back into the house and returned with another tray loaded with marshmallows, chocolate squares and granita biscuits. It was obvious that we were about to make an Aussie version of the American S’mores. I’d made them when I was in USA but not since returning to Australia.

Jamie explained what to do and the fun started all over again. Of course, the awesome4some had to make more than one S’more each and wet wipes were needed to clean sticky fingers. In what felt like no time all the marshmallows had been consumed, including a few by the fire.

By now the fire was dying down to glowing embers. It was time for us to leave. Jackson, Tyron, Chloe, Bradley and Ollie had all enjoyed themselves so much they all asked Jamie and Michael if they could do it again next time Jackson visits.

Ollie declared the party, “epic”, and Bradley declared Jamie, “a legend”.

Everyone thanked Jamie and Michael for hosting this farewell party for Jackson. We all hugged. Chloe drove off with Tyron and Bradley, and Calvin arrived to take Jackson, Andre and me home.

Inside the apartment, Ollie declared that he was tired and was going to bed. After he had prepared for bed, he was tucked into bed by all three of us.

Back in the living room Jackson said, “I’m pleased I came up to visit you and a lot of that is because of Ollie and you two. I had every intention of staying with Uncle Michael and Uncle Jamie but from the moment I arrived on Saturday morning and saw you two and Ollie as a family, I wanted to spend the rest of my visit here. Ollie told me the same, so we decided to get you to agree.”

There was a pause before Jackson continued, “Can I visit again when university finishes for the year. Like before Christmas or in January? I have to be home for Christmas. Mum and Dad would throw a hissy fit if I wasn’t.”

“You’re very welcome to visit but won’t Emma get upset if you keep spending your university breaks up here?”

“She can visit with me. By then this place will be finished and you’ll have a guest room with a big bed.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “I’d only agree to that after talking to her parents.”

“Chill Uncle Chris. We already have regular sleep overs like that in each other’s homes.”

Andre quietly commented, “OMG are we going to be facing that with Ollie in a few years’ time?”