Country Retreat - 56. Hunter's Mum

Happy that everything was now on its way back to being in good order, we spent an hour along with Toby getting the gardens around the house looking great again, before we headed back down to Port Macdonnell where we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. The following morning after a late breakfast and a nice stroll down at the beach, we packed up and headed north to Mount Gambier, where we would be spending our last night in the region, before flying back to Adelaide in the afternoon.

Once we had checked into the motel where we would be staying overnight, I checked my email and I had received the expected invoices from Tom and Julia for the slashing and mowing, plus the cleaning of the cottage, and an email with a quote on repairs for the cottage. After having them printed out at the reception office and getting a good-sized envelope, I went for a stroll down the street and slipped the envelope under the door to the real estate agents, before taking a photo of the envelope's location on the floor inside the reception area. I sent the picture to the real estate agent, along with a message.

“Just letting you know that I have placed an envelope, in your office reception (See Photo), with invoices and the quote for repairs of the cottage and property at 472 Eight Mile Creek Rd, Racecourse Bay. Please have full payment of both invoices deposited into my bank account within 14 days, and full payment of the quote, once all the repairs have been completed. The cottage and property are to remain vacant until further notice, and I will be dealing with the tenants at 26 William Street in Allendale East from now on. O.Q Kingston.”

As I walked back towards the motel, I passed another real estate agency, and I stopped to glance at the properties for sale, with one in particular that caught my attention. It was 1.24 acres of cleared pasture land, on Eight Mile Creek Rd, Racecourse Road, but it was the overhead photo that caught my interest in the property, as in the background of the photo two blocks away, was my cottage.

I jotted down the phone number for the agency and as I was about to walk away, I spotted another advert for the property next door to the west, which is 1.25 acres in area, also cleared pasture land. I decided to give the agent a call right away, hoping that they would answer. “Hello, I am interested in purchasing two properties on Eight Mile Creek Road, Racecourse Bay please,” I said as soon as the call was answered. “Do you know the area?” I asked.

“Yes, I own the cottage at 472 just a few blocks down,” I replied. “So you are Mr Kingston then I presume?” the agent asked me, which surprised me a little. “Err, yes I am he…” I replied cautiously and the agent chuckled. “It is okay, Mr Kingston, we are a small community, so news of your difficulties gets around very quickly. I hope you gave my real estate colleagues a good boot up the backside, for letting you down as they have,” the agent said to me.

“Ok… so what about these two properties, Lots 104 & l05?” I asked, “What is your whereabouts at the moment, I can meet you either there or at the office if you prefer,” the agent asked me. “Right outside your office at the moment,” I replied. “Good, I will see you in a couple of minutes,” the agent said before he ended the call. Half an hour later, I had signed all the documents and arranged for a deposit to be sent in the next few days, for the purchase of 2.4 acres of coastal land, just down from the cottage on Eight Mile Creek Road.

I decided not to say anything to the lads about my most recent purchase as I returned to the motel, where the lads were just relaxing and watching the Aussie Rules Football on television, although Hunter looked a little upset or down in the dumps, I was not sure what it was, as I sat down to watch the footy as well. When I received a text message, I frowned when I saw that it was from Giles. “Hunter received a call from the hospital, his Mum has just passed away,” the message said.

I jumped up and grabbing his hands, pulled Hunter up on his feet, before I wrapped him in a hug, and Giles soon joined in with the hug, it wasn’t long before Hunter began to sob into our shoulders, and we just held onto him in support. Once he had calmed down a little, I carefully let Hunter sit down, and I sat down beside him. “What can we do to help you through this?” I asked softly. “I… don’t really know,” he replied. “OK. Would it be ok if I make some enquiries on your behalf?” I asked, and Hunter just nodded yes.

I stepped outside and made my first call, firstly to the hospital to find out some more information about his mother, and after a few long-winded discussions, and explaining that I was a close friend of Hunter’s as well as his counsellor at UNI SA before I was finally able to get some answers.

I learnt that Mrs Davidson’s body would be transferred to the Funeral Home at 1 pm today, with a planned funeral already in place, with just a date to be set for the service and burial, and I suggested that it be held as soon as possible as Hunter now resides in Adelaide and needs to return to the city as soon as he can to resume his uni studies.

I gave the funeral director my contact details and headed back to the motel to let Hunter know what was happening regarding arrangements for the funeral. Gently I went through what I had learnt and what had been discussed at the funeral home with Hunter, who agreed to a swift funeral service, with a private burial afterwards. After that call, I headed to the front office of the motel to book some additional days, as we would be staying for a bit longer than planned.

“Where are you? What are you doing?” Giles said in a text message to me as I stepped into the reception area. “Booking more nights at the motel, do you want to go home or stay until after the funeral?” I replied, “I will fly home I think if that is ok with you,” Giles texted back, as I turned around and headed back outside, before dialling Giles's number. “I am going to stay and look after Hunter, and help him through the funeral. I will leave your flight the same, and just change the other two for a few days later,” I explained to Giles.

After the call, and now well away from reception, I headed down the road to the classier hotel, where I booked and paid for four nights of accommodation, in a two-bedroom suite commencing tomorrow. Another phone call later I had arranged to extend the hire car rental, and as I returned to the motel, Giles was sitting outside the room. “This is hard for me to deal with, is it possible to fly out tonight do you think?” he asked me in a soft voice, so Hunter wouldn’t hear him talking.

I nodded and took my phone out, I made the call and a few minutes later it was arranged, that Giles would be on the 3 pm flight back to Adelaide, when I planned to have Hunter and I at the funeral home, finalising details. After lunch, I suggested to Hunter that we go to the funeral home, and after a bit of hesitating, he finally agreed. While he was getting changed, I gave Giles some cash for his trip home, so he could catch a taxi at each end of the trip home, and once he was ready, Hunter and I drove to the funeral home a few kilometres away.

Nervous at first, Hunter and I entered and I introduced myself and Hunter before we were led to a comfortable lounge area, where we were informed that Mrs Davidson had arrived safely about fifteen minutes earlier and that she was currently in the process of being taken care of. When asked if Hunter wanted to view her body, Hunter was reluctant at first, but then agreed, and a time was set for the early evening for this to take place.

Hunter was informed that his mother had arranged and paid for her funeral, which would consist of a small service, with a select few to attend the service that included Hunter plus one, with it to be held in the funeral home chapel, I did notice one thing which surprised me, which was that Hunter’s step-father was not included on the list of eighteen people to be personally invited to attend the service, which was a good thing. I was given all the legal documentation, including the signed Doctor’s death certificate, and a copy of all the arrangements that Mrs Davidson had made when Hunter was twelve years old.

On the way back to the motel, I informed Hunter that Giles was flying back to Adelaide this afternoon and that he would be most likely on his way there now. Although a little disappointed Hunter understood, that he needed to return to Adelaide. I also let Hunter know that we would be moving to a more comfortable hotel tomorrow, for the remainder of our stay in Mount Gambier.

Later in the afternoon, I received a call from the funeral home informing me that the funeral had been organised for two days, at 11 am, and that the selected guests had been notified and nearly all would be attending. For the rest of the day, we just relaxed and watched a few movies on the television.

The following day, we changed from the motel to the hotel, where we had separate bedrooms, and it was a lot more comfortable, where Hunter spent a few hours at the pool, doing laps, no doubt to try and cope with the loss of his mother. On the morning of the funeral, just as we had finished breakfast, my mobile rang, with eh caller ID being the Real Estate Agency, which made me groan.

“Hello, is this important, as I have a funeral to attend shortly,” I answered in an angry tone. “Mr Kingston, this is Derek Lang speaking, I am the principal partner of the real estate agency that has been contracted to look after your two properties in this region. I just wanted to inform you that the property manager no longer works for us and that we will happily compensate you for all damage done to your property near Racecourse Bay.

We have a bank cheque here waiting for you at the reception of our office to cover the full amount for repairs, cleaning and mowing the grass, and we hope that you will consider remaining with us at our client,” the caller said to me. “Well, I thank you for your payment to cover all the repairs and backlog of maintenance. In regards to managing the property, I have made some changes regarding both properties.