Deception - 10. Dec Chapter 10

By the time, we had left the southern island, we had been away for nearly three hours, as headed in a south westerly direction, instead of westerly back to Port Lincoln. Paul pointed to the front of the boat, as he was steering, where I noticed a large ice Esky, which I opened and found a container full of sandwiches, which I handed two over to Tom, as well as a cold can of soft drink, before doing the same for Paul and myself.

By the time we had finished eating lunch, I noticed another island that we were approaching, and I grabbed the map that was in a folder, and looked at it carefully before turning to Paul, “Is that Grantham Island?” and Paul nodded his head in the affirmative, and I studied the topographical map in a big more detail, before turning the page to show a satellite map of the island, showing the fauna on the island, with lots of patches of bare ground.

When we arrived on the island, we had a look around, it is a flat island, “It is 51 hectares is area, 5.1 meters above sea level at the highest point, as you see it has a good amount of vegetation, no mammals or reptiles, and it has a covered fresh water well located about 220 metres from the southern tip of the island. It is freehold land, that has not been used since after the second world war” Paul said informing us a bit about the island.

“The bigger island that you saw to the east of Port Lincoln, is known as Boston Island, it is 960 hectares in size, is currently owned by the Mayor of Port Lincoln, and he has had it zoned for residential and holiday accommodation. It was used in the past for sheep grazing, and there are penguins, seals and sea birds that call the island home. One other island is privately owned, it is Louth Island, located just over 17 km’s north-east of Port Lincoln, and it too used for sheep grazing” Paul added.

“You seem to know a lot about these islands Mr. Turner” Tom stated, “Yes I visit them as often as I can, I dream of winning millions of dollars, so I can buy them and turn them into a private wildlife sanctuary” Paul said, and Tom looked at me, and I smiled, and signaled him to remain quiet, and Tom gave a small nod of understanding. When we finally arrived back at the LMSC at 3pm, Tom was almost asleep from all the activity, and we thanked Paul and made our way back to the duplex unit, where Tom went for a lie down.

I decided to make a call to Sam Yeoman, “Hello Sam, its Gres Langton here, I guess Marie has filled you in on what is happening at the moment?” I said as soon as Sam answered his phone, “Yes, hi Gres, she only said that she had lined up a job for you” Sam answered, “Well, I’m a research assistant at the Lincoln Marine Science Centre, in Port Lincoln, I have just spent most of the day out checking a few of the islands around the bay” I said to Sam enthusiastically. “That’s great news, what’s happening about young Tom” Sam asked.

“He is with me, I have him enrolled at a local private school, and on weekends we will fly to Adelaide to visit his mum. Sam the main reason I called is to ask you about the inheritance from my great uncle. How much did I inherit?” I asked Sam. “Well just your share, come to $4.8 million Australian, times that by 5 to include the rest that was awarded to you and it comes to a total of $24 million, why do you ask?” Sam to me, and I was a bit shocked that I had inherited such a large amount of money.

For the next fifteen minutes, I mentioned to Sam about the 3 islands located in Boston Bay that are Freehold properties, and about how the larger of the islands has been zoned for residential and holiday accommodation, which I felt was totally wrong, I asked Sam if it was possible to buy all three islands, under a company name, without revealing that I bought them. Sam said he would look into it and see what he could do.

The following day was spent just being lazy, and did absolutely nothing, but on the Monday morning, I woke up Tom at 7am, made sure he showered and dressed into his new school uniform, I made sure he had a good breakfast, while I made him a packed lunch of sandwiches and fruit, before driving him to school for his first day.

After dropping off Tom, I headed straight to work, where I spent most of the day getting familiar with the surroundings, including the area where I would be mostly working at the center. When it came to 3pm, I was given the rest of the day off, so as to go and collect Tom from school and take him home. Tom informed me that the school was pretty good for an independent Christian school, and that all his teachers were good at teaching, and not getting them bored, as some teachers do. This made me laugh when Tom said this, “Yes I remember a few of my teachers were very boring” I commented, as we arrived at our accommodation.

By the end of the week, Tom had settled in well at school, making a few friends, while I had settled in well with my new job, before school on the Friday, I had Tom pack a weekend bag, as we would be heading to the airport, soon after getting back home from school, so as to travel to his mum. I had booked us into a motel not far from the hospital, so as to cut down travel costs, and we arrived there just after dark.

I had spoken to the nurse earlier in the day, who informed me that Angela was looking forward to their visit tomorrow and Sunday. When we walked into her room the following morning, she had dozed off to sleep, so were quietly walked in and sat down and waited, and about ten minutes later she woke up and seeing Tom, she smiled really wide. I was pleased that she was able to see Tom, and after saying hello to her, I left the room, to let Tom spend some time with his mum.

I spent some time in a waiting lounge area, and spoke to a nurse briefly, who informed me that Angela’s doctor would be arriving soon to see her. I read a magazine for about half an hour before the doctor arrived, the Nurse introduced him to me, and the doctor informed me that Angela would be transferred to a rehabilitation hospital, in the next few days, to continue her recovery.

As the doctor headed to Angela’s room, Tom appeared and he told me that his mum had fallen asleep again, and he mentioned that her speech had not improved at all since their last visit, and it worried Tom, on how his mum would cope in the future. We went to watch a movie in the city, followed by a late lunch, and at 3pm we headed back to the hospital to visit Angela again.

When we arrived, we learnt that Angela was being transferred to the Rehab hospital this afternoon, so our visit would have to be short. I stayed with Tom this time and listened as Tom told his mum all about the movie that we had seen, and some more about his new school in Port Lincoln. When Tom stopped talking I smiled to Angela and asked her if there was anything that we could get for her, Angela asked for her clothes from the train, as she didn’t know where they are, and I went looking for a nurse to find out.

I eventually found a nurse and was in the process of asking about Angela’s belongings, when an alarm sounded at the nurse’s station, and over the PA an announcement was made. Suddenly I realised that it was Angela’s room where the emergency is, and I raced after the nurses. As I arrived, Tom was gently being pushed towards the door, and I grabbed him and led him out to the waiting lounge, so we were both out of the way.

Ten minutes later, one of the nurses arrived to update us, informing us that Angela had suffered a stroke, and that she was being rushed to emergency to treat her. The nurse suggested that we leave the hospital and rest, and that we would be contacted on my mobile, when there was a clearer idea of what is happening. By now, Tom was quietly crying, and we slowly walked out of the hospital, with Tom still crying.

As we were walking back to the motel two blocks away, my phone rang, and it was the hospital. Where I was given the news that I had hoped not to receive, that Angela had passed away. After hanging up, we walked the remaining distance to the motel in silence, and once inside the room, I broke the news to Tom. After he had settled a little, I encourage him to take a rest on his bed, and eventually he fell into a restless sleep.

I telephone Sam Yeoman to let him know the news, and he informed me that I was already Tom’s legal guardian, and the only difference now is that it is now permanent. Sam informed me that Angela had left WA with just the belongings that they had on the train journey, after her partner of 14 years was jailed for attempted murder, for trying to kill Angela and Tom.

After speaking to Sam, I telephoned Paul, to let him know what is happening, and I was given a week off work, so as to deal with the Angela’s death. The following day we both returned to the hospital, where a nurse kept an eye on Tom, while I dealt with some hospital paper work, including getting the death certificate, so I could start arranging a funeral. I rang a Funeral Service company to make arrangements, and they came and collected the body almost right away, and I spent twenty minutes with them, in a small office at the back of the hospital, to get proceedings moving to prepare for the funeral.

Returning to the front of the hospital, I collected Tom and we left the hospital for the last time, and I decided to try and keep Tom distracted, and the best way possible that I could think of was to go shopping, but this time for a car. We spent a few hours going to different car dealerships before we came to a joint decision to buy a Toyota Kruger, it was a large family sized 4WD vehicle, probably too big for what we needed it for, but we thought that we may go camping or go on long trips in the near future.

Our next stop was a vehicle accessories store, where we purchased a large vehicle recovery kit, including 4 heavy duty rubber boards, for getting out of boggy situations, we also bought additional water and fuel containers and holders, a roof rack, and a retractable side awning. Our last stop for the day, was at a camping store, where we bought a king single swag each, sleeping bags, a portable gas BBQ with gas bottle, plus cooking utensils, pot & pan, plates and bowls, cutlery and cups, plus a number of crates to pack everything into, I also decided to buy some abseiling rope, two harnesses & helmets, gloves and all the required equipment needed for abseiling

Once we were fully loaded up, we returned to the motel to relax for the remainder of the day, and we ended up just watching movies on the television. After a shower and change, we went out to a restaurant for dinner, just for change of routine, and we staggered back to the motel a few hours later full of good food, and Tom seemed to be reasonably happy.

“Uncle Gres, I don’t know what would have happened to me, if mum and I hadn’t met you and Ethan on the train, I’m glad that it is you looking after me, instead of being sent into foster care, I just wanted to thank you, and say that I love you” Tom said to me in a soft voice, I was a bit surprised by this statement, as I smiled and told Tom that I loved him like a brother too, and that I would always look after him no matter what.

The next two days, Toms mood was up and down, good at one point and then very moody and sad the next, when the day came for the funeral, I stuck close to Tom, helping him whenever he needed it, whether it was just to show support, or to help him with a chore that he was struggling with, like getting dressed ready to attend the funeral, which took ages to complete.

When the funeral was over, Tom and I returned to the motel, followed by Sam, Lucas and Marie, who had travelled to Adelaide for support, which I was very grateful for, and we ordered pizza and soft drinks and spent the next hour eating, drinking and listening to Tom talk about his mother, how she was always there for him, even during the rough times.

When the wake was over, I informed Tom that I had decided that it was best if we head back to Port Lincoln, and we packed up our luggage, loaded up the car and we made the 7-hour journey back to our new home via Port Augusta. It was just after 10pm when we arrived home, Tom had slept a lot of the journey, and we stopped twice to eat and to refuel the car.

Leaving the luggage in the car, we crawled into the unit and went straight to our beds, as it had been a long and very energy draining day. I woke up when I heard the sound of knocking on the front door, looking at the bedside clock with just one eye open, I saw that it was nearly 9 am, as I struggled out of bed to stop the person from the continual knocking on the door.

“Oh man, you do not look very pretty in the morning” Sam said with a big smile on his face, then Lucas and Marie came into view, and I thought it was a dream, “What are you guys doing here in Port Lincoln?” I asked as I stepped back to let them in, then glancing down to see I was still fully clothed from yesterday, I sighed loudly, glad that I was semi dressed. “Uncle Gres, who is making all that noise” came a voice from the other bedroom.