Deception - 31. Dec Chapter 31

When we arrived home, Bryce and I walked to the north end of the island, to see how the work progress was going, and I pleased to see that the support posts and struts were all completed, and that they had started on the first linking boardwalk towards the first of the new tent platforms. I told Jacob, Tom and Ethan that they would be going with Bryce in the barge, to Port Lincoln after lunch tomorrow, to help pick up some new purchases, as there was a lot to bring back. I headed back to the house to check on my emails, and I was pleasantly surprised to see there were three replies to the newspaper article.

I looked at all three of the resume’s and soon eliminated two for the position, mostly because they were too young and didn’t have the full requirements for the position. The third enquiry was a possibility, but I decided to wait and see if we received any more enquiries, before making a decision. While Bryce and the boys were on the barge to collect all the furniture we had bought the day before, I helped Jack and his sons at the construction site, where they had now started on laying down the planks for the first tent platforms.

When the barge arrived back in the late afternoon, I decided that it was probably best to leave the furniture all covered on the barge, until there is room to put it all. Three days later as the end of the weekend was coming to a close, there was now two tent platforms and linking boardwalk completed above the north west beach, and we were just waiting for the new Eco Tents to arrive. After dinner, I checked my emails to see if there were any replies from the Saturday advertisement, and there were 7 more replies.

Like earlier in the week I eliminated four more enquiries, because of lack of experience or because of possible language barriers, as two had listed Italian as their primary language, and English as secondary, while the other four enquiries were possible successful candidates. I sent emails to the five that I had already decided against, informing them that due to the number of highly qualified applicants received, they were unsuccessful in their application for the position.

Of the four remaining applicants, three currently reside in Adelaide and one resides in nearby Tumby Bay, just 30 kilometres to the north of Louth Bay, who is a widow of ten years, aged 48 years, no children and she has a diploma in education and advanced certificate in cleaning services, she has twenty-two years’ experience in hotel housekeeping services, the first 12 years in 4 and 5 star hotels in the city, and the past 9 years in hotel and motel accommodation in Tumby Bay. The more I looked at her resume, the more I liked her as the best candidate, she had included a photograph of her, she was rather tall, well built in the right places, making her look strong and fit, she had fiery red long hair with a bit of grey showing in places, and she had a nice smile.

After a while I decided that I would interview her first, to see if she would fit the position before looking at the other candidates. Before going to bed, I looked for Bryce who was in the library reading, and I mentioned to him that I would like a lift to Tumby Bay in the morning, to interview a candidate. The following morning, while everyone set off to either work or the class room, Bryce and I set off to Tumby Bay in the hovercraft, with my folder of information of the house and island in hand, along with the resume of Mrs. Jean Atherton. We hired a car once we arrived and Bryce drove me to the residential address of Mrs.Atherton, arriving shortly after 9am. The cottage was small but neat, with a beautiful garden and a small patch of lawn, I observed as I walked up to the front door and rang the bell.

“Who is it” came a call from inside, and it was then that I noticed the small sign in the window, “No Sales persons or religious persons Please”. I gave a small smile before responding. “Mrs. Atherton, I’m sorry to come unannounced, my name is Mr Gres Langton” I replied, I was going to explain more, but the door opened and the smiling Mrs. Atherton greeted me with a firm handshake, “That is not a problem Mr Langton, welcome inside, the lounge room is to the left, would you like a cup of tea” she responded warmly, as I stepped inside and accepted her offer, before making my way into the neat and tidy lounge.

A few minutes later, Mrs. Atherton appeared with a tray containing a tea pot, two china cups and saucers, a small jug of milk and a sugar bowl, along with a small plate with pieces of cake on it, she placed the tray on the coffee table in the middle of the room, before she commenced to pour the tea. “Strong, white with no sugar thank you” I said before she could ask me how I have my tea. Once we both had a cup of tea each, Mrs. Atherton sat down.

“Now I presume I am about to be interviewed for the position, is that right” she stated with a smile, and I nodded my head before taking a sip of the tea, and placing the cup and saucer on the table, so I could open up the folder that I had with me. I am sorry to have turned up like I have, I guess I felt it is a good way to see how you and your home appear, with no notice” I began, and she smiled as I continued.

“Although I have not revealed the location of my home, there is a reason for that, I am the owner of a number of islands in the Louth and Boston Bay region, and Louth Island just 3 kilometres off the coast, is my home base. Originally, I planned to have just a wildlife reserve on the island, which now has several different endangered Australian mammals, but more recently we have taken up establishing an Eco Camping business as well. I am unmarried and single, but I am the legal guardian for a 12-year-old boy Tom Banks, whose mother passed away suddenly last year”, I began to explain.

“My good friend from WA, who was my former employer, and now my employee - Bryce Kennedy lives on the island along with his 12-year-old son – Ethan, and also 19-year-old Jacob Owens who was a farm hand for Bryce in WA” I said as I handed her the photos of just the island, including some of the barge, hovercraft, and the buildings in the middle of the island and of the Eco Tents.

“We had our first guests last week, to test out our accommodation, and it went fairly well, we are just fine tuning it a bit before opening up full time. We provide a bed and breakfast type of Eco camping, and we can provide meal packs for lunch and dinner if requested, or they can bring their own. As you can see from the photos, apart from the Eco tents and the large gazebo, the shed and ablution toilets are the only visible buildings on the island.

In the middle and a little further south of the boardwalks, there is a solar power station, that provides all the power to the eco tents, to the ablutions, the gazebo, and the small lights on the sides of the boardwalks, for easy night walks” I added, and waited a moment to see if Mrs. Atherton had any questions so far. “You mentioned household of five plus guests” she asked me, and I nodded.

“Yes, at the moment, I have Jack and his two young adult sons, who are builders living at the house, they are building all the boardwalks and raised platforms for the Eco Tents, and anything else that needs building. On occasions when he is free, I will have a special guest from Adelaide who comes to visit for a few days, he is a Barrister so as you can imagine, he works long hours” I responded. “You have mentioned all the visible buildings except the house” Mrs. Atherton mentioned to me and I smiled.

“That is correct, because it is no usual house, the island has a number of limestone caves on it, all of them located in the southern end of the island, away from the public areas to the north, if you look carefully at the photo of the solar station again, you will see there is a steel gate between the panels” I said as I took out the photos of the inside of the house and handed them to Mrs. Atherton. When she finished looking at them I took out the printout plans of the house and the soon to be new extensions.

“As you can see, there is two levels on the main house, the extensions, are not quite completed yet, but when they are, you will have the upstairs suite as your accommodation, and this makes a total of ten bedrooms once the extensions are completed, Tom and I have the two master bedrooms, Bryce, Ethan and Jacob have the guest bedrooms on that same level, and at the moment Jack has the last guest bedroom, and his two boys sleep in the formal lounge.

When the extensions are done, Jack and his two boys and Jacob, will move into the ground floor guest bedrooms, which leaves two guest bedrooms free in the main house… Mrs. Atherton, I think you would make a welcome addition to our household, and I would like to suggest that we arrange a time for you to come and visit the island to see for yourself, before you decide if you want to accept the position” I said to her.

“That sounds like a good idea, how about right now? I’ve got no plans for today, as long as you bring me back this afternoon” Mrs. Atherton replied, and quietly I cursed to myself, hoping the house wasn’t too messy. “Yes, that will be fine by me” I said to her with a smile, and she frowned for a moment before she stood up and took the tray back into the kitchen and washed up the dishes. While she was doing that I telephone Bryce to see where he is.

“Hi Bryce, Mrs. Atherton has expressed an interest in visiting the island today, before she decides to accept the job, are you nearby to collect us?” I said when he answered, “Yes mate, I am two minutes away, I will give the island a call, to get them to clean up a bit” Bryce replied before he hung up the phone. After the short drive to the Tumby Bay boat ramp, Bryce returned the car to the car hire shop, and returned a few minutes later, I had already assisted Mrs. Atherton up the fold down steps, and once Bryce was on board we set off south to Louth Island, which I informed Mrs. Atherton is a 35-minute ride.

During the journey Mrs. Atherton looked out the window, as we passed by the many islands of the Joseph Banks Group, when we arrived at the island, Bryce came around to the western beach and parked the hovercraft up high on the beach, where he usually parks it, and we climbed out. “Welcome to Louth Island, please follow me” I said to her as we walked up the track on the slope of the hill to the top, once there we turned northwards to the nearest section of the main boardwalk, where I had already noticed Tom and Ethan there with the two quad bikes watching as we approached.

“Hello boys, I would like you to meet Mrs. Atherton, who is considering the housekeeping position” I said Tom and Ethan, both boys stood up and smiled, “Now which one is Ethan, and which is Thomas?” she asked as she shook their hands. “I am Ethan, Mrs. Atherton” he responded with a smile, “What do you two boys do for schooling” she asked, and I stepped up to answer that question. “They have recently started home schooling, the conference room has been turned into a school room for their studies” I said proudly, “Would you like a tour of the island first, or would you like to see the house?” Tom asked politely.

I think a bike tour would be nice thankyou Thomas” Mrs. Atherton replied as I assisted her onto the back of Tom’s bike, and I climbed on behind Ethan, while Bryce headed back to the house to check on how tidy it is. Tom lead the way travelling slowly along the boardwalk as we headed north, stopping at the area where Jack and his boys are working, so I could introduce them to Mrs. Atherton, we also spotted a couple of wallabies and quokkas on the way there.

We continued on to the end of the boardwalk at the northern end of the beach, and we turned around and headed back to the turnoff to the newest section of the boardwalk, along the back of the eco tents, and we stopped at the second eco tent, so Mrs. Atherton could inspect them, before we continued on, arriving back on the main boardwalk, we turned right towards the ablutions and shed, just to show her, before heading back to the main picnic Gazebo.

From here we left the boardwalk, and drove along a small track following the coastline southwards, till we turned right onto an even smaller winding track, stopping as we arrived at the solar power station. I opened the gate before turning to face the others, “Welcome to our home Mrs. Atherton” Tom said, and he began descending the wide stairs. Mrs. Atherton paused for a moment before following Tom, and I followed, with Bryce and Ethan followed last. Then Tom opened the door and stepped into the house, I caught sight of the two possums on the edge of the veranda, and they disappeared into the garden when they saw us, which I was pleased to see they did before Mrs. Atherton saw them.