Deception - 39. Dec Chapter 39

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, I organized to hire a car, so we could go out and do some sightseeing out in the Blue Mountains, the wildlife park and some of the small towns in the region. It the late afternoon, after nearly a full day of sightseeing, Tom had fallen asleep as we made our way down the mountains, and I stopped at a service station to fuel up the car, when I saw a large road coach pull up in the carpark, but it wasn’t a passenger coach, but a converted motor home.

As I finished fuelling the car, I spotted a sign in the side window of the coach, “For sale, 16 metreMotorhome, near new refit, only 25,000km odometer, rear upper queen bed, rear bathroom, kitchen with washing machine and central lounge room, and upper twin single beds above the lowered driver cab. Includes Solar power panels, with power batteries, a super quiet generator, and includes a rollout awning, rollout outdoor BBQ, outdoor lounge setting, new tyres and a 6-metre long trailer”. I went to pay for thefuel, and as I exited to service station, I saw the road coach moving, so I dashed to catch them and get them to stop.

While Tom was still asleep in the car, I went to speak to the owners of the motor home, and I was given a detailed tour of the road coach, which is owned by a family of four. I was impressed with the inside of the road coach, with the beds located high up, allowed for more living space, with a good-sized kitchen / laundry, breakfast bar dining area, and the lounge area has a 3 seater leather couch, plus a large leather recliner chair and foot stool, a 56-inch flat screen television, a games consoles and DVD player, plus there is a large book case, able to hold books and DVD, and a study desk and chair.

After completing the tour, I agreed with the owners to meet again late the following day, to finalize the purchase, and while approaching the city on the way back, Tom eventually woke up, totally unaware of the road coach that I planned to buy. Once returning the hire car, Tom and I spent the evening relaxing, and having a quiet meal at the hotel restaurant. The following morning, I took Tom to the main zoo in Sydney, which took most of the morning to explore, before stopping for some lunch at the zoo café, and back at the city they wandered around the city, and they did a bit of clothes shopping as Tom was starting to grow a lot faster now.

Once all the shopping had been brought back to the hotel, Tom announced that he was going to have a short sleep, as he was tired from all of the walking from the past two days, and while he was doing, I did an online search to see if the circus they had seen two days earlier was anywhere near by, and I learnt that the circus was due to start performances in Newcastle to the north of Sydney in a few days’ time, and the website gave a contact phone number, which I dialed.

“Good afternoon, this is Gres Langton speaking” I said as the phone was answered, ‘Hello Gres, this is Manuel here, we were just talking about you earlier today, what can we do for you” came a response, “I hope it was all good things about me” I said with a smile before I continued, “Well after we left the circus the other day, Tom said he had an awesome afternoon, and that he wished we could runaway to the circus, and later that night I thought about what he said, and realized that it was a possibility.

Yesterday while doing sightseeing up in the blue mountains, I came across a large road coach motor home with a 6-metre trailer, and I will be finalizing the purchase this afternoon, so I guess I am telephoning to see if it was at all possible for us to join you?” I said hoping for a positive reply. “Well we could do with your expertise as a veterinary nurse, but we are very limited with our budget” Manuel said.

“Well I am able to fully fund our transport and living costs, as I am fairly well off” I said cheerfully. “In that case you are welcome to join us, we have just arrived in Newcastle, if you can meet us up here” Manuel stated.

I was pleased that we are able to join the circus, which I hoped will make Tom a lot happier. The next phone call Gres made was to his friend and lawyer – Sam Yeoman, who surprisingly answered his phone, instead of it going to voice mail like usual, “Hello Gres, how are you? Bryce was just telling me you and Tom saw Hugh off at the Sydney airport and that you are now spending a few days looking around” Sam said cheerfully.

I chuckled, “Hard to keep anything a secret from you, is it? Yes, we went to the Blue mountains yesterday and watched a circus show in the afternoon before that, and I wanted to let you know that I have made a decision” I said cautiously. “Oh, and what may that be? Sam asked, waiting for the next surprise from me. “While in the Blue Mountains, I saw a road coach motor home for sale, and following a wish that Tom made before going to bed two nights ago, Tom and I are running away to the circus” I said with a big smile.

There was silence on the phone for some time, before Sam responded, “You are quite adamant about this aren’t you” Sam said still a bit shocked at this news. “Yes, Sam I am, this way we can stay fairly anonymous, and see some of Australia in the process. I want only you to know exactly where we are, and what we are doing, I just ask that you let everyone know that we will be away for some time, and that only you will know where, as I will keep in contact with you.

Can you please arrange for Bryce to become managing director of the three islands, increase his pay accordingly, and get Mrs. A to move all of Tom’s belongings into my bedroom suite, so Bryce can have Tom’s bedroom, so he doesn’t have to share a bathroom. I will change mine and Tom’s mobile numbers today, and I will let you know what they are, but don’t pass it onto anyone else please” I instructed.

“Very well, if that is what you want, I will do that, once I have some free time tomorrow, Good luck and have fun at the circus, and speak to you soon” Sam said and he ended the call. When Tom woke up not long after, I asked him to come and sit in the lounge room, as I had something to say.

“Tom, remember two nights ago, you made a wish?” I said and Tom frowned as he tried to recall what it was that he said, “Yes I think I said that I had an awesome afternoon at the circus, and I wished that we could…” Tom didn’t need to say any more as he saw the huge grin on my face, “You mean we are actually going to do it? Yippee!” Tom said excitedly and I just nodded his head yes, “It’s all arranged, I have spoken to Manuel at the circus, we have agreed to pay our own way with accommodation and living costs, in exchange for the chance to tag along and help where needed.

While you were asleep in the car yesterday, I spotted a large road coach motor home, that was for sale, I have seen inside of it, and it will be perfect, and we are finalizing buying it later today, I have spoken to Sam Yeoman, to let him know our plans, and asked him not to tell anyone where we are, just that we will be away for some time.

Bryce will take over managing the three islands, and we will change our mobile phone numbers today, with just Sam to know our new numbers” I announced, “Ok Dad, that’s fine, I’m joining the circus, woohoo” Tom said happily. Two hours later, we caught a taxi to a private address in the outer western suburbs of Sydney, with a short stop off at an ATM machine to withdraw some cash.

When we arrived at the address, the road coach was parked in the front driveway, and the owners came out of the house as we approached the front gate. “Hello again Gresley, and this must be young Tom, nice to meet you, young man” the lady said with a smile shaking Tom’s hand. “Can Tom have a look inside, while we deal with the business side of things?” I asked, as they walked towards the road coach. The lady smiled as she took a set of keys out of her pocket and approaching the front door, she pulled out the hidden step before unlocking the door and opening it.

Tom cautiously glanced inside, before looking back towards me, I smiled and nodded me head, before Tom stepped up inside. “Wow this is awesome” he said loudly from inside and the owners laughed. About half an hour later, Tom and I were driving off in our new mobile home, back towards the city, so as to collect their belongings from the hotel. Gres found it hard to find suitable parking for such a large bus and trailer, eventually he came across some parking, alongside a large park about two kilometres away from the hotel.

When the bus was all locked up, Gres and Tom found a taxi to take them the rest of the way, and they packed up their belongings and checked out of the hotel, once this was done, with the assistance of Tom’s laptop computer, they located an education supply store and a phone store, so as to collect fresh supplies of education material for Tom’s home schooling, and to change phone numbers on both phones.

Once this had been achieved, they caught a taxi back to where they left the road coach, and while Gres commenced the 2 ½ drive north towards Newcastle, Tom put all his new books away in the bookshelf, and his stationary supplies in the desk. When they arrived in Newcastle it was late afternoon, and using the GPS on his mobile, Gres found the way through the small city of Newcastle.

Gres stopped at a service station to fuel up again, so it’s ready for the next journey, and just a few doors down there is a small supermarket, and they did a big shop to stock up food supplies for at least a week. Once back at the mobile home, Gres and Tom put all the shopping away in the fridge, freezer and pantry, before Gres made a phone call to Manuel, to let him know they had arrived in Newcastle, and Manuel gave Gres directions on how to locate the park, where they are based for the next 3 weeks.

When they arrived at the back of the park, two circus staff where at the corner to show me where to go and where to park to coach, which was at the end of the back row of smaller mobile homes and caravans. The trailer was unhitched and pushed towards another trailer, so it was out of the way, and once this was done, the extendable steps at the front and back doors were pulled out, and the side awning was rolled out and secured, creating a large 2.5 -metre-wide outdoor covered area.

Once this was done Tom and I pulled out the outdoor lounge setting, which is located in the outside storage locker, and set it up under the awning. Just as they were finishing setting up, Manuel made an appearance. “If you guys are nearly finished, would you like to follow me please” he said with a smile, and so Tom and Gres followed him towards the main circus tent.

As we entered the main tent, there was a lot of activity, some of the staff were setting up the audience chairs, others were practicing their acts, ready for the first performance tomorrow. Tom just stood there with his mouth wide open, watching everything that was happening, still amazed that he and his new dad had run away to the circus.

The End