Deception - 5. Dec Chapter 5

Leaving the farm just before 5am, Bryce drove us down to the city, where we would be catching the train, that leaves at 10am, and we managed to arrive at the train terminal 45 minutes before departure time. After saying goodbye to Bryce, we handed over our train tickets, and boarded the Indian Pacific train, where we went to our Gold Service twin share cabin, which is small but has enough room for the two of us, with our own private ensuite.

When the train started moving, we stared out the window, watching the suburbs pass by, and half an hour later we past the last suburban train station, and started entering the Swan hills, and into the Avon valley. We decided to go and explore the train a bit, so we headed forward, and after passing through two carriages, we came to a stop at sign saying “Staff only beyond this point”, so were turned back, and after passing our cabin, which we worked out to be in the third or fourth carriage from the engine, we kept going till we reached the lounge car, where we found some spare seats and sat down.

Time seemed to fly by, as a steward stopped to inform us that lunch was being served and asked if we would like to be in the first sitting, explaining that there are three sittings for each meal, to allow for all guests to eat. We accepted the offer, and we were lead into the dining car, and allocated seats at a table for four, and looking out the window I could see that we had now passed the Avon valley, with the landscape opening up to farming country, as we looked at the menus.

We had just completed making our orders when a lady and a boy sat opposite us, “Hello, my name is Angela Banks, and this is my son Tom” she said with a smile, and the boy who looked to be about eleven years old, smiled and gave a small wave. “Hello, I am Gres Langton, and this young man is Ethan Patterson, my good friend’s son” I replied, and she frowned for a moment before holding out her hand to shake.

Over a very delicious meal, I explained that Ethan’s dad runs a farm, and that Ethan and I are on our way to Papua New Guinea, to tackle the Kokoda Trail. In return, I learnt that Angela and her son were enjoying this train adventure, and relocating to a new state, after family issues have resulted in them needing to start a new life. I didn’t want to intrude too much, so I didn’t ask for any more information.

Ethan and Tom became friends very quickly and Angela was pleased to see, that Tom had found someone around his age to keep him company for the journey. It turned out that their cabin was just five doors down in the same car, so after lunch while Ethan and Tom headed off to explore the train more, Angela and I moved to the lounge car to enjoy the passing scenery. At a bout 2pm, Angela excused herself and headed to her cabin to rest, and I asked her to send Ethan to me if he is there.

As I returned to my cabin, I found the boys sitting on the lounge chair playing cards, so I grabbed one of my books and returned to the lounge car to read. When I returned to my cabin that I shared with Ethan, there was no sign of the boys, so I climbed up onto my bed on the upper bunk and soon fell asleep to the rocking motion of the train. When I woke some time later, it was already dark, and Ethan was shaking me to wake me up, as it was almost 7pm, and he was getting very hungry.

We had dinner on our own, as we were seated not long after the previous diners had finished, there was no sign of Angela or Tom, so we presumed that they had eaten earlier, once again the meal was very large and delicious. “Ethan, when we have our stops, we will need to get as much exercise as we can, to work off all this delicious food, or else we will be too fat to do the trek” I said with a smile and Ethan laughed, nodding in agreement.

Just before 9pm, the train arrived in Kalgoorlie, for its 3-hour stop, most of the passengers were going on the tours that are available, before we arrived there Ethan and I had changed into our exercise gear, and we set off for a two hour walk around town. When we arrived back, we did some sit ups, push-ups and chin lifts, while we waited to be allowed back on the train, where we took it in turn to shower and change and go to bed.

I was awake still when I felt the train depart from Kalgoorlie, but Ethan was fast asleep, and eventually I too fell asleep with the rocking of the train. When I woke in the morning, it was just gone sun rise, and I quietly got dressed, and headed toward the front of the train, before turning to walk as far back as I could, before returning to the lounge car to have a cup of tea, and to read yesterday’s Kalgoorlie newspaper.

When I finished, I returned to the cabin to find Ethan already awake and finishing putting his shoes on, and when done we headed to the dining car for some breakfast. As we were leaving the dining car, Angela and Tom were entering the dining car, we said good morning to them, and let them go to eat. Ethan decided to wait in the lounge car for Tom, and I continued on back to the cabin do some more reading.

I kept reading till I felt the train slowing down, an announcement over the PA system, informed everyone, that we were approaching Cook, where we would be stopping for two hours. I was a bit surprised that we are stopping for so long, as Cook is a railway siding locality, that has just two people living there, and not very many buildings to look at, plus it is located just inside the South Australian border, in the middle of the desert.

Ethan arrived at our cabin just before the train came to a stop, we changed into our exercise gear, and this time included caps, as it was quite warm outside, and for the next hour we both walked up and down the length of the train, and we were sweating a lot by the time we had finished and headed on board to shower and change into some fresh clothes, before heading to the dining car for lunch.

We had just finished eating as the train set off once again, with the next stop being Adelaide, at breakfast time tomorrow. Ethan went looking for Tom, while I went into the lounge car to just relax, and read a little in between times of just watching the scenery outside. When an elderly couple stopped and sat near me, I looked up from the book and smiled to them, before resuming my reading. “Excuse me dear, the book you are reading – A Field Guide to Kokoda, is that why I saw you and a young man walking up and down the length of the train today” the lady asked me with a smile.

“Yes Ma’am, we are on our way to Port Moresby, we are flying to Cairns in the early afternoon once we arrive in Sydney, and fly to PNG the following morning” I replied to her. “My uncle served in the 21stBrigade at Kokoda, he was one of the lucky ones, he was wounded but survived the journey back to the hospital” the gentleman stated to me, “I’m glad he survived, from what I have read, there was some pretty fierce battles in the jungles of Kokoda during 1942 and 43” I added, and we talked about it a little more before they excused themselves and went off somewhere.

Shortly after, I returned to my cabin to read some more of the book where I wouldn’t get disturbed, as I was wanting to finish reading the book before we arrived in Port Moresby. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the cabin, at some point I dozed off to sleep, and woke up when Ethan walked in announcing that it is nearly time for dinner. I decided to take a quick shower to freshen up, and we sat down for dinner at 6.45, fifteen minutes later than arranged, and also at our table were Angela and Tom, who had already eating their main course.

When they had finished their dinner, Angela excused herself, saying she wasn’t feeling very well, and she told Tom to be on his best behavior. After Ethan and I had finished dinner, the boys set off to the lounge car to play cards, and I made my way back to the cabin to do some more reading of the book. After I while, I had a shower and prepared for bed, and Ethan returned to the cabin shortly before 9pm, where he also showered and went to bed.

The following morning, I woke up later than usual, and soon after felt the train starting to slow down a little, looking out the window I saw that we were well into the Adelaide suburbs, and we would be arriving in about twenty minutes, I quickly dressed and shook Ethan awake and told him to get up and dressed, as I stepped out of the cabin, nearly colliding with a train porter in the process. “Excuse me, are you Mr.Langton?” he asked me, “Yes, that’s me, what’s wrong” I asked him when I saw the concerned expression on his face.

“Follow me please sir” the porter said, and I began to walk when he soon stopped in his tracks, and it was then that I noticed young Tom sitting on the bed in his cabin, and he had been crying, I dashed into the cabin and sat next to him, and that’s when I noticed another person in the cabin with us. “Mr. Langton, I am the Chief Porter of the train, Ms Banks fell ill during the night, and she disembarked at Port Augusta, where she was airlifted to Royal Adelaide hospital, where from last reports she is in a coma, suffering from meningitis” the man said to me in a quiet manner.

Tom was crying again, but know he was hugging me tight and crying into my shoulder, I held him gently to comfort him as best as I could, I had heard of the illness, a swelling of the brain if I remembered right, and if so this was serious. “Sir, there is a matter of the welfare of young Tom, shortly after leaving Kalgoorlie, Ms Banks had myself and a passenger who is a lawyer, witness some documents, it was her will, and it stated that in case anything happened to her, that you, are to become Tom’s legal guardian”.

This bit of news hit me like a ton of bricks, I had only known Angela and Tom for just under two days, “Is this really possible?” I asked to no one in particular, “Yes it is actually, she was of sound mind and appeared to be healthy when we witnessed the documents” another gentleman said from the doorway of the now crowed cabin, “My name is Samuel Yeoman, I am the passenger and barrister, who prepared the legal document, do you think you will be able to handle looking after one more young man?” he said to me.

I was a bit speechless and trying to get my head around all that has suddenly happened, “Well yes if I must, can we go and visit Angela in hospital while we are in Adelaide?” I asked, I just spoke to the hospital ten minutes ago, she is intensive care in a coma, and there is not much can be done except hope and pray that she gets over this, what she may not have told you when she said she was moving to another state because of family issues is, that she no longer has any family in WA, as he ex-husband, has been arrested and charged with double attempted murder, and that she was going to flee to New Zealand, where she has some childhood friends.

Tom has a passport, which I have here, along with his birth certificate and school records, I will hang onto those, while you are away, if you are prepared to take Tom with you to PNG” Mr. Yeoman said to me, and I looked down at Tom who was nodding his head that he wanted to be with me and Ethan, “Ok, I guess I can, if you would be able to get a rush tourist visa for Tom, and I need to get him fit enough to do the trek, in under a week” I said.

“Ok Gres, if I may call you that, this is my business card, I am based here in Adelaide, so I will monitor Angela’s condition and keep you informed, just give me your email address and mobile number so I can keep in touch with you” Mr. Yeoman said. With information exchanged the porter and barrister left, and Ethan was now in the cabin with us, seated on the other side of Tom. “Ok, I guess we have got some serious decisions to make, Tom, do you think you will be able to do this trek with us, or should I try to organise it,so we only do a small section of it” I asked, and Tom looked at Ethan then to me, before he spoke.

I want to give it a go please Uncle Gres” Tom said to me, and hearing what he called me caught me by surprise, while Ethan just smiled. “Ok, when we arrive in Adelaide, we will go on a long hike, to test your endurance and energy levels, let’s go and get some breakfast” I said and the boys followed me down the passage to the dining car.

Shortly after we had finished eating, the train was slowing right down, “Tom do you have some sandshoes, shorts and t-shirt, like Ethan is wearing?” I asked him, Tom nodded his head yes and he jumped up and dashed back to his cabin, with Ethan following close behind, while I finished drinking my fruit juice. I bumped into Sam Yeoman as I was heading back to the cabin, and he gave me Tom’s passport, and informed me that he had packed all of Angela’s belongings, which he would look after till we returned.

On arrival in Adelaide, we disembarked and with a map in hand so we didn’t get lost, we headed of on a walk, at a leisurely pace at first, and we found that Tom could easily keep up with us as I increased the speed slowly. “You are doing well, young Tom” I said to him with a smile.