Shadows Dancing in the Sun - 13. Shad Chapter 13

With the rest of the afternoon free, I spent some time playing the piano, before heading to the pool to swim and soak up some sun, and generally just unwind, as we have a busy weekend ahead of us, starting tomorrow. The following morning at 9 am, the school bus arrived once more with the teachers, and I went to let them in through the gate. With 12 teachers plus the Headmaster and deputy Head, it was discussed where the best places are to have the staff stationed, and a roster was made up to all staff to have at least one short break during the four hours of having the open day.

The headmaster had brought with him, copies of a list of current Year 10 to 12 students, so they can be checked off when they enter the property, with no one permitted to enter, if they are not a student, teacher or staff member of the school. With the Deputy headmaster being the only current teacher in the school with a master’s degree in Education and in bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science.

I over heard the headmaster informed my uncle that Mr Hodges, the Deputy headmaster will be the Campus manager and senior lecturer next year, which meant that I was bound to have him as one of my teachers next year, and that there will be a total of 23 permanent staff consisting of 11 teachers, 6 administrative staff and 6 support staff, plus six casual cleaning staff.

By the end of the second day of the campus open day weekend, I was exhausted, but I was pleased that I have a whole two weeks to just relax during the school holidays. Uncle Mitch had attended the meeting with the University, and they were very happy with the next building just a street block away, which would become very useful for them, starting from the beginning of the second semester, in mid-July this year.

Late on Sunday afternoon, the house phone rang, which is a rare occurrence, and made me jump a little in fright. “Hello, Mitchell speaking… oh hi, what’s up?” I heard Uncle Mitch say into the phone, and I pretended that I was not listening, as I headed to the fridge to grab a snack.
“Don’t eat anything now, we are going out for dinner soon… what? Oh I was talking to my nephew… ok, but it will have to be brief, “I will send Tobias down to let you in,” I heard my uncle say, and I grabbed my access card and started to head downstairs, to let Xavier in, which was my guess at who my uncle was talking too.

“Hey Tobias, how did the open campus tours go?” Xavier asked me when I unlocked the pedestrian gate for him, and I looked around to see if there was any media around, and there wasn’t which I was pleased about. “OK, I guess, just very tiring, it is going to take the whole two weeks of holidays for me to recover,” I replied, which made Xavier laugh, as he followed me down the driveway and through the main front doors to building two.

“Your uncle is fairly strict with security with access to the buildings?” Xavier asked, “Yes, it is good as it keeps the bloody media from snooping around to much,” I replied, as we entered the elevator and I hit the Penthouse 1 button. “Are there two penthouses?” Xavier asked when he saw the two buttons, “No, the penthouse has two levels, with penthouse one being the living area, and the next level up being the suites,” I explained.

“Hey Xavier, come in to the main living room, or would you prefer to stay in the dining room?” Uncle Mitch said when he noticed the cardboard tube that he was holding, “Dining table please Mitch, nice place you have here, it has turned out very nicely,” Xavier replied.

“Yes, it has, we are very happy here, now what is it that you want to talk to me about?” Uncle Mitch replied. “Well, I am not sure if you noticed or not, but the plot of land across the street from the Fairway and Clark, is also owned by you, even though I neglected to tell you this, as I was going to build another complex that could be used for higher education facilities, which I presume you are going to do with the Fairway property,” Xavier said.

“Yes, I have finalised a deal with the university for them to lease the who complex for a minimal amount, in return with permanent use of some carparking spaces, to allow a second exit route for the school campus. They will be taking over in about a month’s time, so it will be in use by the start of second semester,” Uncle Mitch replied.

“I see, well the block opposite which you may have noticed is now bare, but once had 5 very old and tired apartment buildings and two houses, is now ready for redevelopment, and I wanted to get your views on what to build there, since it will become yours when it is completed,” Xavier announced.

“I see, well I will have to think about it, but I think that we may have enough education facilities in the area, I don’t want to overdo it, and be left with a heap of empty buildings, that no one wants, how big is the block?” Uncle Mitch replied. “105 by 35 metres, or 3675 metres squared. I have a few ideas that I have drawn up, I will leave them up to you to look at and get back to me,” Xavier replied.

While Uncle Mitch was seeing Xavier out through the security gate, I took a gander at the plans that Xavier had left behind. After looking at the three options, I liked the accommodation and Conference facility design best, which consists of two wings that are identical.

Each wing has the same lower level of engineering facilities, with power supply, water pump, storage tanks, a 21-bay carpark for staff, switch room, backup generator and store rooms.

The ground floor has a small central administration area, along with two large function rooms, dining room and kitchen, with cold and dry storage. There are also four large conference rooms, 6 meeting rooms, a fitness gymnasium and library, plus two parking areas with 19-car bays in each, also two lots of male and female change rooms and a three-lane lap pool at the back between the two wings.

The first floor has a total of 35 guest suites and two quiet lounges in each wing, making up the total area of the complex. With a total of 70 student accommodation suites, this would easily cover a lot of the demand for university accommodation, which has been a constant issue for many years, plus during the holiday periods when there are no students staying in the facilities, they could be leased out for conferences.

When Uncle Mitch returned and had a chance to look at the plans, he agreed with me on which was the best choice, and he text Xavier to let him know which one we had selected for that building site.

The following morning while having a late breakfast, Uncle Mitch’s phone rang, and he frowned when he looked at the screen, before answering the call.

“Mitchell Garrison speaking,” he said as he switched the call to loud speaker, so he could sit down and relax, “Good afternoon Mr Garrison, this is Anna, Mr Peterson’s secretary, please hold… Mitchell, are you able to come to my office right away please?” a man’s voice asked, “Err, sure, what is the problem?” Uncle Mitch replied.

“It is Mr and Mrs Dale, they are here and kicking up quite a bit of a ruckus,” the man responded, and on hearing the name of my Stepfather, I groaned loudly, “What was that? Are you still there?” the man asked, and Uncle Mitchell chuckled before responding.

“That was my nephew groaning at the mentioning of his stepfathers name,” Uncle Mitch replied, “Oh, yes, I see, if you can hear me Master Tobias, I am sorry, I am fully aware of the situation with your other family,” Mr Parker said. “That is ok, I thought I didn’t have to hear that name ever again,” I replied.

“Well, unfortunately it is because of their living situation that they are here now, they are wondering why the departure of Tobias has anything to do with them having to pay rent, when he says that his wife owns the house,” Mr Parker said. “Ok, I am on my way, I will see you soon,” Uncle Mitch said before ending the call.

“I was wondering when he would wake up to this, and what he would do,” uncle Mitch said to me after a long pause of silence, “I think I will stay at home, if that is ok with you,” I said to my uncle, “Yes, I half expected that you would, I will see you when I have returned,” Uncle Mitch said after standing up and heading to his suite to get his keys and wallet.

Over two hours later, I was starting to get worried, after trying to contact uncle Mitch on his phone for the second time without success, and I was beginning to think what I should do now, when the front gate buzzer sounded. “Tobias, this is Maria speaking, I heard the familiar voice say.

“Hello Maria, my uncle isn’t here right now, I am actually starting to get worried, he should be back by now,” I responded, “That is why we are both here, your uncle is in hospital with a minor fracture to the skull, and he will be there for about a week, so we have come to look after you,” Giorgio said to me, as my legs began to wobble, and I hit the open gate button, before sliding down to the floor.

When the buzzer sounded again, I heard Giorgio’s voice, “You need to let us in please,” I heard him say, so I pressed the Penthouse access button, to open the front door and allow access to the elevator to get to get to the third floor, and a few minutes later, Maria was hugging me and I burst into tears.

“Why? … What happened? I asked between sobs. “We don’t know the full story, but apparently your stepfather went wild when he learnt that you are the owner of the house they live in, and he shoved the lawyer, Mr Peterson hard against the wall, before punching your uncle, knocking him out cold, then he and his wife dashed out of the building.

The police are currently searching for them now, especially since there are three children in their care,” Giorgio responded. After I had calmed down, I showed Maria and Giorgio to the spare suite, before giving them a full tour of the penthouse, including the two semi-outdoor spaces.

Going into Uncle Mitchell’s office, I retrieved two spare Penthouse access cards, and gave them to Giorgio and Maria, so they can come in and out of the property when they need to. “Where is your car?” I asked them when I had completed showing them around, “In a street side parking bay across the road, “ Giorgio replied, “Come with me, and we will bring it into the property, where you can park it in the undercover area,” I said, and we headed for the elevator, and walked to the pedestrian gate, and exited.

Once in the car, Giorgio approached the gate, and I swiped my card to open the gate, and I directed Giorgio where to go to park in the penthouse parking bays. “This is your allotted parking spot, for whenever you need to come here, the card that I gave you will give you access into the property and up to the Penthouse,” I explained, as we climbed out of the vehicle and headed back upstairs to the Penthouse, where Maria was busy cooking.