Life on the Swan - 10. Swan Chapter 10

“Mr Devonport, I am Dr Karl Henns, I appreciate your assistance, just try not to get in the way of myself and the other staff, now what else can you tell me about his medical condition?” the doctor replied, and after a series of questions, we were able to learn that a big wave hit the yacht that he and his parents were on and that the yacht sunk, but not before his parents put him in a life-raft.

We learnt that he had been drifting for an unknown number of days and that he had run out of water two days before we rescued him. Apart from being severely dehydrated and malnourished, from his ordeal, Louis appeared to be fit and healthy, and once placed on a drip to get fluids back into him, and taking a few blood tests, Louis was admitted to the hospital, and I ensured that he had a private room, stating that I was prepared to pay for all his medical costs.

Once Louis was settled into his hospital room, and he drifted off to sleep, I went out for a walk and to get a drink and a bite to eat. I found Sebastian waiting for me in the hospital café. “Hey, how is he?” Seb asked when he saw me and I sat down.

“He is sleeping now, they have done a few blood tests, but apart from being dehydrated and malnourished, he appears to be healthy, according to the doctors. The poor kid has gone through hell, as the yacht he and his parents were on was hit by a big wave, and the yacht sunk, but only after his parents put him in the life-raft.

From the reaction I saw in the ambulance, I think his parents have drowned. Talking to him I learnt a bit about him, but I didn’t tell the ambo’s or doctor’s anything apart from what they need to know, as Louis will only talk in Italian. It appears that he is a dual citizen of Italy and Australia and that he goes to Wesley College in South Perth.

He was born here in WA, so he is not an illegal immigrant. What we need to do now is try and work out if he has any family, so they can take care of him. I think I will stay with him, overnight, in case he wakes up, Just send me some supplies when you can. Louis is in private room 3” I said to Sebastian.

“Ok, but it would be better if you were back on the yacht, but I can see that he’s taken a liking to you,” Sebastian said to me, as he handed over my wallet and mobile phone to me, before leaving”. After eating and taking a fresh cup of tea with me, I settled into a chair in the room, not sure if I would get much sleep or not.

“Xander? Xander, can I get a drink of water, please?” I heard a voice say in English, which woke me up, and I saw Louis looking at me, as he was half sitting in bed. I jumped up and poured a small cup of water and made sure that he only took small sips.

When I realised that it was daylight, I looked at my mobile and it read 6.42 am, and in Italian, I asked Louis how he is feeling today. Looking a little upset, he informed me that he was feeling ok, but he misses his parents, and on saying that he began to cry.

I sat on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on his shoulder in support, and let him cry as much as he wanted. When he started to settle, I asked if he wanted to tell me what happened, and reluctantly he informed me that his family had chartered a Lagoon 42 catamaran, for a holiday up to Exmouth, with his father being an experienced and qualified skipper.

Louis said that they had left Exmouth on the 23rd and that it was about three days later when the wave hit the catamaran. From this information, I now knew that Louis had been drifting in the life-raft for at least six days. I asked Louis if he has any family in Australia, and he nodded his head,yes.

He informed me that he has a great aunt Irene, who lives at a retirement village in Anstey Street, while his home is at 17 Strickland Street, South Perth. When the nurse appeared, she smiled to see that the patient was awake and talking to me, even if it was in Italian, and she could not understand.

Once she had done a few observations and recorded them, she left the room again. “I am going to go and contact your great aunt, to let her know what is happening, by the way, where did your father work, so I can let them know?” I asked, “He is a Chiropractor and has his own practice, and Mum was his practice manager” Louis replied. “Ok, I will go and call you're great aunt, so we can get an idea of what to do with you once you can leave here,” I explained, and reluctantly Louis let me leave.

Once out of the hospital, I sat down at a bench and started to look up retirement villages in South Perth, and thankfully there was only one. So I dialled the number, “Good Morning, I wish to speak to Irene who is a resident there, I do not know her surname, but it is in regards to her great-nephew, Louis Devereaux, I have some news about her family, that I need to break to her, my name is Alexander Devonport” I said when the call was answered.

“Irene’s nephew and family are on a sailing holiday up north, so they cannot be contacted at the moment,” the lady said in response, “No you don’t understand, Louis is in hospital, I found him drifting in a life-raft yesterday, when the yacht they were on was hit by a wave and sunk, it appears that his parents have drowned” I explained.

“Oh, my goodness, that is horrible, please hold and I will transfer you to Mrs Prentis, she is the director here,” the lady said, and I was instantly listening to loud music as I was placed on hold, and I held the phone away from my ear. “Mr Devonport, my name is Anita Prentis, I have been informed that you have sad news about the Devereaux family, and that young Louis is the only survivor,” a lady’s voice said when the loud music disappeared.

“Yes that is correct, I was on board a yacht, when I spotted his life-raft drifting in the ocean, about 5 kilometres west of the coast, and about 15 kilometres south-west of Port Denison. Louis is currently recovering in the local hospital, and I am trying to locate a family who can look after him” I replied.

“Oh, I see, well as far as I am aware, Irene is his only family here in Australia, and all his relatives in Pont Canavese, northern Italy, were killed in a train wreck a few years back, so I believe Irene is his only living relative, and she is 65, and way too old to be able to bring up a teenager,” Mrs Prentis said.

“I see, well I am well off, and I am able to take care of him till something can be sorted, I will be down in Perth in a few days time to meet with you, so we can let Irene know what has happened, thank you for your assistance” I said before ending the call.

I called a taxi and it took me down to the Port Denison harbour, which was just a short 2-kilometre drive. Once onboard, I headed up to the upper deck terrace, was that is where I could here talking happening. “Ah, you are back, any more news?” Lewis said to me when he saw me appear.

“Yes, sadly his only living relative is a great aunt who lives in a retirement home, just down the road from where his family live in South Perth, His father was a chiropractor, with his own practice, and his mum was the practice manager, I have the address for the retirement home, and for Louis’s home, so I would like to go down there and try and find out a way to help Louis as best as we can” I replied.

“Ok, Mrs Cooper can travel with you, as she has had enough of the rough journey and wants to return home, maybe she can help you with that. We will stay with the yacht, and turn around and head back to Fremantle, and we will see you in a few days time. I will organise for a private charter flight to fly you both from here to Perth this afternoon, as there is a small airport just south of town” Sebastian said to me.

“Thanks, Seb, I appreciate this, oh, one more thing, Louis attends Wesley college, do you think I could…” I asked, not finishing the question, which was interrupted by laughter from Seb and Lewis. “Yes, I think that may be a good solution to your education problems, and I guess we better start looking at buying a place a little bit closer to there too, and maybe sell the properties in Claremont,” Sebastian said eventually.

“No don’t do that, just keep them as an investment, and yes, a place closer to my new school would be great,” I said, before heading off to pack some luggage for my trip to Perth. I informed Wyatt that he can remain on the yacht, so as to spend more time with his brother, and that I would see him when they arrive back in Fremantle.

Within a few hours, we had landed at Perth Airport, and a limo took us directly to the Retirement Village in South Perth, and once I had introduced myself and Mrs Cooper, we were directed to a private lounge, and shortly after an elderly lady using a walking frame staggered in.

Over the next few minutes, we broke the news to Irene, of the yacht being hit by a wave and sinking, and that Louis was recovering from the ordeal in hospital. After a while, Irene stopped sobbing, and she looked at me. “Thank you for being so kind to my great-nephew, he is a kind-hearted soul, and I do not know what is to become of him, as he is only 15,” she said to me.

“It is my pleasure Ma’am, I was in a similar situation myself, when my single mother died, I was left in the care of my grandmother, but after a while, she was struggling to cope with me growing up, I was just ten years old att he time. Thankfully my Gran knew that I had a living father and we went in search of him, spending a lot of her life savings to do it, and it included a long journey to the Falkand Islands, where we learnt that my father had passed away a few years earlier.

Thankfully, my father had a 1st cousin, and he became my guardian, and I have been a very lucky teenager ever since” I said to Irene. “What he is trying to say to you, and correct me if I am wrong, Master Xander, is that Alexander wishes to do something for your great-nephew, as his guardian has done for him” Mrs Cooper explained, and I nodded my head in agreement to what she said.

“You see Mrs… I mean Irene, I am a very wealthy teenager, with tens of millions of dollars in my bank account, so if there is anything that I can do for you or for Louis, I will be all too pleased to do it, without hesitation” I said to her, and I saw her facial expression change to shock and surprise, before a I saw a few tears fall down her cheek, and Mrs Cooper handed her a tissue.

“What Alexander says is true, I was employed by Mr Sebastian for many years as his housekeeper, and I have travelled all over the world, including the Falkland Islands, they are a very wealthy family, but they are also very kind-hearted and will do anything for people that they care about, and now you are part of that family, so I suggest you just accept the offer, and let it be” Mrs Cooper said.

“Well, I guess I will just have to say thank you, young man, you have made an old lady very happy” Irene responded, as she sniffed away her tears.

“Now, as we have been chatting, I have come up with an idea, earlier today, I was talking to my guardian, and I am planning to relocate schools, and we decided that Wesley College would be a good place to attend. That way I can stay close to Louis, in case he needs a friend, as he deals with the loss of his parents, and we are already good friends in the short time I have got to know him, plus we have one common interest, we are both fluent Italian speakers” I said.

This made Irene smile, which I was glad to see. “Now Irene, are you permitted to go out on excursions, as I would like to take you for a short ride?” I asked, and Irene huffed at me, “Of course I can, this isn’t a prison you know, we go out on picnics and tours, go to the theatre and art gallery regularly” Irene said in reply.

A lady entered the room at that point, “Are you ok Irene, do you need anything?” the lady asked, “Yes, you can let Mrs Prentis know that my friends are taking me out for the rest of the day, and I will be back in time for dinner” Irene stated, and the lady dashed off to pass on the news.

Twenty minutes later, we were in the limo, which really surprised Irene, and driving off for a short distance, to Wesley College, firstly to inform the school of what has happened, and secondly to allow me to enrol into the school, and I discovered that Sebastian had already been in contact with the school, about me coming to the school.

Once we had done this and worked out that Louis’s school fees are all paid up for the whole year, we set off to the restaurant down by the river, for a nice lunch. While eating and the ladies were getting to know each other, I did some web searching on my phone, in search of suitable homes that are available to buy in the South Perth region.

As I was doing this, I received a text from Sebastian. “Found a possible new home for you, located at 5 Waugh Street, Mount Pleasant, with Canning River views, across the river from South Perth / Como, 6 kilometres from Wesley College, South of Perth Yacht Club just 4 kilometres away for your yacht.”

When I read that bit, I immediately looked up the real estate listing. The house has 4 bedrooms, with three levels, a swimming pool, gym, study, and the master bedroom has great views of the river. I called the real estate agent right away, and asked for a private viewing this afternoon, which the agent was happy to do, and a time was set for 2.45 pm.

After lunch, we went for a light walk along the river, where I announced that I have an appointment to view a possible new home for me, in Mt Pleasant, and Irene said that she would like to go back to the retirement village for an afternoon rest and that she looks forward to hearing all about this house, very soon.

Once we had dropped off Irene, the Limo took Mrs Copper and I, to the house, which is perched on a hill, with a long private driveway, coming off Stoke Street. I wasn’t really keen on this house because of its location on a hill, and I think it showed, as the agent informed me that she had other properties that I may be interested in.

I short while later, we arrived at a property on Canning Beach road, where a busy road separates the house from the riverbank, but it is just 450 metres from the yacht club. The enormous two-level house, has four bedrooms, with one of them behind the kitchen with its own ensuite bathroom, the master suite has its own bathroom, while the remaining two bedrooms share a bathroom.

Out the back, there is a double garage, a huge games room and movie theatre, plus a 25-metre lap pool and a tennis court, and a small lawn area. I liked that the place had the lap pool and the tennis court, but was not sure about it being on a busy road, even though the double glazing seemed to remove any hint of any traffic noise.

Seeing that I was hesitant about the property, the agent said that she had one more place to show us which is in South Perth, and although it is a lot more expensive, it does not have a tennis court, but does have a small pool, and has unrestricted views of the Swan River and the South Perth Foreshore, with five bedrooms and three bathrooms.

By the time we had seen the third house, I was really confused, and I thanked the agent for her time, and that we would consider the options and let her know. Once back in the Limo, and heading back to Claremont, I told Mrs Cooper that I was happy with the bungalow in Victoria Avenue, and that I would stay there.

Once I had dropped off Mrs Cooper at her home, I was delivered to my home, around the corner, and I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. When I realised that I don’t have Wyatt home to cook me some dinner, I thought about it for a while, before deciding to go out to a restaurant for dinner.