Life on the Swan - 13. Swan Chapter 13

What about you? Are you just as wealthy too?” Louis asked still looking shocked. “Not quite as much as them, I am just a millionaire, as I only have what my father owned in assets and investments, so my wealth is around… actually not I won’t tell you how much, just that it is a fair amount. By the way, when you reach the age of twenty-one, you will be getting a lot more than what Seb gives you for your weekly pocket money” I responded.

“What? Really? Why is that?” Louis asked sounding stunned, “Well, when he became your guardian, he set up a bank account for you, and also he has made a few investments on your behalf, so by the time you reach the age of twenty-one, you will have already become a millionaire” I replied.

Louis suddenly went ghost white, and Wyatt being closer rushed up to him and grabbed hold of him when he fainted, once I was around the table, I picked up Louis and carried him to his bedroom, and lay him on his bed, leaving Wyatt to take charge to look after him.

When Louis re-appeared, I gave a little smile, “How are you feeling, sorry about the big shock? I said to him, as Louis sat down on the lounge beside me, and I reached for and took hold of his hand, which he gave a small squeeze. “Yeah, it was a huge shock, I had no idea that I was being looked after like that, I just thought I was been given a home, and school to attend till I finish my schooling” Louis replied.

“A lot more than that my friend, if you wish, Seb will pay for you to go to University as well, I am already enrolled to attend UWA - the University of Western Australia, next year” I responded.

“Oh ok, I will have to totally rethink about all this, I had no idea that I could go to Uni… hey Xander, would your family by any chance, have anything to do with the purchase of a lot of houses around the school area and demolishing them?” Louis asked.

“See you are a lot smarter than you thought you are, and the answer is yes. Last year, one day at school, instead of eating lunch, I went for a walk around the block, and there were a few houses and apartments already for sale, which I took note of and notified Sebastian.

So far, on Coode Street, we own the two town-houses near the corner of Angelo Street, which are leased out to the school, for staff accommodation, and number 27, which was an older house, and it was pulled down.

On Tate Street, there are the former duplex units at number 13 & 15, the house next door at number 11 and the triangular block directly opposite at number 10, both which were cleared, and now have building projects in place, and on Angelo Street, we bought numbers 104 & 106, which have also been demolished and building work has commenced” I announced.

“What is it that Sebastian has planned for these properties, and what exactly is being built?” Louis asked me. “Not Seb, it’s me, they are part of my investment portfolio, like Seb did with land close to Christ Church Grammar, I am doing the same here in South Perth,, and the building projects are multi-purpose use buildings, that will be leased to Wesley College for their use” I said.

“Wow, that is incredible, I bet the school are pleased about that?” Louis stated, “Yes they are, considering they are getting a very cheap lease rate, for a long period of time, but you cannot reveal to anyone that I own the properties, not to anyone that has links to the school, understand?” I said to Louis, “Yeah, sure thing, not a problem there, when will the buildings be ready for use by the school?” Louis replied.

“Start of the first term next year” I answered, “Awesome, I will hopefully get to be in the buildings a lot next year then,” Louis said happily, which made me laugh.

“Well maybe some of them anyway, the triangular block on the corner of Tate and Anthony Streets, will be a new four-level boarding house, with an undercover walkway over the top of Tate street, to get to the school. The other Tate Street blocks, are to become a four-level apartment block for staff accommodation, with social and recreation facilities, as well as meeting rooms, and a conference room.

Once passed over Tate Street, the 2nd-floor high walkway, slopes down to 1st-floor height, to create a covered walkway below it alongside the Staff building, and from there the walkway goes along the top of the stone wall that separates the cricket and football oval from the tennis courts to the Visual Arts Building,” I explained.

“So, what buildings will be used for classrooms?” Louis asked, “Just the one taking up the blocks on Angelo Street, which will be just two levelshigh, and it will be a senior school centre and will have a total of fourlarge classrooms, student bathrooms and a senior student lounge locatedupstairs, and two classrooms, a 60 seat lecture theatre, staff bathrooms and student sports change rooms downstairs,” I replied.

“Wow, it sounds awesome, I look forward to seeing it next year” Louis responded happily, “Yeah the school board are thrilled with the design concept, and it will make move room available for the growing middle school students, the senior students lounge overlooks the sports oval, with an outside balcony, to watch games,” I said.

“So, is there any special reason why everyone is gathering together in late November, with Christmas still a month away?” Louis asked me, “Yes, I am trying to organise a special event, that will take place after year 12 exams are over, I can’t tell you too much at the moment, as it is in early planning stages, and unfortunately you won’t be able to attend, but you do get to spend weekends on a huge ship in Fremantle if you want too” I explained.

“Hmm… ok, I guess I can live with that,” Louis said with a smirk on his face, and I just laughed.

The next day, I was watching a cricket match between my current school and my former school, when someone stood next to me but didn’t say anything, I turned to see who it was, and was shocked to see an unexpected face. “Chas Parker, what the fuck are you doing here?” I exclaimed a bit too loudly.

“Mr Devonport, I heard that! Come here right now” a voice bellowed, and I knew that voice to be the Headmaster. “Shit, thanks a lot Parker, that is all I need,” I said under my breath so only he could hear me, as I set off towards the headmaster. “I am terribly sorry sir, it’s just a former school mate from Christ Church has turned up, and it caught me totally by surprise, as he was a year older than me, and he was the cause of some issues that happened early last year” I explained.

“Ah yes, the photo and text message that went around the school population at Christ Church Grammar, my colleague at Christ Church told me about that. It is still no excuse to be swearing like that, especially when a visiting school is here” the Headmaster said to me.

“Yes sir, I do apologise, it was not intentional at all, Chas Parker just came up and stood right next to me, and when I turned to see who it was, that is when I swore” I responded. “Parker you say, is his father the former School Board Chairman at your old school?” the headmaster asked.

“Did you say former? Yes, Mr Parker was the board chairman when I was there last year, but I had no idea he was no longer in the position,” I replied, “Well it seems that the problems that his son created, had larger effects than you expected.

I heard that your guardian rescinded financing a major building project for your former school, and as a result, Mr Parker lost his position on the school board as well” the headmaster said.

I followed the headmaster as he walked in the direction of Chas, who was so busy watching the game, that he didn’t see us approaching until it was too late. “Mr Parker, what are you doing at this school, if you are not a student at Christ Church Grammar?” he asked Chas very sternly and I clearly saw Chas gulp in worry, as he looked around for a way to escape.

“My… my brother is playing in this game, and I am to collect him and take him home afterwards sir?” Chas replied nervously, the headmaster turned to me and raised an eyebrow. “Yes sir, he has a younger brother, James who is a year younger than me,” I said answering the silent question.

The headmaster turned back to Chas, “Very well, you may stay till the end of the game, but you are not to interact with any student from this school, do you understand me, Mr Parker?” he said, and Chas nodded his head yes before the headmaster walked away.

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I too walked away, but in a different direction, to get away from him, not even tempted to turn around to see if he was watching me leave. At lunchtime, Louis found me seated at a table with other senior students, “Can I speak to you for a moment please bro?” he said to me quietly and excusing myself, I headed outside, following Louis.

“Who was that guy, that the headmaster chewed and spat out?” he asked me as soon as we were alone outside, and I laughed at the way he asked me. “The bastard student from Christ Church Grammar, that caused me all the hassles last year, resulting in Sebastian removing me from the school and enrolling me here,” I replied.

“Man, you should have seen his face when you walked away, he was so pissed off. After a few moments, he started to follow you, then he changed directions and left the school” Louis informed me, and I smiled. “Good, thanks for that info, it has made my day,” I said, as I headed back inside.

Later that day, when Louis and I arrived home at the end of another school week, Wyatt told us to quickly shower and dress in neat casual, and pack a bag for two nights, as we would be heading to Fremantle at 5.30 pm, which gave us less than two hours to get organised.

When we arrived in Fremantle shortly before 6 pm, it was still late afternoon, with another hour before the sun would set, as Wyatt pulled up in the carpark in front of the rear building, which is for my use only. Seb had already text me, to say they had arrived and were relaxing inside.

“Hey lads, how was your week at school?” Lewis asked when we entered the building, “Good thanks mate, but not looking forward to the start of exams in just over a weeks’ time” I replied, and Louis chuckled at this and gave me a small nudge sideways.

“The Southern Explorer has hit some rough weather on the way down, and although it can handle it, the Captain decided that he wanted a more smother cruise down the coast, so he has slowed down, and they will be here shortly before 9 pm, so we will need to go out to a restaurant for dinner,” Sebastian announced.

“That’s fine by me, as long as I am not cooking,” Wyatt commented, which made us all laugh. “Before we do, just a few things to discuss, in regards to the surprise party, you are planning Xander, you may not be away of this, but the ship had a small refit in Europe, where the four-port and four-starboard cargo bays are, on the tween deck, directly behind the aft spiral stairs, they have been converted into two passages and three rows of Economy class guest accommodation.

What there is now is a total of 12 guest cabins with separate bathrooms each, with each cabin having twin beds, so as to accommodate a total of 24 guests, plus six of the ten main guest cabins, on the main deck have been changed to two king single beds in each cabin, making it more flexible for guests,” Sebastian announced.

“Ok, that is good, but it won’t make it possible to have an overnight event, as there are 112 students in Year 12, so there is not enough room for the students and however many parents/teachers coming along also” I commented, as I tried to think of a way to correct that.

“I suggest that you just make it an all-day event, say at Little Salmon Bay on Rottnest Island” Sebastian replied, and I nodded my head at his suggestion. Soon after we headed off to the centre of Fremantle to find a place to eat, and we eventually chose the restaurant at the Esplanade Hotel.

While we were eating, Sebastian received a call from the Captain of the Southern Explorer, informing him that due to some issues with shortage of tug boat skippers, they would not be able to enter the harbour, until 9 am tomorrow morning, so it was decided that Sebastian, Lewis and Xavier would stay overnight with us at my home in Claremont, so after dinner was over, we caught taxi’s back to my place.

The next day, after a large breakfast, created by the Cooper twins, we all bundled into the Limo that Sebastian had arranged, and set off down to Fremantle, where the ship was now berthed at our jetty at Rous Head. When we arrived, I could see that Sebastian was not too pleased when we saw the road leading down the side of the shed blocked by two large trucks parked there. Sebastian jumped out of the Limo and stormed off into the large shed, and I quickly followed him.

“Hey you, get out, this is private property” a shout came from somewhere inside, just as I entered the warehouse, which was full of pallets of drums, and packing boxes.

“Yes, it is private property, and I am the owner, now who is in charge here?” I shouted back before Sebastian could say anything. “That would be me sonny, and you are way too young to own any property like this” a man’s voice said as he came from the back of the shed.

“That may be your thinking mate, but it true, my ward is indeed the owner of this property, and part of the conditions of the lease of this shed, is that the inside of the shed will not be used to store hazardous or flammable items and that the side access road will not be blocked by anything at any time” Sebastian snapped back.

“You have breached both of those conditions, so we are terminating our lease agreement, you have until the close of business to safely remove all items from this shed, and that it be left in the exact state as you arrived here, do you understand me Mr?” I said to the very tall and well-built man who was trying to be as intimidating as possible, which I ignored.

“I understand, but it will take longer than the rest of today to remove all of this out of here,” the man said as he stepped back from me, seeing that trying to intimidate me by his size, was not working. “Very well, you have until 5 pm tomorrow, and not a minute later, if you do not, any goods remaining will be sold off and the proceeds will be donated to charity,” Sebastian said.

“Understood sir, we will do our very best, and I will have the trucks moved right away,” the man said, as he dashed off to get his team motivated to get the work done.

On exiting the shed, Lewis, Wyatt, Xavier and Louis were standing there waiting, along with our luggage, and the limo had left, so we walked the remaining distance down the side of the building to get to the jetty, where the ship was waiting for us.

“Holy smokes, she is huge! Louis stated when he saw the Southern Explorer for the first time, and I just chuckled at his surprise, “That she is my friend, and my late father had spent a fair amount of time onboard her” I stated. “Welcome aboard,” the Wagner twins said together, as they stood on the main deck when we stepped aboard.

It was decided that Lewis, Sebastian would stay in the Owners suite on B Deck, Louis and I would be in the Executive suites on D deck, along with the Wagner twins, leaving our house staff, Wyatt and Xavier would be given a crew cabin on the B deck, as there was a couple of them vacant.

Once we had all settled into our accommodation, Sebastian contacted the bridge and asked the Captain to set sail, with the destination to be Rockingham, which is a 1-hour journey. I wondered why Sebastian had decided on us going to Rockingham, and I was going to ask him about it, when I noticed the big grin on Lewis’s face, indicating that we are in for a surprise of some kind, so I let it the matter drop.

The journey was fairly smooth, which was good, and the ship's crew looked after us very well, and just before 11 am, we slowed as approached the bottom end of Cockburn Sound.

Louis and I were in the storm lounge on D deck as we approached Rockingham, and followed along the east side of the causeway, which is the road link from the mainland to Garden Island, which is better known as HMAS Stirling or Fleet Base West.

As we slowed right down, we saw at the base of the Cockburn sound, right next to the end of the causeway, a long jetty, that appears to be fairly new, as the ship slowly approached it and after doing a 180 degree turn, the deck crew got to work to secure the mooring ropes to the jetty. The storm lounge was now facing north, towards the way we came, so we headed downstairs to see what Sebastian had planned for here.

“Welcome to Mangles Bay, this is a recent purchase by Wagner International, 1.5 acres of land, including this new purpose-built jetty and boat ramp, and the large shed” Sebastian announced when we arrived on the aft main deck, where everyone else was waiting.

“This is to be the new base for the Southern Explorer, a sheltered bay that can handle the rough weather that it delivers. We had to dredge some of the area in front of the property, so as to make it deep enough for the ship, with the sand used to build up the beach, and establish a sea wall to protect the beach between the causeway and the jetty.

We bought this off the Defence Force, as Freehold land, but if we ever want to sell the land, it has to be sold back to the Defence Force,” Sebastian announced. We had a tour of the shed and walked down to the very end of the jetty, with big signs all along it – “Private Property, Trespassing is Prohibited” at each end and two evenly spaced out along the jetty, with a fence built along the eastern side, facing the boat club, from the boundary fence, all way into the water, beyond the low tide mark.

Once onboard the Southern Explorer, Sebatian explained to me and his brothers, the plans to make the Southern Explorer a small cruise ship, providing sail journeyes along the Western Australian Coast, from Fremantle to Exmouth, via the Abrolhos Islands and Denham, plus Fremantle to Esperance, via Busselton and Albany.

Sebastian and Lewis would manage the new business from their home near Denham, but the ship would be based here at Mangles Bay, and that the first passengers would be a day cruise of the graduating class of my school, leaving Fremantle at 8 am, and returning at 8 pm, which I was pleased to hear, as I looked forward to an enjoyable end of School celebration and a bright future ahead.