Life on the Swan - 3. Swan Chapter 3

“Touché Mr Devonport, I guess I will just have to wait till the next School board meeting, which happens to be this Friday evening” the headmaster said to me smiling. “That you will sir, one last thing, I ask that only you, know my connection to Wagner Corporation, as I would like to remain as anonymous as possible” I asked.

“I can guarantee that Mr Devonport, and you better take back this business card, so it doesn’t accidently get into the wrong hands” the headmaster said, as he handed it back to me, and I placed it in the briefcase and locked it. I stood and shook the headmaster’s hand before leaving his office and the admin building, and headed for my school locker, where I keep most of my books.

As the school bell sounded for the end of the morning classes, there was a knock on the classroom door, and one of the senior prefects entered the room, and after whispering to the teacher for a moment, he faced the front and on seeing me, indicated for me to follow him.

“I don’t know what all of this is about, but my father is the Chairman of the school board, and he and the headmaster are asking for you to come to his office right away” Chas Parker, the head prefect quietly said to me, once in the hallway, which was quickly filling up with students.

“I am sorry Chas, but I cannot tell you what it is about just yet, but I can guarantee that you and the whole school will know about it in the near future” I responded, and Chas frowned at me, before continuing. I had only met Chas two times before, once when I managed to break up a fight between two other students, and he was the first prefect to arrive soon after, and the second time, was when he came to my rescue when I was being bullied in my first week at the new school.

A few minutes later, Chas and I entered the admin building, and with a nod of the head to the receptionist, we continued down the hallway towards the headmaster’s office. After knocking on the door, Chas opened it and walked in, with me following. “Father & Headmaster, I have Alexander Devonport here as requested,” Chas said.

I glanced at Chas as he spoke so formally, and I wondered what that was all about, as he looked like he was afraid. “Thank you, Chas, you may go now, and remember, no mention of this meeting to anyone,” the Headmaster said, “Yes sir” Chas responded, before exiting the room, closing the door behind him.

“I am sorry Mr Devonport, I had insisted on knowing who had delivered this document to the school today, I have met your cousin a few times, but I had no idea that his ward was a student here, take a seat please” Mr Parker said to me.

I did as was requested, and a moment later there was another knock on the door, and it opened, and a admin staff member entered with a trolley, containing three meal plates, a pot of tea, cups and saucers and a bowel of sugar and small jug of milk on it.

“Thankyou Mary, can you make sure we are not disturbed for the next hour, oh and please inform Mr Devonport’s next class teacher, that he may be a little late” the Headmaster said, and I turned to the lady. ‘That would be Mr Henderson for PE thanks Miss” I said to her, and she smiled before leaving the room.

I stood up and approached the trolley, and poured three cups of tea, and placed them on the coffee table, along with the bowl and jug, before placing the three plates and three sets of cutlery on the coffee table, and waited for the Headmaster and Mr Parker to join me.

“Now, Mr Devonport, I have informed the headmaster, Mr Hammond, the basics of what is in this proposal that you delivered this morning, and I wanted to ask you a few questions about it, if you don’t mind” Mr Parker said to me, “Well sir, I too only know the basics of the proposal, as Sebastian, my guardian did all the work while locked away in his study during the weekend.

All I am aware of is that the school will be acquiring an additional twenty acres of crown land next door to the existing old sports grounds, and using the vacant land behind the new sports grounds to expand the sports facilities, while the land at the front of the new sports grounds will be used for building the new senior school.

My three cousins and I suggested during a family meeting over the weekend, that although we accept the offer to take ownership of the current school property on completion of the move to the new Senior school campus in Mt Claremont. We suggest that the school leases the front two thirds of the Claremont campus for a bigger prepatory school, and the corporation will develop the river end of the property, when a suitable plan has been put together” I stated.

“Interesting, that is pretty much what I have read, when I scanned through the document over the past two hours, except what you left out Mr Devonport, is that your cousin specifically names you as the person who suggested the idea of the prep school moving to the current senior school campus after the senior school has relocated” Mr Parker said to me, and I blushed a little.

Mr Parker and Mr Hammond laughed at my reaction to this news, “As I said to the headmaster earlier, I would prefer to remain as anonymous as possible” I stated softly.

“Would you by any chance be the owner of the land recently purchased from the Mosman Park town council, involving prime river frontage parkland in Mosman Park?” Mr Parker asked, and I nodded my head to confirm this bit of information.

“Well headmaster, we had better watch out, this young man is going places and real fast, what are your plans for that piece of valuable land if I may ask” Mr Parker stated.

“Still under consideration sir, it has only just been settled, so we need to do some environmental studies of the area, and then think about what to do, although a section of the land at the back of the property, will be public reserve space, as part of the condition of the sale” I replied.

“Interesting, so I guess you are not aware of what is in todays newspaper?” Mr Parker asked me, as he stood up and retrieved a copy of todays newspaper from the headmaster’s desk, and handed it over to me. “Swiss investment company awarded the winning bid for prime river land owned by the Federal Government’s Department of Defence” was the headlines, and I looked at the article.

“The Federal Minister of Defence announced in Canberra this morning, that Swiss Investment firm – Huon Investments, was the successful bidder, for the purchase of 2.2 acres of river frontage land that was part of, but across the road from HMAS Leeuwin Naval Base, in East Fremantle.

The land consists of a number of workshops and other buildings, plus a 70-metre long jetty, a small 25-metre long jetty and a 42-metre long wharf. Settlement was completed 5 weeks ago, and information about the sale was only released today, as part of the contract sale”.

“Sir, if I may, can I call Sebastian, I was not informed of this” I asked, as I began to retrieve my mobile, “Yes, but make it quick, as we have lunch to eat, and I am interested to know more about your company” the headmaster replied.

After a brief call to Sebastian, who apologised for forgetting to tell me about the purchase of the former defence land, because he had the proposal to the school on his mind at the time, I asked for him to email all the information to me, so I can look at it after school.

As I ended the call, a thought came to me, and I opened the Google Maps app, and found the property on Stone Street, Mosman Park, which was already tagged, and I widened out the map till I could see the other side of the river, till I saw a large jetty, then scanned in on that area, and found it to be the property in question that was formally part of the naval base, and I whistled softly in amazement.

“What is it, Mr Devonport?” the headmaster asked, “Oh, sorry sir, I have just realised something, and now I can confirm it, my cousin already has some ideas on what to do with both the Mosman Park land and the East Fremantle former Naval property, as they are directly opposite each other on the river” I stated.

The headmaster stood up and retrieved his I-Pad from his desk and sat back down again, and he opened up the Google Maps app, and he soon had the river banks in East Fremantle on the screen. “If I am correct, this is the piece of land that Sebastian has just bought, in East Fremantle, and this… is the parkland that was purchased in Mosman park” I stated as I pointed them out on the I-Pad.

“I see, that is quite a coincidence that your cousin has got there, and it would make a great zipline across the river” Mr Parker said with a big smile, which made me laugh. “That it would sir, but I can see a lot of safety issues with that idea” I replied.

After an enjoyable lunch, I thanked Mr Hammond and Mr Parker, and let the office, with still a few minutes to spare before the bell sounded for the start of the afternoon classes. Outside administration, I found Chas Parker waiting there, and when he saw me exit the building, he jumped up, “Well, what is all this about?” Chas asked me.

“You will have to ask your father, as it is school business, but if he does tell you the real reason why I am involved, you have to promise never to say anything about it to anyone else in or outside this school” I said to the head prefect, and I looked at him eye to eye for a few moments, to show that I was serious.

“Oh, ok, I will promise, not a word to anyone. Now can you tell me what this is about?” Chas asked me excitedly, which made me chuckle, “Chas, remember you are a Year 12 student and the school head prefect, so stop bouncing around like you are a 4-year-old” I said to him.

“Sorry, I like big juicy secrets, I have so many in my head, that my brain is about to burst” Chas replied and this made me laugh. “Well this one is a real doozy, but not now, as we have classes to attend, and mine is PE, so I need to get to the gym” I said, before leaving Chas standing there looking very disappointed.

When I came out of gym class nearly an hour later, Chas was waiting for me, “Don’t you ever have any classes to go to?” I asked him as he walked alongside me. “I do, but my next class is a study period, and I managed to get out of my last class a few minutes early, with the excuse that I had prefect business to attend to” Chas responded, smiling broadly.

“I had a chat with my old man, we don’t usually get along, but when I said that I was good friends with you, he told me a few basic things. Like that you are a family member of Wagner International Corporation, which happens to be the Swiss parent company of Huon Investments, that is mentioned in today’s front-page newspaper, and is one of the wealthiest private family companies in Western Europe… can I get a loan?” Chas said to me.

I gave Chas a good sideways shove, and he managed to stay on his feet, as he laughed at me, but I froze when a voice boomed nearby. “Mr Devonport, stop where you are”, came the recognisable voice of my PE teacher, and Chad stopped laughing right away.

“It is ok sir, I instigated it and we are just having a friendly banter. I am sorry if it looks more serious than that, but I can assure you it wasn’t” Chas said as he turned to the teacher, who approached us, and Chas hooked an arm around my shoulders, which was a bit of a surprise.

Chas managed to convince the teacher that it was just friendly chatting and playing around, after the teacher tried to grill me to find out why I had shoved Chas so hard. Looking uncertain, the teacher finally decided to let it drop, and walked away, and Chas kept his arm around my shoulder, which I was no feeling very uncomfortable with, and so I stepped sideways and slightly back, to let his arm drop away.

When I looked at Chas’s face, he looked upset, and I had no idea why. Then he just dashed off at a fast pace, leaving me stunned at what had just happened. I didn’t see Chas again for the rest of the week, and on Friday afternoon, with a duffel bag on my back, I rode the five kilometres to the twin’s home and my weekend retreat, in Mosman Park.

“Yes sir, he has just arrived, I can do that for you” I heard the housekeeper say, as I entered the house, where she was on the telephone and she indicated to me to come, and she handed the phone to me. “Hey squirt, how was your week at school?” Sebastian said right away.

“I am not a squirt, old man, so stop calling me that” I said sounding annoyed, and Sebastian just laughed. “I am not an old man either, cousin. Now the reason I am calling is because, the settlement on the apartment in Claremont is done, Emelia had agreed to take you to collect the keys from the real estate agents that are just down the road.

The apartment comes fully furnished, and as you already know it is much closer to your school, hope you like it mate, from what I have seen in the photos, it looks ideal for you. Not to big so its hard to manage, and not to cramped, just right…” Sebastian said.