River Cruise - 4. RC Chapter 4

For the next four days, Rhol, Nicholas, Langley and Mrs Garner were working hard planning and putting together the graduation ball, along with constant consultation with the Headmaster and the vessel’s captain. The restaurants on the forward Cello deck would become a dance floor, with a DJ, while the Sun Deck would be a big dance area with a live 12-piece Jazz band.

It had been arranged with the Royal Fresh Water Bay Yacht Club, to allow the MV Albany to be moored at their jetty to allow the guests to board the vessel, at the start of the event and to depart from at the end of the evening as it provided plenty of parking space and large jetty big enough for the MV Albany and a large number of guests, which the nearby Claremont Yacht Club didn’t have.

Jordan had to leave to attend a meeting with a client in the South West of the State and said he would be back in time to be there for the ball. What he didn’t say was that he was meeting an old university buddy of his, who wanted some legal advice on setting up a new business that involved his buddy, his buddy’s two younger brothers and three close friends.

The school held its annual graduation ceremony for all of the Year 12 students, two days before the Graduation Ball, and it was at this event that the Headmaster made the announcement, “Ladies and gentlemen, as you know we have been lucky enough to secure a venue for the year 12 graduation, but we have not revealed where it is being held.

Well I am pleased to say that we have been offered the use of a large vessel, that will be your floating graduation ball, so you are all asked to be at the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, Peppermint Grove no later than 6 pm, anyone who misses the departure will not be able to get onboard after it has left the yacht club.

Tell whoever is driving you to the jetty of the yacht club, to turn off Stirling Highway at the Johnston Street traffic lights, and turn left into Lilla Street, which is the next street after the second roundabout, don’t forget, not to be late.

There will be no alcohol permitted at this event, so if any is found on any person, it will be confiscated and that person will be escorted off the boat, that is not only the rules of the school but the strict rules of the owner of the boat as well.

Respect your fellow students and most of all respect the staff and property of the owners who are your hosts”. A few days later, the day had arrived for the big event, the Captain had been keeping the vessel anchored well away from the jetty at Freshwater Bay, so as to not have any unauthorised visitors, and only moored at the jetty for two hours each day to allow for the loading of supplies on board.

At 11 am on the day of the graduation ball, the captain moored the vessel at the main jetty at the yacht club, where the DJ had just arrived to get set up for the night; Rhol had learnt the evening before that the jazz band was forced to cancel due to three members falling ill.

Just under an hour after learning of this news, Jordan had telephoned to say that he would be returning to the city in the morning to re-join the vessel, and Rhol told his friend the news of the cancellation of the jazz band. Jordan told Rhol not to worry as he has a solution to that problem, but it has to remain a surprise due to security reasons, and that they would be at the jetty at 5 pm today.

As the DJ started to load his equipment on board the vessel, along with his assistant, Rhol was in his cabin thinking how everything was going to work out with the graduation ball and was not sure what to expect from Jordan regarding a replacement band.

He was in for the biggest surprise of his life, as the band that would be entertaining the graduates is very well known worldwide, and he himself has been a big fan of their music since they formed a few years ago.

Meanwhile not that far away in the nearby suburb of Claremont, the owner of the big music store located on the main highway through the area, had been contacted a few hours ago, and asked to close his store for an hour from 3 pm, to allow for some high profile people to do some important uninterrupted shopping, that would result in at least $15,000 of purchases being made.

The store owner agreed to do this and promised to not leak to any media or anyone the reason why he was closing for his store for two hours, and he would also give his four staff an extended lunch break.

When the high-profile visitors arrived at his store, he understood why the request had been made and ensured the visitors that privacy was guaranteed, as a variety of top-grade musical instruments were tested and selected for purchase.

After an hour, the $32,000 of purchases were finalised and the store owner agreed to deliver them to the Freshwater Bay Yacht Club by 5 pm that afternoon. Once the visitors were gone, the store owner called the staff back to the store immediately for an urgent job, he told his store that the instruments had to be carefully wrapped and placed in the delivery truck and delivered to the freshwater Bay Yacht Club right away, for a private function being held there tonight.

When the staff saw the high-quality instruments that had been secretly purchased while they were out of the store, they knew that this was a very special order.

One staff member, a junior who happened to be a graduating student of the school that was having its ball tonight, was even more interested in who the instruments are for, and there was no indication on who it could be for other than to be delivered to a Mr Jordan Bateman at the Royal Freshwater Yacht Club.

At 4.15 pm a limousine arrived at the yacht club, the Captain who was on the bridge and saw the two vehicles arrive, called Rhol and Nicholas to the main deck foyer to meet the arrivals, as he was the only one on board that was aware who the new arrivals are, after receiving a telephone call from Jordan a few hours earlier, informing him who the guest band is and that accommodation was required, so discretely without informing the staff who the guests are that are staying, the Captain had the staff prepare cabins for the band members and a VIP cabin for their family.

After calling Rhol and Nicholas to the main deck foyer, the captain called all staff to the Library for a brief meeting, and although it was an odd location for the meeting, all the staff made their way as ordered, unaware who the special guests are that were about to board.

In the foyer Rhol and Nicholas arrived and stepped out onto the boarding ramp, making their way to the two waiting vehicles at the end of the car park closest to the jetty. When they arrived, a door opened in the limo and Jordan stepped out, with a big smile on his face as he shook their hands, which made both Rhol and Nicholas even more confused on what was happening.

“Friends, let me introduce you to a new band called the ‘Celtic Lads’, but you will recognise four of the members as the world-famous EQD,” Jordan said, and as he said that the back door to the Limo opened and out stepped the six members of the band.

Rhol and Nicholas stood there in total shock, was it truly happening, and that a world-famous band was playing at this graduation ball? Devon, David, James and Thomas stepped forward and shook Rhol and Nicholas’ hands, followed close behind by young Amos and Flynn.

Once the introductions were done, Jordan led the way onboard the vessel and taken to their allocated cabins, the four largest cabins, 207 to 210 on the Cello Deck, and then he led the guests up to the Chef’s Table Restaurant, via the aft balcony, which Rhol had just a few days earlier, had three tables and its chairs replaced with two lounge suites and two lounge chairs and a coffee table, so it now has lounge seating for 8 and dining seating for 12.

Once everyone was seated, Jordan explained that Devon is an old university buddy and that just recently he had contacted him for some legal advice about establishing the new band, and separating the investments and future royalties from the old band and the new band.

He continued to say that the new members of the band are Devon’s younger twin brothers, who are also very talented singers, who have performed once with EQD a few years back.

He let Rhol know that Devon and the twin’s parents would be arriving shortly and will also be staying overnight, as he has arranged with the Captain earlier, who was the only person on board who knew of the band’s arrival.

Rhol just smiled knowing that he did all of this as a special surprise for him, and he was very grateful. Mrs Garner and Langley walked in with trays of afternoon tea, and Mrs Garner nearly dropped the tray she was holding when she saw who the guests were. Rhol chuckled when he saw Mrs Garner stumble slightly, “I think you guys have another huge fan apart from me,” Rhol said to the band members and everyone laughed, making Mrs Garner blush.

“We the band are grateful to be able to use your graduation ball as a launching pad for our band Mr Lawson, and I apologise for my friends sneakiness, but with us four being high profile, and the public already know that I am in Western Australia, after the lunch the family had at Kings Park, we didn’t want to get mobbed by the media and fans” Devon said, Rhol smile and nodded.

“None of that Mr business thanks to you, as I am a lot younger than you, for one thing, we are friends now, and I am glad you were able to launch as a band, as well as save this graduation ball from being a disaster.

Now I presume that the Captain is currently informing the staff that we have VIP guests on board who will be staying and that they will be ordered not to reveal to anyone on land of the band being on board, so, for now, you are welcome to just relax and do what you need to do, the band can set up on the sundeck at any time.

Jordan one other thing, due to our high-profile guests, I think it would be a good idea to arrange for some security guards to be present, can you arrange for 6 to 8 guards to be on board before the first of the school members arrive, please.

We have just under two hours before they arrive, so we better break for now and go and do our things that need to be done, Thank you” Devon said, as he nodded to Nicholas as Rhol walked out the restaurant lounge, with Nicholas close behind him, and they entered the still packed library where the Captain was finishing his briefing with all the crew members, and on seeing Devon enter he announced that the owner has a few words to say.