Notes of explanation:
Hue - pronounced WAY
Hui - pronounced Hughy
Hua - pronounced Huwa
Dati - IndoDutch term for Papa
Baki - IndoDutch term for Brother
Onkla - IndoDutch term for Uncle
From part 1:
The Constable knocked on the trailer door and Concho let the man in. He saw Paul stand behind the Constable, with his thumb up in the air.
Sam saw the Constable and drew back in fear, "No, No I won't go back to Master, you can't make me!" He leaped into Concho's lap and buried his face in Concho's chest with a death grip around his neck.
Constable Lee smiled, "No, Sam I am not going to take you back. Master, or properly, Blakely Barnes has already been arrested and the other boys have been taken to homes in care." He continued, "Do like Mr. Concho?"
Sam peeked under Concho's arm and said, "Yes sir, he is nice to me and gives me good foods and lets me sleeps in his bed."
The Constable said to Concho, "Sam is part Abo, but not enough to come under the tribal agreements."
Concho said, "Please Constable, don't use that word, I am a full blood Andean Indian myself and that word is hateful."
The Constable looked chagrined, "I apologize to both of you, it is a hateful word and I am sorry. Let me begin again. Sam is part native Australian, but not enough to be covered by the tribal agreements." He continued, "Actually, that is good because I can remand him to your custody right now, pending a hearing with the Gawler Magistrate Court." He turned to Sam, "You know son, you have some pretty important folks pulling for you, would you like for Mr. Concho to be your Daddy?"
Sam shook his head, "Yes" and buried his face in Concho's chest again.
Concho took the day off and left Paul in charge as he went into Gawler to buy suitable clothing for Sam and toys for him to play with. They were in Myerson's Emporium and Concho was looking at little boy's shoes. He had Sam on his hip and the little boy said, "I ain't never wored shoes before." Concho set the boy down on a chair and told the salesman that he wanted play shoes and some dress shoes for Sam as well as socks, a pair of sandals and some bedroom slippers.
Before their trip was over, Sam had been outfitted in shoes, trousers, shorts, shirts, pajamas and a rain slicker. The clerk was ringing up the sales and said, "We heard what you are doing, Mr. Best, 'tis a fine thing indeed."
Concho looked bewildered, "How .... Uh, how did you hear about this?"
The clerk smiled, "This is a small country town, Mr. Best and Constable Lee is my sister's husband." He leaned over and gave Sam a sucker and said, "You be a good boy for Mr. Best and grow up to be a fine young man."
Chapter- 1 - AUSSIE SUMMER
The rainy season began to abate and the mud-caked hard as stone. Norm Anderson of American Piping and Boiler faxed them shipping documents that the boiler and equipment had been loaded on the SS Jonathon Long and would arrive in Port Elliot in three weeks. He told them that he and six of his boiler maker/pipe fitters would arrive at the same time. Concho contacted Milo to get clearance from the local trades union for the boiler fitters to be able to work on the proprietary equipment.
They set the turbine generator on the foundations and faxed Mr. Oto that they were ready for the service engineers to come and align the unit. The roof on the generator building to protect the machinery from the weather was finally installed, so he faxed Mr. Oto that alignment on the generator set could begin as soon as he and his staff arrived. Paul ordered all the workers off the job site for two days, in order that the area could be paved.
Concho, Paul and Sam were in Gawler, taking a break and having supper at a local steak house. Sam was eating a man-sized steak and Concho said, "You are just like my Uncle Hue, a carnivore!"
The little boy looked at Concho like he had just sprouted horns, "Me not a 'vore, me a little boy!"
Concho hugged him, "That you are, MY little boy!"
As they were leaving, Milo and Albert were coming in with their wives. The women spotted Sam and praised him on how good-looking he was and his good table manners. Milo pulled a bag from his pocket and handed it to Concho, "I have been meaning to give this to you for a week now, my sister, Jessie, finished your opal ring."
Concho withdrew it from the bag and both women oooed and ahhhed over it. The stone was enormous and Milo's sister had set it in a massive ring made of intertwined ropes of gold and silver. Concho said, "I love it! How much do I owe your sister?" Milo handed him a sheet of paper and when Concho read it, he asked, "What about her labor?"
Milo smiled, "She says that Little Sam is payment enough." Concho objected and Milo said, "My sister, Jessie, was adopted by our parents, as was I. Jessie is part native and our folks loved her anyway. This is her way of repaying the debt she feels she owes."
Concho replied, "Please, may we meet your sister?"
Milo said, "Jessie doesn't travel much, she is confined to a wheelchair, she was hurt as a child and left alongside the road for dead."
By now, tears were leaking from Concho's eyes, "Please, we would like to meet her, ask her if we could visit her in her home. I will bring Sam to see her."
Milo replied, "I will ask her, she lives right here in Gawler."
Construction progressed rapidly, Hue and Ian came for a visit and they wanted to meet Sam. The little boy caught on almost immediately to the words Dati and Onkla, he knew that Paul was Onkla Paul and Concho was Dati 'Cho. He finally settled on Onkla for Hue and Ian. He knew that Danny was his Grandpapa, but he had yet to meet him other than a brief conversation on the telephone.
The Magistrate Court awarded custody of Sam to Concho, pending a full investigation of Concho, his resources and his associates. Constable Lee was assigned to the investigation and he was interviewing Concho about his life. When Concho told him how he had become part of the Best Family, he told Concho that his life was like a fairy tale. Concho laughed, "Well, not quite, I did have to do my own studying in school and University!"
The final hearing was scheduled for the next week and Paul decided to do a little telephoning. The morning of the hearing, Paul offered to drive Concho and Sammy to the Court, he had a huge smile on his face. Concho said, "What are you up to?"
Paul replied, "Oh nothing, isn't it a nice day?"
Concho muttered, "He is up to something!" They arrived at the Magistrate Court and parked the Land Rover. As they walked into the rotunda of the Court, Concho stared, he started to shake and Paul had to grab him to prevent his falling. There, standing at the entrance to the Court Room were Danny, Hue, Ian, Tal and Jay with their sons, Hua and Hui! Bic and Phillip were standing to one side with Paul's Mother.
Danny grabbed up Sam and started talking to him, "Sammy, I am your Grandpapa," and he hugged the little boy.
Magistrate O'Conner was standing in the rotunda watching the event and Constable Lee was busy wiping his eyes. Magistrate O'Conner asked, "Are there any more Family members to arrive?"
Danny replied, "Only our Patriarch, Caleb Best and he is a ghost, so he probably is already watching us."
The Magistrate said, "Well, why don't we go inside and sign all the documents making Sammy a member of this Family." When they were all seated in the courtroom, Magistrate O'Conner said, "I think we can dispense with all the formalities." He looked at Sammy and said, "Samuel, do you want Mr. Concho D. Best to be your daddy and make your name Samuel Concho Best?"
The little boy could hardly speak, he was so excited, "yyyyyeYES!" he screamed.
The Magistrate smacked his gavel down and said, "So Ordered, you may kiss your Daddy!"
They decided to make a holiday of the entire Family being there. Paul had ordered a beef and had the crew start barbecuing it that morning. He had contracted with Myerson's to provide all the side dishes, tables and service for the event. At noon, the crew knocked off and were waiting for their guest of honor, Samuel Concho Best to arrive. They invited the technicians from Mitsubishi, Norm Anderson's Boiler Fitters, and the Australian Contract workers to attend.
When they stepped out of the car, Sammy's eyes went wide and he hugged his new Daddy, hiding his face in Concho's shirt. Paul squatted down in front of the little boy and said, "Sammy, all these people are here to celebrate you and your new Daddy. They want to be your friends and get to know you." He reached out his hand to Sammy, who shyly took it. Paul took him around to all the guests so that they could congratulate him.
When they got to the Best & Sons crew, Gil got down on his knees and hugged the little boy, "Sammy, you are the son of the finest man I know and we all love you, just like we love your Daddy."
In the early afternoon, the beef was ready and Sammy demonstrated that Onkla Hue had a carnivore competitor! All the out-of-town guests stayed at The Grand Hotel in Gawler and they spent several days touring the job site. Hue was impressed at what had been accomplished and told Paul and Concho that they were doing a great job. Paul was delighted to see his Mother and the two sat in the trailer for a Mother/Son talk.
Mrs. Duncan said, "Paul, I don't want this to be a surprise to you, I am moving to Hilo. There is nothing left in Texas for me and this way, I will be closer to you."
Paul hugged her and asked, "How can we afford this, Mama?"
His mother replied, "I sold the farm to a developer and got a good price for it. Mr. Hue talked to some folks at the school board and I am going to be a Home Economics teacher at Hilo High School."
Paul thought, "God Bless you, Hue, you have again come through for me!"
The project was starting to come together and the two major parts were ready to be tested, the hot gas boiler and the steam turbine generator set. Hue and Danny remained in Gawler and all the rest returned to their homes in the United States. They tested the boiler first, using the feed water pump, they filled the boiler and added chemicals to it. Then they started admitting hot gases to the exchanger section slowly, to heat the water and circulate the chemicals to clean any greases or oils remaining from manufacture.
After two days, they shut the hot gas valve off and allowed the boiler to cool before flushing it with clean feed water. They then refilled the boiler and added normal boiler chemicals to the water before reopening the hot gas valve. They slowly brought the steam pressure up to 950 pounds pressure and started blowing the steam off through the bypass valve. It made an awful racket and everyone was thankful two days later when they were ready to roll the turbine. All the cooling water pumps were started and the cooling tower for the condenser water was brought online. They rolled the turbine, starting at 10 rpm and slowly brought it up to speed, reaching 3000 rpm two days later.
The Mitsubishi Service Technicians checked every part of the new machine as it was brought up to speed. It was a bleary-eyed Mr. Okami Oto who signed the Acceptance Letter and gave it to an equally bleary-eyed Concho Best for counter signature. They ran the system for two weeks with no load before informing APP that the system was ready to be connected to the utility net.
The day of the ribbon cutting rolled around and Paul and Concho drew straws to see who would throw the breaker and who would be the platform speaker. Concho won, Paul would be the speaker.
They were relaxing the night before the ceremonies. Concho was going through a pile of mail and documents. Sammy was playing on the floor with his model cars and Concho said, "Sam, there is a letter for you." The little boy came to him and Concho handed him a large brown envelope. Sammy looked at it, not knowing what to do. Concho helped him open it and withdrew a small dark blue booklet. He handed it to the boy saying, "This is your passport, it says that you are an AMERICAN!" Sammy leaped into his Daddy's lap and buried his face crying and laughing at the same time.
That night, Paul and Concho looked in on Sam before they went to bed, Sammy was fast asleep, a contented and peaceful smile on his face and his new passport clutched in his hand. Conch thought, "This was what I looked like, such a short time ago."
Chapter - 2 - ONLINE
Hue and Danny had already told Paul and Concho that it was their show, they were just spectators. There were local dignitaries, the Governor of the State and the National Minister of Industry in attendance. Milo Kerns introduced Albert Layson, the Adelaide Power Project General Manager, then he began his speech, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mayor Bolt, Governor Franke and Minister Jelco, we welcome you to this extraordinary event. An event made possible by two young men, young men who had a dream, young men who had the vision to see electric power generated by the earth itself and young men who had the ability to get the job done. Not just once, but TWICE. Our new power plant is the second application of hot gas technology on Earth. The first was also the result of these two young men, Mister Concho Daniel Best and Mister Paul Travis Duncan. Two young men who dared to dream outside the bounds. Please welcome Mr. Duncan."
Paul stood and walked to the podium, "Ladies and Gentlemen, honored guests, you do us great honor in your welcome and we are grateful in your trust that we, Concho Best and myself, could make this contribution to the welfare of Australia. But that was not your only gift, you gave me a new nephew and my best friend and brother, a new son. As far as we are concerned, we got the better part of that bargain! Getting energy from the Earth is not new, but utilizing the Earth's hot gases for that purpose is. We believe there are far more hot gases residing below the surface of our planet than there is usable steam. In this installation, we have made a quantum leap in the technology of hot gas geology and we can look forward to many years of low-cost, pollution-free energy for the people of this district." Paul picked up a small radio and said into it and the microphone, "Bati 'Cho, on my count, energize the system, FIVE ..... FOUR ..... THREE ..... TWO ...... ONE - ENERGIZE THE BREAKER!"
Concho had left the radio on so the sounds of the station coming alive would be broadcast to the audience. They heard the huge breaker slam shut and the whine of the turbine-generator as it took up the load.
Milo Kerns returned to the microphone and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, honored guests in honor of a brave young man, I dedicate this power generating station, "The Samuel Concho Best Power Plant"!
It had been an exhausting and tense day, Hue and Danny went back to their hotel, promising to meet with Concho and Paul the next morning. Concho and Paul took Sammy and went back to their trailer to let the tension of the day drain from their souls. Even little Sammy was tired, he crawled up into Concho's lap and was soon fast asleep, as was his Daddy.
Paul had thought to fix some supper, but looking at the two in the living room, he decided that sandwiches and a glass of milk would do just fine. After they had eaten, Paul went to his room and Concho took Sammy and went to their room. It was but a few minutes, there was nobody still awake in their trailer.
The next morning, they were all eating breakfast and Sammy asked, "Now that the big job is finished, what are we going to do, where will we live, how will we eat?"
Concho laughed, "Well, I guess I will just have to take you home."
Sammy jumped down and started to cry, "I won't go back, I won't go back! I, I, I will run away!"
He was crying uncontrollably. Concho suddenly realized with horror, his mistake and grabbed up the sobbing child, "No, Sammy, MY HOME, my home in America."
Sammy, still crying asked, "YyyyyYour hhhHome? Aaaa America?"
Concho stood the frightened child between his knees, "Sammy, you are my son. You are my son tomorrow. You are my son the day after that, and after that day too. You will always be my son, forever and forever! You are my son and nobody else can ever have you for their son."
Sammy sniffled his nose, "Bbbb but I thought you were sending back to Master."
Concho got down on his knees, his eye level with Sammy's, "Sammy, that man is in prison for the rest of his life, he will never be free! You are my son, Samuel Concho Best, for the rest of our lives. I will never let you go."
Paul had been listening at the door, ever since he heard Sammy cry out, he knocked and walked in the room and he knelt down beside Concho, "Sammy, I am your Onkla Paul today, and tomorrow and forever, I, also, will never let you go." He continued, "Now, lets get some breakfast and then go somewhere. Let's go see the nice lady that made your Dati's ring."
They had breakfast and then called Milo to get directions to where his sister, Jessie Kerns lived. Milo said he would call ahead to let her know they were coming. They drove up to a pleasant bungalow, a few streets over from the main part of Gawler. They rang the bell and could hear someone moving inside the house, finally, the door opened and a young woman, in her mid-20's, opened the door, she was in a wheelchair and she had an impish smile on her face. She leaned over and said, "You must be Sammy Best?"
Sammy turned shy and stammered, "eer, yessss ma'm, I eeer am."
She held out her arms and motioned for Sammy to come sit on her lap. He carefully climbed up into her lap and she started laughing and pinched his cheeks, "You aren't any bigger than a minute, we gotta put some heft in you." She led her guests into the back room, where they found Milo drinking a cup of coffee. She turned to her guests and said, "I am Jessie Kerns. My brother didn't tell me that Sammy was as cute as a little button!"
Concho looked at his son, the little boy was actually blushing! They stayed for tea and Concho wanted to pay Jessie for the work she had done making his ring and she wouldn't even discuss it. She said that seeing little Sammy cared for and loved was all the payment she wanted. They talked for a while and then took their leave. On the drive back home, Concho asked, "Paul, did you see how bad shape the wiring was in Jessie's home? The lights flickered and the lighting was terrible." Paul replied, "OK, I get the message, I will talk with Gil tomorrow and get an electrician over there to make it right." Concho looked out of the corner of his eye at Paul, "Well, it's not like I told Gil to get the work done!"
Chapter - 3 - GOING HOME
They finished up all the tail-end items and started loading the sea vans for shipment back to Hilo. They took Danny and Hue to the airport and told them they would see them in a couple of days. Albert Layson brought a box of paperwork over and sat down with Concho and Paul with a checklist. As they worked their way down the list, each document was signed and copies made. The contract was for $109,750,000 USD and vouchers were approved for $18,631,900 USD T&M. Albert handed them drafts drawn on Sumitomo Bank for those amounts and told them that he had a telephone call from Red Center Power Company inquiring about the new power station. He said that he told them to contact Hue Best in Hilo. As he was leaving, he leaned over and hugged Sammy, "You go make us proud, Sammy, don't you ever forget where you came from and please don't forget us. Be the best American boy possible and, if anyone asks, tell them that we are all just like you!"
They cleaned out their trailers and turned in the vehicles as they headed to the heliport for the long helicopter ride to Sydney. Sammy was all wound up, everything was new to him, just like a storybook. They had to spend the night at the airport hotel for a mid-afternoon flight the next day. They had remembered to bring their swimsuits (cozzies in Australia) and they wore the boy out in the hotel pool.
The next day, they left the hotel mid-morning and worked their way through officialdom's jungle to leave the country. Finally, they were all in the First Class Departure Lounge and there was a little boy nose pressed up against the glass watching an airplane land. It came closer and closer and finally, Sammy, with that little boy's nose still attached, came running, screaming that the airplane was going to crash into the building. Concho held his son as they watched the airplane dock to the Jetway. Sammy peeked out from under his Dati's arm, just to make sure that the plane had not really crashed.
As they called all Premier Class passengers to board, Sammy went marching up and showed the lady his boarding pass and passport, He hooked his thumb at his Dati and Onkla and said, "Don't worry about them, they are with me!" The stewardess suddenly found the need to have a coughing fit!
Again, they just about filled the entire Business Class on the plane. Concho put Sammy by the window and settled down for a long flight. As they were taxiing down the runway and began to lift into the air, a little boy's voice rang out, "You mean we have to go to America in the air, how far is this place, anyway?" The poor stewardess' were laughing so hard, they nearly missed making the safety instructions announcement!
They were about 6 hours out from Sydney when a meal was served. Sammy ate all his and was looking for some more. He finally settled down and soon he was fast asleep.
One of the stewardess' stopped by Concho's seat and said, "Your little brother sure is cute." Concho laughed, Sammy is my son and, yes, he sure is cute!"
The stewardess laughed and walked away, she had been hoping she could make a date with the cute "older brother"!
At long last, the plane sat down at Hilo International Airport. As they passed through Immigration, Sammy didn't want to give his passport to the agent so it could be scanned and stamped. The agent looked at the names page and said to Concho, "Are you his Daddy, Mr. Best?"
Concho laughed, "Yes sir, I am and Sammy is a little new at this."
The man replied, "If he is part of Mr. Hue Best's family, he will soon get used to it."
Sammy piped up, "That is my Onkla Hue!"
The man looked at Concho, "Yup, he is a Best!" and waved them through.
A couple of Gil's men, who had stayed behind in Hilo, met them with the company trucks to make sure the crew got delivered home straightaway. Hue, Ian and Son were waiting to grab Paul's and Concho's bags. Sammy's clothes were in Concho's suitcase, so when they had collected all their belonging, they were taken to the condo in Hilo.
It had been a long, hard two years, but Concho came home with the prize catch, Sammy!
TBC
This ends our story of the Adelaide Power Project and of how little Sammy Best joined the Family. There will be more adventures with this amazing Family as they grow and expand.