Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
BONDI BEACH, SYDNEY
“Are you fishing on your dock?” Nick asked when his father picked up the phone. He
could hear the crashing waves along the seashore.
“No, I’m doing the cliff walk from Bondi to Coogee right now.”
“I love that hike.”
“Yeah, it’s a good day for it. You know your mother invited Daisy, Nadine, Lorena, and
Carol to Sydney? The whole gin gang’s here, and it’s such a toilet-seat-down invasion, I
needed to get out of the house. The ladies are busy hatching some kind of plot…I think
involving Tyersall Park.”
“That’s the reason I was calling, Dad. It looks like things are moving far too quickly
with the house. Your sisters seem really primed to sell it to the highest bidder, and I don’t
even want to tell you what those developers have planned.”
“Does it even matter? Once we sell it, the new owners can do whatever they want.”
“But I feel like everyone’s losing sight of the big picture,” Nick argued. “Tyersall Park is
a unique property, and we need to make sure that it’s preserved. I mean, I’m at the house
right now, and even just looking out the window onto the gardens—the rambutan trees
are bearing fruit, and they are flaming red. There’s nothing quite like it.”
“I think you’re being too sentimental,” Philip said.
“Maybe I am, but I’m just surprised that no one else cares about this house in the way
that I do. Everyone’s just seeing dollar signs while I see something so rare that needs to
be protected.”
Philip sighed. “Nicky, I know for you this house was like some never-never land, but for
the rest of us, it was a bit of a prison. Living in a palace was no fun as a kid. I grew up with
nothing but rules. There were so many rooms I wasn’t even allowed to enter, chairs I
couldn’t sit in because they were too valuable. You have no idea, because by the time you
came along, my mother was a very different person.”
“Yes, I’ve heard the stories. But surely you must have some good memories?”
“To me, it’s just one gigantic headache. Don’t forget, I was shipped off to boarding
school practically as soon as I could walk, so it never truly felt like home to me. Now,