Chapter 15: A Sympathetic Stranger

Our founder, Adam Slade, came to Sunset Valley many years ago with a vision.  Rather than move into an ordinary house in town, he spent all his savings on a  large plot of land which he, and his successors, would build into a family estate that would be a landmark across the three towns. His only son, Brandon, has continued that work with the hope of passing the vision to his children, Cleo and Carl.

In this chapter the family struggles to deal with Qiana's death and Carl meets a sympathetic stranger ...

Having tidied up the family garden and harvested all the ripened fruits and vegetables, Brandon was relaxing with the latest episode of "Garden Taskforce" when his phone rang.

It was the emergency response team from the Sacred Spleen hospital with the news of Qiana's passing. For what seemed like an eternal minute he couldn't make sense of what he was being told. Qiana? No. What? Qiana? It can't be ...

Brandon could hardly believe what he had heard. Qiana had been an immense part of his life, they had been through so much and now he felt as if a part of him had been ripped out.

But, he thought, I have to let Carl and Cleo know. He paced the upper floor landing as he made the phone calls, he knew that if he stopped, if he sat down, he would simply collapse and might never get back up.

Carl was at the bistro with Jaron, they had just finished their burgers, when his phone rang. "Carl," it was his father's voice, sounding strangely hesitant and broken, "can you come home now please. It's your mother, something's happened ..."

Instinctively Carl knew that this was really bad news. He turned to Jaron, "I've, err, I've gotta go, that was Dad, something about Mum, I don’t know ..."

Carl stood up from their table, a dazed look on his face, Jaron knew something was really wrong. "It's OK Carl, I understand, you must go. Just remember, if there’s anything I can do, just call."

Jaron stood up and approached Carl for a hug.

Hugging wasn't something either boy did often, they would rather keep a boundary between themselves and other people, but Jaron's generous gesture to reassure his friend tripped something in Carl.

On feeling the empathy and care Jaron was expressing Carl just collapsed into his arms. "Oh god, I know it's bad news ... I ... don't know how ..."

Jaron tried to reassure him "Carl, it'll be OK, whatever's happened you're a strong family and you've got friends who will help. Just go to your dad."

When Carl got home and saw his father he could tell immediately that the news was very bad indeed.

"Carl, I'm sorry, but," Brandon could hardly believe it himself but had to be strong for his children, to help them come to terms with Qiana's death, "your mother passed away this afternoon. She was having one of her 'treat' days in town and collapsed at the pool."

Carl couldn't accept it. "I don't understand, she was so well, there was nothing wrong with her ... how could this happen."

"I know son, sometimes it just comes to you, but I know she wasn't in pain. It happened very quickly and she had spent the day enjoying herself, you know how she loved her days out ..."

As Brandon was doing his best to console Carl, he heard Cleo returning from work.

Cleo wasn't sure how she had got back, as soon as she'd put the phone down she just dropped everything she was doing, jumped in the car and drove, on auto-pilot. Her mind racing with all the possibilities, Brandon would not have made that call unless it was really serious.

Brandon came to meet her in the entrance hall, followed closely by Carl who had clearly been crying and was now trying desperately to hold back his tears.

Her father didn't need to say a word, she fell into his arms and just held him as tight as she possibly could.

"We'll get through this," Brandon spoke softly to both his children, "she had a wonderful life and was so proud of both of you. We have so many great memories to cherish."


No one slept much that night. Brandon knew that there would be arrangements to make, and both Cleo and Carl would take time to come to terms with this, but they were strong kids, they had their mother's strength and will do her proud.


Cleo thought of how much this would affect her father. She knew there had been some stormy times at the beginning of his relationship with her mother, but he had been so utterly devoted to her and couldn't imagine how much of a hole this would leave in his life.

Over the last couple of years Carl had spent a lot of time with his mother and they had grown so close. They had very different personalities but that had somehow made their bond even stronger. She had been strong in laying down moral guidelines for him, but had always given him space to develop his interests and respect his achievements.

In the days that followed Carl was often up first, not that anyone actually had much sleep, but he remembered something his mother had told him. That when she had a problem or worry on her mind and wasn't getting an answer she would cook, she found it a good distraction and often, when she had finished preparing the meal, the answer she had been seeking would be there waiting for her.

"Many of life's problems," she would tell him, "where like baking a cake. Just put all the ingredients together in the mix, slap it in the oven and then walk away and do something else till it's done. And when you come back to it, there it will be, all raised and delicious – exactly what you were hoping for."

But however much he tried to distract himself, there was an emptiness about the house, everything he did, everywhere he looked, there was something, someone, missing. His mum was dead, and he didn't know how it was going to deal with it.

Cleo felt that same emptiness, every room she entered she expected to see her mum. Just out of sight, out of the corner of her eye, she would see something, a shadow. "Ahh, it's OK, mum is here." Except, of course, she wasn't.

He knew he had to take care of the kids, even if Cleo was now a grown woman with a career, but the hole left by Qiana's death was such a vast black pit there were many mornings when Brandon could barely face even getting out of bed.

And when he did, he would often spend what seemed like hours, just standing and staring out of the house, across the bay, thinking of nothing. What could he do, she had gone, there was ... nothing ...

Both Cleo and Carl had noticed that Brandon was not coping well, they would call him for mealtimes and there would be no response, when they went to find him, he was either standing at the window or just sat in front of the TV, expressionless.

It had been Brandon's birthday a couple of days after Qiana had passed away, and he had brushed away any suggestion of a party.  This was no time for celebrations and Neither Cleo nor Carl could convince him otherwise.

But both were surprised at how much older their father now looked, he went through the motions of being involved and setting up the arrangements for Qiana's funeral, but Cleo eventually did most of the work and Brandon just went along with what was arranged. 

In an attempt to figure out his own feelings and, to be honest, get away from the overpowering sadness that pervaded the house, Carl would sometimes go down to the beach. Especially in the early mornings, when it was quiet, there was just the sound of the waves lapping back and forth and the distant horizon fading, sky and sea becoming one.

In these moments of solitude, he would remember the good times with his mum. There had been plenty, and even those times when she had told him off for some youthful misdemeanour he knew it had been out of love for him. She had been full of love.

When he felt overcome by memories, Carl would use one of the public chess boards dotted along the beachfront. It was a game he enjoyed and something in which he could get lost for while.

On one of these occasions, just a few days after his mother's death, as Carl was running through a new tactic he'd seen in a recent edition of the "Chess Challenge" magazine, a softly spoken man asked he could join him for a game. "I'm getting a little rusty and my game could do with a little testing."

Carl agreed, not necessarily because he wanted company, but it just might help take his mind off, well, off what he was constantly thinking about.

It wasn’t a great game, but the stranger did enough to occasionally challenge Carl so that he found himself concentrating more on the play than his family. Even so, his opposition made a few 'careless' moves that gave Carl a fairly easy victory.

As checkmate was called, the stranger held his hand out to Carl, "Thank you for that, you played well, I shall have to up my game if am ever to best you. I am Garett, by the way, Garett Fisk."

"That's OK, you weren't bad yourself, I'm Carl Slade."

"Slade? That's a coincidence, you wouldn't be related to Cleo Slade by any chance?"

"Um, yes, she's my sister."

"Well I never," Garett smiled at Carl, "but now you've said, I can definitely see the family resemblance. How is your sister? I haven't seen her for a couple of weeks, is she well?"

"Err, yeah, she's OK," Carl replied, being reminded of his family brought the sadness back to his eyes, "our mother died last week and ..."

"Oh, I am so sorry, I didn't know. That is terrible, I didn't know her but Cleo always spoke of her with great affection. If there is anything, anything, that I can do you must let me know."

Although he had only just met him, Carl sensed something incredibly sensitive and empathetic about Garett, and as the memory of his mother flooded back, the tears welled up in his eyes.

Speaking very softly, Garett put his arms around Carl to comfort him "Oh, Carl, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. Is there anything I can do now? I can take you home if you want, it is a bit of trek to Summer Hill by taxi ..."

Carl struggled to compose himself, "No, no, that's alright. I'd rather stay here for a while, I can think here."

"Of course, as you want. I've got nothing planned today, I can keep you company if you like?"

There was something warm and comforting about Garett, in just these few moments of conversation Carl was starting to feel a bit better, he sensed that Garett would be easy to talk to.

Carl did his best to raise a smile, "Actually, that would be good, thanks. I'm probably not great company at the moment but, yes, I'd like that."

As the sun rose to bathe the beach in warm summer sunshine, Carl and Garett settled on a couple of loungers and fell into an easy conversation. Carl told Garett about his mum, how his dad and sister were struggling to cope now that she was gone. Perhaps it was because he was a stranger that Carl felt so at ease talking about this stuff, and it sure felt good to say out loud what had been going through his mind these last days.

Visitors to the beach came and went, the sun continued it's journey across the sky and began the slow descent behind the hills and still the pair talked.

"Good grief!" Garett exclaimed, looking at his watch, "Is that the time, your family will be wondering where you are. Time to get you home I think."

"No, that's OK," Carl replied "I've got a return pass and I'm sure you've got stuff to do. But thank you so much for keeping me company today, it's been really good to talk to you."

"Not at all, it has been my pleasure Carl. And please pass on my sympathies to Cleo and your father, let them know that I am here to help in any way that I can."

"And," Garett continued, "if there is anything I can do for you, I am here at the beach most days. If you ever need someone to talk to ... about anything."



Chapter 16: Moving on (part 1)