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)

Chapter 14: Two Days Out

Many years ago our founder, Adam Slade came to Sunset Valley with a vision.  With nothing but a  large plot of land to his name he would establish a dynasty, a legacy that would put the Slade family at the heart of the town.  His only son, Brandon, now carries that dream and with the help of his wife Qiana, is passing the vision to their children, Cleo and Carl.

In this chapter both Carl and Qiana take a trip into town, but with very different outcomes  ...


Everyone loves Sunday.

A day without the pressure of work or school, nor the hustle of Saturday, a day to really unwind and do what makes you feel good.

Like many other Sundays, Carl Slade was up early to spend some time upgrading his computer - actually it was the family computer but, to be honest, he was the only one who knew how to use it!

There was this new graphics design software he wanted to use and that meant upgrading the graphics card and adding more memory. Ain't that always the way with new software!

He'd just installed the new graphics card when one of his mates from school called him. "Hey Carlo, fancy hanging out?"

Carl was a bit of a loner and hadn’t made many friends at school, but Jaron was cool and whenever they had classes together they would often spend more time teasing each other than paying attention to the teacher.

"Sure thing J., what you say we visit Pleasanton?"

And with that the arrangement was made.

Despite occasionally lapses, like when with Jaron, Carl was a bright kid and had been on the school 'Achievement Register' more than once so, as a reward his Dad had stumped up for his first car.

Not the greatest motor in the world, but at least Carl now had some freedom to travel around the three towns, and was learning about the responsibilities (and costs!) of ownership.

Even though it was the week-end, Cleo, had agreed to spend some extra time at the fire station to help with the training of some new recruits.

Her squad leader had recognised her abilities as a fitness tutor and suggested that she might want to set up a simple exercise programme. Cleo was smart enough to realise that when the boss says "you might want to" she actually means "I expect you to". She didn't mind, Cleo enjoyed keeping fit and helping others out and, of course, it wouldn't hurt her promotion chances.

Work at the Landgraab Institute had been hectic for the last few weeks and Brandon had not spent nearly enough time in the family garden. So, with it being a beautiful day, and the kids having taken off, he was going to enjoy getting his hands dirty and lick the garden back into shape.

It had been quite a while since she had retired as a stylist, but Qiana still loved to look and feel good, so today she was going to treat herself.

Putting on her latest, and smartest, outfit put her, immediately, in a good mood and so she set off into town.

Carl and Jaron Messer arrived at 'Pleasanton', their name for the Pleasant Rest cemetery.

Carl was relating the stories his father had him about his trips to Champs Les Sims and the riches often left in the tombs over there. And what with tales of how his grandfather, Adam, had basically financed their house from collecting gems and metals around Sunset Valley Carl was spinning an exciting tale of hidden wealth just waiting to be found.

Knowing that Jaron had something of a daredevil streak Carl suggested that they explore the Mausoleum for treasure.

"C'mon J., Dad said theres always underground chambers in these places, bound to be something valuable in there … maybe even enough to get you a half-decent haircut!"

He liked a good dare but Jaron wasn't convinced they would find anything in their local cemetery, and it was kinda spooky ... with all those dead people and stuff …

But he wasn't going to let Carl think he was scared. Anyway, he reckoned Carl was more likely to run out screaming first, he wasn't as brave as he made out.

They spent about an hour inside the mausoleum before they decided they weren't going to find anything. Neither would admit it, but it was a bit dark, and clammy, and there was those weird creaking noises and basically just a bit too spooky!

Jaron suggested that they head back into town, just chill in the park.

Carl was quite happy to back in proper daylight, and now it was his turn to be challenged by Jaron.

"So, Carlo, y'know how you’re always going on about being a brain, summat of a genius, yeah. Well, how's you try to beat me at a little game of chess?"

"Hah! You're on!" Carl scoffed, "I've been beating my Dad since I was a kid, you don't stand a chance!"

What Carl didn't know was that Jaron had recently joined a chess challenge club and had discovered he was something of a natural at the game.

Carl was quite surprised when Jaron upped the pressure a couple of moves in and adopted a fairly aggressive Italian game attack. But he was OK with that, it was a classic strategy and easy enough to deal with, provided he kept his eye on the board.

As their game progressed several visitors to the park noticed the quality of their play and stayed to watch the pair battle it out.

As involved as they were in the game itself, both Carl and Jaron were a little uncomfortable with the attention they were getting. Neither was used to being the centre of attention, preferring to stay on the sidelines and just get on with their stuff.

At least with chess, though, the nuances of the game were enough to focus their attention, so they could largely ignore the gathering crowd by concentrating on winning this challenge.

After what became an epic struggle of will and tactics, it was Jaron who eventually claimed victory. The crowd applauded them both as Carl conceded defeat and they smiled nervously as they quickly made their way to the side of the park, out of the public gaze.

"OK J., guess you got me there," Carl admitted, "good game, but don't think it'll happen again – your arse'll be mine next time!" he laughed. "But, this time, I'll stand ya a Bistro burger."

Qiana knew that clothes could only go so far in making you feel good, and today she wanted to feel her very best so made her way to the Sharma Sun Spa for some top quality body nourishment.

A few hours, a deep tissue massage and seaweed facial later, she emerged feeling totally invigorated and reenergised. Now, what to do with the rest of the day ...

A short couple of blocks away, Qiana was relaxing in the calm of Central Park. Sunset Valley was normally quite a busy town, but this was a warm Sunday afternoon and many people had taken the opportunity to enjoy the beach while the weather was good so the town centre was nicely subdued. Even the families having picnics weren't too noisy, it was if a sense of calm and tranquillity had pervaded the park and surrounding roads.

As she watched the people enjoying the park, Qiana's thoughts turned to her own family and, in particular, her brother Federico. They had grown apart over the last few years and she couldn't put her finger on why, they had just got out of the habit of calling each other every week, and then the weeks turned to months. They had both become so wrapped up in their own lives they never seemed to find the time to get in touch.

"Well," she thought to herself, "that has got to change. I have plenty of free time and I just convince myself that I'm busy doing important things when actually, I'm not."

With that, she had dialled her brother's number and there he was on the other end of the line. "Hi Federico, it's been too long, how are you?"

And so, brother and sister made a start on catching up on all the time they had missed.

Although, that is not to say that Qiana was interested in everything her brother had to say. Notably whenever the conversation turned to his wife, Qiana McCauley, she was a particularly tiresome woman. Qiana was, of course, happy that Federico had found a soulmate, someone who made him happy, but the two women never saw eye-to-eye on anything and only passed the time of day so as not to upset Federico.

Eventually, the conversation came to a conclusion and they both promised to make more of an effort to stay in touch. Qiana always enjoyed talking with her brother and never really understood why she had been denying herself that pleasure recently.

Anyway, it would be evening soon and she would have to be getting back home, but before that, one more little treat.

Still feeling the invigorating effects of the massage session, Qiana headed to the Petit Shark pool for some gentle exercise and socialising with the few late afternoon swimmers still at the centre.

She tried to keep herself in shape, even after she wrapped up her styling business, where looking good was a prerequisite. A few lengths of the local pool every week had helped her stay remarkably supple for her age, unlike many of her peers Qiana had never needed to use a stick or other assistance to get around.

As the sun started to sink over the hills that bounded the valley, marking the time for her to return to her family, Qiana emerged from the water.

Feeling unusually breathless after her exertions, she sat down on the edge of the pool to compose herself. This time, though, her body did not settle.

She let out a sudden, deep, gasp for air but the air did not reach her lungs, instead she fell to her side, closing her eyes, instantly aware that this was it, her time had come.

In the fleeting moments before consciousness finally left her Qiana smiled inwardly, content that hers had been a good life. She had a husband who had loved her and two wonderful children who would grow up to be fine citizens in this town that she had loved.



Chapter 15: A Sympathetic Stranger

Chapter 13: Dealing with Danger

Many years ago our founder, Adam Slade came to Sunset Valley with a vision to establish a dynasty, a long-lasting legacy.  His dream was passed on to his only son, Brandon who has now, with his wife Qiana, raised two fine children, Cleo and Carl, who will take the dynastic dream to the next Slade generation.

In this chapter Cleo once again faces dangerous situations ... but some she is better at handling than others  ...

With his sister now spending long hours at the fire station and his father doing more and more research at the labs, when he was at home Carl Slade spent most time with his mother, Qiana.

His grades had been good, and he was making friends at school, but Qiana was concerned that he was spending a lot of time on the computer, either tinkering with the family PC or playing games on his new console.

He was a pretty well balanced and sensible boy, but Qiana knew to be wary about challenging a teenage boy, so was always carefully not to sound too judgemental or critical of his interests.

"All my mates play an' we got a league going 'tween five of us. I won the quest last night so I'm second now in our league." Carl explained when his mother asked him about what he was doing on the console.


"Well done, I suppose," she laughed, "always better to be good at something you enjoy, as long as it doesn't interfere with your school work."

"Nah, it's all good," Carl replied, "fact, I've been messin' around with writing my own games."

Qiana, was quite impressed, "That's excellent Carl, and that would be a good career choice too. Your father or I don't know much about computers, but if you want any help I'm sure your dad will know people at the Institute who would know all about that sort of thing."

Carl wasn't the only one who enjoyed playing computer games.

The fire station had a console system recently installed in their rec. room, and it had quickly become was one of the favourite ways Cleo and her colleagues used to relax between calls.

The fire crews certainly needed to unwind when they could, the daily routine wasn't just rushing out to deal with emergencies, there was plenty of maintenance work to do in the station.

Not that Cleo minded much, she rather enjoyed getting her hands dirty working on the station's engines and had quickly established a reputation for being able to coax that extra bit of performance out of their fire trucks.

Though her family were surprised when she brought her work home.

Many the times when they would have to drag her away from fixing up or enhancing some piece of her kit or other.

Of course, work wasn’t all fixing and maintaining, every day they would be out dealing with small house fires, people or animals getting trapped, doing safety inspections, a whole variety of different types of job. That’s one thing that Cleo loved about being a fire fighter – no two days were ever the same, always different people and different challenges to deal with, being bored was not on the agenda!

Thankfully major incidents were few and far between, but the next big call the SVFD had to deal with directly affected Cleo.

It came in from the Landgraab Institute, there had been an explosion in the sub-atomic research lab and they feared that a stream of sim-boson particles could wreak havoc across the whole town.

But, for Cleo, there was an added complication - she also knew that her father, Brandon, was actually working in one the labs at the Institute – he could be in imminent danger!

As well designed as the labs were, with all the safety features and lock-down systems they had in place the effects of the particle escape could be felt across the whole campus. There was a sense of movement, almost imperceptible but somehow you just knew that the walls and floors were moving, rippling. Even the ground outside was trembling and there were waves on the lake at the rear of the Institute.

As a relatively inexperienced fire-fighter Cleo went in as part of the second team whose job was to ensure that the areas around the epicentre of the explosion were clear and stable. As she was making sure everyone was out of the building she learnt that Brandon was not actually in the building when the accident happened – he was out on a field trip collecting samples for his experiments.

Having secured the site, Cleo’s team passed control over to the Scientific Incident Control Unit who would shut down the systems that had failed and assess the scale of the damage. This initial stabilisation work would take hours during which time a couple of the SVFD teams, including Cleo’s, stayed on site just in case the SICU encountered any problems. At least she was glad to know that her father was safe, but this had turned into one very long day!

Thankfully the actual physical damage caused by the explosion that released the sim-boson particles was confined to just one wing of the Institute and although there may be some hidden structural impact from the effects of the particle beam itself but the first report from the SICU suggested that the swift action of the local fire fighting crews had limited the risk of any longer term damage to either buildings or people.

It was a month after the incident at the labs that Cleo and her colleagues were presented with, yet another, award, the prestigious “Trophy of Heroism” for the selfless way in which they had responded to the largely unknown dangers they had faced.


It was a Thursday.  It was an off work day for Cleo.

On this particular Thursday Qiana had decided she deserved a little extra pampering and was taking it easy in town.

Brandon was at work, researching the latest findings in cybernetic designs.

Carl, of course, was at school but had said that he would be going over to work on a project with a friend, Ruby Vail, in the evening.

On this Thursday when Cleo answered the knock at the door it was Garett Fisk.

"Hi Garett, how are you? What are doing up here?"

"Hi Cleo, I'm good, thanks, and, y'know, I was just up 'round this part of town and thought it'd been a while since I last saw you ...”

Summer Hill is not exactly close to anywhere else in Sunset Valley and it's not really the sort of place you visit for no reason but, nonetheless, Cleo was pleased to see Garett again.

"Yeah, it has been, but work, y'know ... anyway, it's great to see you again." Cleo couldn't deny that she was pleased to see him, there was something about Garett that immediately made her heart quicken, bring a flush to her cheeks and a smile to her face.

"Y'know, I haven't stopped thinking about that time in the park," Garett confessed, "I had such a great time, I really loved spending that day with you. I was hoping, maybe, we could spend some time together today ..."

As Garett stared deep into Cleo's eyes, like he was trying to connect to her soul, Cleo felt any resistance she might have dissolve. Thoughts of her family, of Pascal, just evaporated.

Unlike their previous date, they didn't need to do much talking. For Cleo there was an instinctively physical reaction, there was an 'electricity' between them that wouldn't be denied. It wasn't even a conscious thought when she invited Garett inside ...

As they relaxed on Cleo's bed, it was clear that they made such a beautiful couple. Garett was charming, sensual, sexy and just plain … gorgeous.

They was no need for words, or thinking, they "clicked" on a basic, primitive, physical level. Every touch of his fingers on her body was pure pleasure.

Without asking or prompting, Garett knew exactly how to make Cleo feel good. No, not good, not even great ... incredible!

As they lay in bed, afterwards, Cleo felt as if she now knew how heaven felt. Every inch of her body was telling her that she had experienced something amazing.

Garett knew he had done good, he had worked his magic.



Chapter 14: Two Days Out