Standard Disclaimer Still Applies.
Chapter one – Who's come knocking on my door?
"Hi, my name is Alexander Harris and I'm a carpenter. I recently moved into the area and I'm just introducing myself to all the homeowners on the off chance that you need something fixed or built." Xander rattles off, a speech that he had carefully prepared, a non-threatening approach he thinks.
Sara is silent, still staring at the man before her.
"Ma'am?" Xander prompts and she snaps from her daze.
"Oh! Yes, come in. I was just trying to think of what needs mending."
She stutters an excuse standing to one side and allowing Xander entrance into her house, the home he feels he left many years ago.
Xander finds the living room on his own, it is in the front of the house and a part of him wants to believe that it's because he remembers where it is. Another part, the rationale part tells him it's because he could hear the drone of the television.
There is a man in the room, an older man with grey hair, seated in front of the set watching a baseball game. He looks up and smiles at his daughter.
"Honey?" Mike asks warmly.
"Dad, this is Alex, he's a carpenter and I thought it might be good if he fixed the back fence." She explains her face still ashen from the shock.
"The fence," he hesitates looking confused up at his daughter, "but I thought..."
Before he could finish his thought, he is cut off.
"Alex sit down, please. Dad, can I see you in the kitchen for a moment." It's an order, not a question and the older man gets up, confused.
"Would you like a drink?" Sara asks as she leaves with her father, who is being held by his arm in a death grip and who looks between his daughter and where the young man is standing mystified.
Xander watches them go and sits in a plush armchair, sinking into the soft cushion breathing out a breath he's been holding since he entered the room. Besides him on a small standing table covered with photo frames stands a plain frame made from Popsicle sticks. He reaches out gently and turns the sticks so that he can see the photo protected by a careful laminate of plastic.
A young boy in a baseball cap stares at him, a stupid grin on his face and a baseball glove gripped in his hand. Xander's heart nearly stops in shocked realisation. The boy is Xander as a child; he knows this because the same boy is in photo frames back in California. They sit however without the loving attention, dusty amongst old coffee cups and empty bottles of spirits.
Sara and the old man return with Sara handing Xander a tall glass of iced tea, while the old man returns to his seat in-front of the television, but the baseball game is now forgotten and instead
Mike watches Xander with an expression of bemused intrigue on his face. The staring makes Xander uncomfortable and he shifts awkwardly in the armchair. The old man stops staring, and returns his gaze briefly back to the set.
"So, did you want me to take a look at this fence?" Xander asks after taking a deep slurp of the cool refreshing drink. A wedge of lemon has been inserted onto the glass rim and he fiddles with the rind nervously.
"Yes. Ah the fence is out the back in the garden, finish your drink and then we'll look at it together." Sara decides as she shoots a glare at her Father who turns the television volume down.
"So Alex, you like baseball?" The old man asks and Xander shakes his head.
"Ah no, not really. I never really got into it. I mean I was never really any good at sports." Xander explains.
The old man looks at Sara with a knowing look, Sara looks at Xander and then back at her father with desperate eyes.
"Me? I love baseball, I tell you I could sit here all day watching a
Ball game." The man states and Xander shakes his head,
"Not me, I'm not a big fan of sports. Well, I mean, I was on the school swim team for a few weeks and I had a run in with a football player once." He offers with a wry smile and the man nods and shares another glance with his daughter.
"So Alex, how long have you lived in Colorado Springs?" Sara asks as she takes a seat herself on a sofa.
"Actually only a couple of months. Before that I lived in California.
That's where I grew up." Xander supplies and Sara nods casually, but behind the comforting smile Xander can see that her teeth are clenched.
"You move here with your family?" She wants to know and Xander shakes his head.
"No, my Mom and Dad still live in California." Sara nods somewhat sadly and looks at Mike who sends her a reassuring half smile.
"I'll just check that fence out and see what needs to be done."
Xander announces throwing back the rest of his drink as he stands.
"Oh…ah, Ok." Sara stammers and she leads Xander through the house, behind her the old man reaches for a photo and examines it carefully, his thumb brushing across the glass in the frame and he looks after Xander as he is lead away, He then thoughtfully shakes his head and returns the photo frame to the table as tunes back into the game.
The back yard is bare save for a broken garden seat, a rusted swing set and an old oak tree. The fence up the back shows no obvious sign of ware. Quite the opposite in fact, it looks to have been given a new coat of paint recently and shines bright green in the afternoon sunlight.
"This is the fence." Sara states staring at it with a slight look of panic on her face.
"It seems to be all here." Xander states, kicking a solid plank with his foot. The fence shakes a little but is built to stand.
"Yes. But I ah… want it taller." Sara replies hopelessly staring at the fence and Xander nods.
"Ok, well I could really only add about a foot, but honestly it doesn't really seem worth it," As he says it a look of desperation crosses Sara's face as she glances urgently around the garden.
Xander is frozen in silence for a moment as he watches Sara's eyes searching his face again, as if she were looking at someone she thought she remembered but couldn't find any obvious similarities.
"I could fix your chair?" Xander offers suddenly, turning to look at
the old broken down garden seat and dilapidated table.
He remembers this seat, or at least he thinks he remembers sitting on it. The smell of the grill being cooked on warm summer evenings, now it has fallen into ruin. The cold Colorado winters have taken their toll on the feeble wooden planks. Rot and wear breaking down the seat to make it useless.
"Yeah? That'd be great." Sara exclaims with enthusiasm and Xander turns to her with a smile on his face.
"I can come back as soon as tomorrow with my tools, and the lumber." He explains and Sara nods.
"Tomorrow sound really good." She says turning away as a sudden tear springs to her eye.
"You'll be my first customer." Xander states as Sara wipes her eyes
and she turns back around.
"Work a bit slow?" She wonders and Xander nods over-exaggerating the movement.
"I think everyone's a bit wary of the new kid in town. I'm from
smallsville USA myself, I know how small towns can work." He says with a shrug and Sara dips her head in agreement.
"Well I'd be happy to be your first customer." Sara says with a grin and Xander is suddenly smiling
"So I'll see you tomorrow." Xander states and after a beat he points to a side passage.
"I'll let myself out this way, I'd hate to get mud on your floors."
He explains and Sara, takes a step forward but stops herself from reaching out and touching Xander the same way one might say farewell to a loved one.
"Well I'll see you tomorrow Alex." Sara states as Xander begins to walk away, but he turns and sends her a brilliant grin.
"Xander." He states. "My friends just call me Xander."
And with that he's gone and Sara watches the side passage where she saw him last. There is a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach and for a moment she thinks that she will vomit, but the feeling simply stays gnawing at the inside of her gut. And as she wraps her arms around herself tightly, she remembers standing outside the closed curtain of a hospital room as a doctor with blood on his coat explained that Charlie was brain dead, that machines were breathing for her son and his heart was still beating but he was dead.
Wandering towards her Father, who has appeared in the garden she remembers standing in a church next to a closed coffin. The bullet that killed her son had done too much damage to his tiny body to allow the family a viewing.
And as she moves into Mike's open arms, she comes to the shocking realisation that she never saw Charlie dead. And a part of her wants to believe now that it's because he's
not, That he's a carpenter and that he's coming back tomorrow to fix a seat.
End Chapter 1.