The sound of riots ringing in his ears, Slade crouched down behind some garbage cans. He caught his breath then poked his head around one of the cans – the gangs were throwing rocks through windows, running away with TV sets and stereos, hurling abuse at the raggedy group of army cadets that were valiantly trying to gain control of the situation.
Slade looked around – he was desperately tired. Everything hurt, his stomach was rumbling and he couldn’t remember when he last slept.
Curling up on the floor, surrounded by garbage, Slade closed his eyes…
Talk about a skeleton in the closet – as Slade read through the letter in the attic, he found that his family could put on a Broadway Show with the amount of skeletons that he found hiding amongst the lines on the page.
Grace had been Garth’s first love and Carla and Slade were born when Grace and Garth were just kids themselves – young, in love – and unmarried.
Grace’s parents had tried everything they could to control the situation and after both babies had been born, put their collective foot down and demanded that Grace attend teacher college.
Taking on Carla themselves, Grace and Garth’s parents decided that Garth needed some responsibility and it was decided that he should look after his son, Slade.
Garth loved his children and saw Carla as often as he could. He pined for Grace and love letters flowed back and forth from state to state.
Grace and Garth’s parents both tolerated their children seeing each other during vacations but as time passed, visits became more infrequent as both Grace and Garth grew used to life without each other and before the year was out, they kept in touch only to find out how their kids were doing.
Garth met Angie when he was out buying diapers. In the grocery store, little Slade was always reaching out to pull things off shelves and Angie happened to be right in the firing line of a huge pile of diapers, which bounced off her head – and her pregnant belly.
It might not have been love at first sight as such but Angie and Garth found out they had a lot in common…
Angie went to the same teachers college as Grace. Hung out with Grace and her boyfriend Andreas along with her own boyfriend, Jackson. And now she found herself expecting a baby.
Sent to stay with her aunt in Greendale, Angie became close friends with Garth and when her baby was born, it was Garth who drove Angie and her baby son back to Jackson.
Angie couldn’t settle after her time with Garth. She felt torn between her love of Jackson and her friendship with Garth, the only man she felt could understand her fully. She was a self-proclaimed gypsy and felt that she was meant to spend her life wandering.
She did develop relationships and she had real feelings for people and places but she just couldn’t stay in one place with one person for long. After a time her feet started to itch and she felt like running. Running from what or to where she didn’t know – but she knew she had to run.
Dividing her time between Jackson and Garth, Angie lived a lie for many years. Part of the time she lived with Garth and Slade. And then she would return to Jackson. Always running.
As far as Garth was concerned, Angie was spending time with her son. And as far as Jackson was concerned, Angie was helping to nurse her sick aunt.
Angie loved all of the men in her life – Garth and Slade; Jackson and Mega. But when Jackson went away to war, Angie felt it was time to return to her son and she left Garth and Slade behind for good, her gypsy ways stifled for a time.
As if the stars had realigned in the sky or an act of magic occurred, Grace miraculously came back into Garth’s life just when it was in tatters after Angie’s departure.
The couple were reunited and lived together as the family that they really were. Garth and Grace, not wanting to jinx the luck that brought them back together, decided to keep their secrets and just enjoy being as one finally…
Slade felt himself being dragged from the ground. He couldn’t see anything and realised he was blindfolded.
Hauled away by rough hands, Slade didn’t have the strength or the will to struggle.