Kerry Truelove, writer

Finding Fray

On the step stood a large man, neatly clad in a Navy sailor’s uniform (albeit without his cap.  Amy had it in her head that the lack of a cap meant he was not “in uniform”, not by the rule book at any rate).  A pair of bright blue eyes twinkled above the dark thatch of his very full beard.  From one hand dangled the cord of his duffle bag, which was leaning negligently against his leg in much the same way Scat occasionally leaned against Fray’s leg;  the other hand held a paper bag that bore the name of a popular inner-city bakery.  

“Hi.  I’m Toby – is Beth in?” asked the apparition cheerfully, as if his name had to mean something to someone who was a complete stranger.  Amy was positive she had never seen the man in her life, not even as one of the passengers on the Happy Wanderer.  She had the distinct feeling that, although she might forget some people, she would not have forgotten this one – there was something peculiarly gigantic about him, and it was not just his size.

“Beth?  I don’t-”

“Ah, you’d know her as Fray,” with utter understanding, even as he heaved the duffle bag onto his shoulders and stepped through the door.  He had the air of one who was quite accustomed to walking into Fray’s house uninvited, although he had the grace to make sure the unwieldy duffle bag committed no violence to Amy or the house, “I’ve brought something for morning tea – won’t be up to Beth’s standards, of course, but,” he waved the paper bag genially, “it’ll save her running around like a headless chook trying to slay the fatted calf-  Hi,” as there was a soft movement from deeper in the house.  Fray regarded the apparition with startled eyes, head back slightly.

“Toby?  What the-?”

“Got three weeks leave so I thought I’d drop in on my favourite sister before heading out to Willanbilli,” and grinned widely at Fray’s slightly acid observation that she, Fray, was Toby’s only sister, “yup.  Makes you my favourite,” he held forth the paper bag.  Fray automatically put out her hand and, with no ceremony at all, Toby dropped the bag into it, “I like these, hope you like ‘em too.  Is the jug on?” and made his way directly into the kitchen.

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Aboard the cruise ship Happy Wanderer, Amy Mitchell’s job is to ensure every passenger has an enjoyable cruise.  She prides herself in being able to read people, but knows better than to let anyone get under her skin or distract her from her job.  A surprising passenger unintentionally challenges her powers of invention and puts her resolve to the test.  As friendship develops between them, Amy starts on a new voyage, one of discovery.

In a quiet suburban Sydney house, Elizabeth Fraser – Fray to her friends – finds her monastic life unsettled by the experience aboard ship.  Change is long overdue;  is this the time for it, or will she remain in quiet mourning a little longer?  Will she finally allow somebody else to discover the hidden things within her that she had surrendered long ago to her now-lost partner, or is that a knife that cuts too deep? 

And what, if anything, do Scat and Remy think of all this?

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I genuinely have no idea where Finding Fray came from.  It popped into my mind as a scene, and proceeded from there, accruing details (those details must have come from somewhere in the aether, because they certainly do not generally accord with my own experience!  For instance, I have not, to my knowledge, been on a cruise ship.  Therefore, I have no idea whether there is such a thing as an activities co-ordinator on such a vessel – although I could argue that if there isn’t such a position, there should be).  

Perhaps the only parts of Finding Fray for which I have an explanation is the wood working and the classical music, because they are matters close to my heart.

In fact, Finding Fray might never have seen the light of day. I was working happily away on it when my laptop decided to die on me. I mean die, permanently – no amount of work by a computer guru was going to resurrect it. They tried. So the good seven or eight pages I had just typed in were gone (along with my temper – never equable in face of computer shenanigans). I had a backup copy on a 3.5″ disk, so at least a good part of the story had been preserved, but…

I put it aside in a temper and for many years never revisited the story. It languished on the 3.5″ disk for about ten years, in fact. By the time I re-opened it, my recollection of the story I was trying to write had become a little hazy. So I started trying to reinvent what I had written earlier, but that wasn’t the way the story wanted to go. Obediently, I followed its lead and forgot my initial ideas, if indeed I remembered any of them.

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Interested in exploring it more? Copies of Finding Fray can be obtained from the following online book stores:

Print on demand: ISBN   979-8-233-40528-0

e-book: ISBN   979-8-2356749-9-8