Alexander Monroe lives in Grasspatch, a town so small, the founders couldn’t even be bothered thinking up a proper name for it. He works at the newsagency/post office, where his duties include ordering newspapers and magazines, printing Lotto tickets, and delivering the mail. One morning he has to deliver a parcel to the mysterious Mr Christian O’Neill, who lives in an oddly-shaped mansion on the outskirts of town. Not much is known about Mr O’Neill, although there is certainly an abundance of rumours -- a faded rock star, a media-shy actor. Alexander can’t wait to find out the answers for himself. Rather than being odd, Christian turns out to be the most interesting person Alexander has ever met. In fact, he asks to come back, and with each consecutive visit, he learns more and more about Christian, and about the power of the mind and the wonders visualisation can bring. But even as Alexander learns how to get what he thinks he wants, he loses Christian. Is it too late to find him again? And if he does, will what they had still be there?

Cool Blue

When they got back to Alexander’s home they went to bed without a single word being spoken.


“Do you want to talk about it?” Adam said finally.


Alexander wanted nothing more than to talk about it. He desperately wanted to unburden himself, to ease the terrible guilt and self-pity he felt, but what would Adam make of his explanation?


“I’d only just met him,” he began. “We clicked immediately. Most of the people in town thought he was a weirdo, and I really couldn’t blame them for thinking that. You see, Christian never left the house, but he had a good reason not to.” He didn’t want to go into details. If Adam asked he would tell, otherwise, for the sake of brevity, he’d stick to the basics. “He was in fact a wonderful person, well-travelled and knowledgeable about a lot of things. He gave me a very special gift and I thanked him by selfishly ignoring him.”


“Ah, that sounds a bit like my fault,” said Adam.


Chapter 19