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

With nothing more to do he threw himself into working at whatever jobs came up around the town. He still had quite a bit of money from the mortgage left over and so he paid half of what remained back to the bank. If anything, it would keep the amount of interest he had to pay to a minimum. In four to six months he’d be able to pay off the balance with a cheque from the publishers. Of that he had no doubt.


After Christian and Adam, and after finishing his manuscript, life in Grasspatch seemed duller than it had ever been before. He tried to remain positive, for the sake of his book if nothing else, but it was difficult. The people he’d known for as long as he could remember seemed quite content to live their uninteresting lives. Perhaps that’s all they wanted—a quiet life, a family, and a safe environment for their children.


Chapter 23