"Getting By"

Death was so final Karina thought to herself as she sadly looked down at the headstones of her grandmother and grandfather. Karina's father, Braden, hadn't been able to reconcile the fact that his parents were gone and to have to live in Cape Garner was not what he wanted to do any longer since the memories of the murders of his mother and father haunted him.

...which meant digging up the remains of their ancestors and moving them lock, stock and barrel to a new island; where the only inhabitants of the island would be family members and those who were close to the family.

In the latter half of the year of Karina's grandparents passing, RCMP Detective Sergeant Langarak came to the house and let them know that they'd found the perpetrators. Evidently the Empress of Evil was the instigator. He looked pained as he told Karina's father that they had tried to bring her to justice and arrest her so that she could be charged and questioned about the actions that led to his parents' deaths. However she had chosen to shoot it out with the RCMP officers along with her sidekick. VJ Alvi had drawn his weapon and was about to fire at Parker and Det. SGT Miraj Alvi had put two rounds in his brother's chest, dropping VJ to the floor. He was taken to the hospital severely wounded and expired almost six hours later in surgery. As per customary procedure, Miraj was given administrative leave while the investigation into the police shooting took place. Parker told Braden that the shoot-out with VJ and the Empress of Evil had left Lieutenant Ethan Bunch injured after being shot twice in the shoulder where Parker had to draw on her and bring her down with two well placed shots center mass. She had bled out on the ground before the ambulance could come.

"So who was the Empress?" Braden had asked.

Parker looked solemnly at his friend's son, "Holly..." was all he said. It was hard to believe for Parker that someone who had been "good" could flip to do such evil deeds. But he had an inkling as to why. There had been a three killings back in Sunset Valley roughly about the time that Haruo and River had gotten married. As newly minted officers of the law, Parker and Ethan had suspected that Vita and Nick Alto had gotten their comeuppance from other crime families out of town. The capo of the Aldezi family had presumably hired someone to take care of things. However the Inspector of the Sunset Valley RCMP detachment had stated that the third killing was a conman of some disrepute who worked in the science field and moonlighted as a scam-artist using his computer skills to hack into other people's bank accounts and steal their money. Evidently, even though Holly hadn't admitted a single thing, it was clear from her actions that she mistakenly held the Chikamori family responsible for the deaths of her parents and in her own twisted grief had developed a plot of revenge against Haruo and River. It was a tragic mistake of epic proportion that destroyed both families...as Braden was still hurting from the loss of his parents and was doing his level best to keep his family afloat. But Parker, Ethan and Miraj had no choice but to bring Holly and VJ to justice. And Holly and VJ had chosen to exchange fire with the police officers attempting to make an arrest. They paid for that error in judgement with their lives.

Colonel Braden Chikamori had been given astronaut status and was going into space every week to conduct experiments to make sure that transfers of equipment and supplies between the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station were smooth. So in the name of safety, he compartmentalized his feelings and did his duty.

"Grandma, Grandpa... Uncle Ethan, Uncle Parker and Uncle Miraj found your killers...and brought them to justice. I hope you can rest easy now..." Karina stood at the tombstones, a lump threatening to choke her words that she tried to get through the logjam. "I love you both..." For her there was no forgiveness for the actions that VJ and Holly took to deprive her of her beloved grandparents. Let them burn in hell for eternity.

The new house wasn't as big as the one that they'd come from in Cape Garner, but it was good enough for the family and Samson, their Rottweiler would head out and look for gemstones. Yet Karina could see in her dad's eyes, the pain of loss; the same as she could see in Auntie Brianna, Uncle Allan and Aunt Alanna; they all were hurting as one family, even Uncles Parker, Ethan and Miraj who were referred to as uncle just because of traditional Asian customs of referring to a well-respected elder as uncle and it appeared as though Parker, Ethan and Miraj were adopted into the family. Maybe she would pursue the law enforcement career when she was old enough to do so.

The wedding portrait of grandma and grandpa was kept in a place of honour in the house. and until they figured out how they were going to set up the memorial area inside the home, it was clear that they would not move it from that location.

Class sizes at their new school were small considering that it was more a family-school than an actual public school and when things were finished at school, Karina went to the cemetery, where she found a modicum of peace with her grandparents and did her homework there.

Their gardener Alfredo Morales put his energies into working out by jogging increasing his fitness level. He found that it gave him time to think. Even the hired help, Kyla and Alfredo were considered family and as such they had their own grief over the loss of their employers. They did the same tasks as before, were paid the same as before, but were treated as if they were a part of the family, they ate at the same table and shared in the same conversation as the rest of the family.

Meanwhile for the rest of the extended family, they dealt with the grief as best as they could as well. And for them a lot of that was spent in doing stuff within the community whether it was going to the movies, eating out or just staying at home.

The kids, (the three Chikamori siblings (one adopted) and two boarders played a game of pool on the pool table. Martin went first, while the others waited their turn.

...and that was how they were managing.

"The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not 'get over' the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to." — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross​

New Love

As the days passed after the funeral, the family realized that they had to keep moving forward. Grief ebbed and flowed, but it was ever-present. And it would always be so for the Chikamori children with their father and mother taken away from them so tragically.

Braden was now the head of the entire family, since he was the one chosen as heir, despite the fact that usually it was the oldest male in a Japanese family that ended up being the family patriarch. But even though he felt like he should defer to Allan as Allan was the oldest, his older brother told him that he was relieved that Braden was the one shouldering the burdens. Allan had his hands full in his medical career and he and his wife had to worry about that as well as his own children, so he wasn't able to devote the time and the energy that Braden was able to. Braden now had time on his hands since he was now an astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency and only had to worry about one mission a week (in fact he only had to go into work one day a week) and was pulling in a good solid income at the top of his career ladder. From here on in it would be General rank after this was over.

Cape Garner had settled into full-on winter and it was snowing nearly every single day, oftentimes non-stop. There was a thick carpet of snow on the island as a nasty polar vortex had made temperatures plummet nearly overnight.

But there were tasks to deal with and the fact that they were together helped make things less of a burden.

Braden decided to work on his logic skill by creating potions at the potion table. It was something to take his mind away from the grief and he worked at it single-mindedly. Besides, it was something to fill up the days when he wasn't working.

...and others found other ways to take away the grief...by holding each other tighter. Marisa decided to form a relationship with Martin O'Reilly, one of the boys who had come over from Ireland in an international high-school exchange program.

While Alfredo Morales decided to take the plunge and ask Kyla to marry him which she enthusiastically accepted. After all the entire family (both hired help and family members) had encircled the wagons around their family and the fact that Alfredo and Kyla decided to make sure that they would always have a family around them, just in case something happened to Braden and Greta. Det. Const. Langerak had told them that to keep their eyes open, since the suspects that had gone after Braden's mother and father were still in the area. The whole island was locked down.

Kyla and Alfredo felt as though they were part of the family and they wanted to make sure that nothing would ever separate the family children if the worst happened. At least then the Chikamori name would continue on in perpetuity.

Despite all that, grief was never far behind...and sometimes it was just best to let it flow rather than pen up the feelings.

For Karina, sometimes solace took the form of playing the piano, much like her grandfather and great-grandfather had done.

...and life went on...

Winter in Cape Garner

Cape Garner in the winter-time is scenic. The white stuff falling from the sky blankets the entire town and makes going from place to place on the island a chore. For all its beautiful landscapes; a feast for the eyes, its roads are still a treacherous adventure. One had to be very careful to make sure that their vehicle didn't slip on the black ice covering the roads in the winter-time.

When it warmed up slightly from the snowfall, the moisture in the air turned to fog and that made it doubly dangerous to be driving the circuitous roads on the island. Street lamps were rare and it made it absolutely necessary to have one's vehicle's headlights in top working order. Even the slightest bend in the road could disguise a tree and running into a tree, even at 50km/hr would result in a collision with serious injuries. Winter wasn't a time to take chances especially on the road where the likelihood of waiting hours for a tow or emergency services to get to you.

As the days passed, the hurt and the loss lessened and things got back to an even keel. Mornings resulted in Alfredo heading out to the garden to go pick vegetables, Kyla ate breakfast and cleaned the house.

And two high-school boarders were brought in for their senior year from abroad; one from Japan, the other from Ireland. The one from Ireland (I have to go back into the game to remember his name; and unfortunately, I'm not about to do that at the moment until I catch up the rest of the photos, I've taken, in story-telling) got a chance to head out with his friend to a field trip along wth Braden's adoptive sister.

When they all got home from school, the first task was to study and study, they did. Of course it wasn't fun, but it was necessary. Braden had expectations of his children and they did what they had to; to meet expectations. After all, if they didn't achieve, they wouldn't go onto bigger and better things.

It certainly wasn't fun however for Braden's adoptive sister. Temper tantrums don't help, especially when they're teenagers. "Go do your school project; it's due in a week!"

Those who were in high-school also had plenty to do at home, including playing chess, ping-pong or learning the drums. There was no time to be bored because there was so much to do inside the home.

It appeared as though Alanna had taken her father's death really hard and was spending a lot of time learning violin - something her father had done. Guess it made her feel close to his spirit (and if she didn't get out of the cold soon, she'd probably freeze her hind-end off too...and that might encourage a reunion).

Kyla made chicken fried rice for dinner on the teppanyaki grill. It certainly made for a delicious meal.

And Greta took a congratulation call from a member of the Canadian Senate (the Upper House of Parliament). The Canadian Senate was modeled after the British House of Lords and consists of 105 members appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister who was Greta. Achieving the status of "Leader of the Free World (Canadian Prime Minister) in the federal election having won a majority government of 265 of the possible 338 seats in Parliament. The Canadian populace had overwhelmingly voted against the Liberal Party and had thrown them out of office. Greta had run on the Progressive Conservative party platform after having overthrown Scheer and his hardline rightwing policy leadership in the last PC party leadership race. The Canadian populace had asked for a more moderate Progressive Conservative stance rather than the hard-line anti-immigration policies of years past and Greta had met those concerns; her leadership race was a landslide win and she had been poised to take the helm of government in the federal election as well. And it was a good move for the Progressive Conservatives as her leadership had led them to a landmark majority government win with her taking the helm of government.

It also required security...and plans were being made to ensure that security from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) were able to do their jobs to protect the Canadian Prime Minister at both her residence in British Columbia and at 24 Sussex.

Life was good for Greta and her family.