Seven

Paul Keller closed the door to his bedroom and just stood there staring at the wall. He had missed his daugther so much the first two years! But by the third year his wife Claire had been diagnosed with (insert disease that connects with childs disease) and his longing for Sandy turned into bitterness.

He had to take care of her on his own, couldn't even get in touch with Sandy to tell her that her mom was dying. The anger that came from her leaving town slowly burned into rage, as Claire lay in bed wasting away. Not a single day went by when she didn't ask about Sandy and every time she did, Paul felt like a long needle was being stuck into his heart. Paul had to cut down on his hours at work and Jonah White, his apprentice at the metal shop, who was only 17 at the time, had to learn fast and put in sixteen hours of work most days. He couldn't find anybody else who knew how to fix sheet metal, hydraulic systems, and do electrical repairs to replace him, nor could he afford to pay anybody else. There wasn't that much work around after Sandy left, but metal work was time-consuming and the little there was kept him and Jonah plenty busy.

Keller's Metal Shop's motto, painted on the sign outside, promised attention to detail and repairs that had your machine "up and running in no time!" but Paul found it very difficult to pay attention to his work. With his reduced hours at the shop and Claire's hospital bills, they were barely scraping by and soon he started taking out loans at the bank. The situation grew worse every month and when his wife passed away, he had to beg Bill Brinner at First Federal Bank for one last loan to pay for her funeral. He had to put down their house as collateral and Bill still gave him the smallest possible amount the bank could afford to risk on a guy like Paul: $1100.

Claire was buried in the cheapest casket available and the flowers around her grave had been picked by Paul himself. Very few people showed up at the funeral and for that he was glad. He felt almost as much grief for losing his wife as for the undignified burial he had given her. But he knew this wasn't his fault. Things wouldn't have been that way if Sandy had stayed. All she had to do was close the deal and millions of dollars would pour into town. So much metal work would be needed that Paul would have to start a workshop to teach some of the locals the trade. He would avoid hiring from out of state, folks he knew came first, even if he had to teach them from scratch. Either with outsiders or locals, business would be booming and Keller's Metal Shop was poised to grow by leaps and bounds. Instead, Sandy turned away and took their deal to another town. She was responsible of the economic downturn of a town that was barely surviving before she left and flat out collapsed when she took with her the development deal that would finally bring prosperity to Merryville. Because of her, Claire was buried in a casket so flimsy that Paul shuddered to think how much rest she had gotten before the insects starting breaking through the thin wood.

Sandy's betrayl sent Paul through most stages of grief. First there was shock, then denial. She must have had a good reason for doing this, was all he could think for a entire week. Soon after he felt guilt, maybe it was all his fault, maybe he didn't raise her right. Guilt was then followed by a long stretch of anger and a brief bout of depression. Out of the seven stages doctors talk about, Paul had not experienced bargaining or acceptance. The former because he had no one to bargain with. The latter because he still wanted an explanation before he could have his closure. The road from shock to depression was a bitter one, but he had not travelled it in vain. Sandy was back and he would be damned if he didn't close this wound once and for all.