Chapter 13: Tragedy and a Success

The Sarasota weather had started to moderate with the daytime ninety to one hundred-degree temperatures finally lowering into the eighties. At eleven thirty at night the outdoor temperatures were very pleasant, especially if there was a breeze.

Dave had been in the gazebo with Nancy Mason, the woman he’d mentored at the public utility he’d worked at before taking over the fledgling state of the art battery company for Mark Worthington. Given the hour and the expectation that no children would be around the couple had opted for outdoor lovemaking.

The two had cuddled for about ten minutes when Dave suggested they take a nude swim in the large pool to wash off the sweat they’d worked up in their energetic session. Nancy grinned and the two left their clothing and went into the pool. After a brief swim Dave fetched a couple of towels from the bin that held them. They dried off and then went to get their shorts and t-shirts.

As the two came out of the gazebo, Dave glanced between a couple of houses, looking in the direction of Perimeter Road where there were a few large homes built by Circle members. Scarlett Johansson had one of the homes there.

While Dave couldn’t actually see the homes, he could see some of the taller trees in the yards. Against those trees he saw the flashes of red and blue strobe lights indicating that some emergency vehicle or vehicles were on that street.

Dave frowned. What was going on? He cursed, “Shit. Nancy, come on let’s see what’s happening.”

The two rushed between two of the homes, took a golf cart, and took off towards the gate, making the left onto Perimeter Road.

Almost immediately they saw a fire truck, police car, and ambulance at Derek Wilson’s home where his old boss and mentor lived with his wife Emily and his long-term mistress Abby. As they neared, they saw one of the EMTs from the ambulance run back through the open front door of the home carrying some piece of equipment.

Dave parked the golf cart on Derek’s lawn and got out. He and Nancy headed for the door. Inside they could hear many voices. He also heard the sounds of crying. He walked in.

Abby and Emily were standing at the entry to the hallway leading to the bedroom wing of the home holding each other. They were both crying.

“What happened?”

Emily sobbed, “Derek collapsed just as we were all getting ready to go to bed. Abby and I got him on the bed but he was unresponsive. We called 9-1-1. From what we’ve heard it doesn’t look good.”

Abby sobbed, “Oh, God. This is sooooo bad.”

Dave had his cellphone out of his pocket. He quickly placed a call to Grace Anders and Tim Faurst, respectively a nurse and doctor who were in the Circle. He thought Tim might have stayed over with someone – even Grace.

Dave explained the situation. Within minutes two more golf carts came racing up to the Wilson home. Grace and Tim arrived about thirty seconds apart and ran into the house. Dave noted that Tim carried his black doctor’s case.

Dave and Nancy got Abby and Emily into their family room and somewhat apart from the apparent chaos in the downstairs bedroom and living room where there were multiple efforts to revive Derek.

About ten minutes later, Tim appeared at the door to the family room with a very grim look on his face. He shook his head. We could see tears running down his cheeks. Everyone in the room knew instantly what he dreaded to communicate.

Tim said, “There was nothing that could be done. Derek passed. My guess is he either had a heart attack or an aneurysm. We’ll know more with a minor pathological examination. I’m so sorry.” He came and hugged the two women. This was not his first visit to the house, but certainly the first with a terrible situation unfolding.

Grace appeared and immediately went to the two women and knelt in front of them. She cradled the sobbing women into her arms and the flow of sympathetic words started.

Dave noted a flow of other men and women into the house from the street. The word had gone out about the emergency. Tim went and explained to those standing outside what he knew. Dave called the house and got a sleepy voice. In seconds everyone was awake, many on the way to the Wilson house.

Alice came in and swept Emily into her arms. Pam was right behind and embraced Abby. She announced, “The two of you are coming to our house for the night. Dave and the others will take care of things here.”

Dave helped her steer a nearly hysterical Emily out to one of many golf carts that dotted the nearby landscape. Grace had the presence of mind to get a give Alice a change of clothing for Emily and Abby to use in the morning.

Elise came up to Emily as she walked from the home. She said, “Let me help you. I had to go through this with Dave’s father when he passed. For now, Derek’s body will be taken to a funeral home. The police were here so they don’t need to be notified. There’s no suspicion of foul play so they’re not interested.”

Tim nodded to Dave, “I recommend the Tolle Funeral Home. They’ll be able to roll with things tomorrow since they’re a major player in the area. If there were instructions to use somebody else or a cremation service, they’ll handle it right. I’ll call their twenty-four-hour number if you want.”

Dave nodded and Tim went off with his cellphone in hand.

The others in the house gradually thinned out. Dave identified himself to the police officer on duty and assured him that they were all very close neighbors and that he took personal responsibility for the house. A white van arrived from the funeral home and Derek was gently placed in a respectable body bag, put on a gurney, and whisked into the van. Derek was gone.

Dave thought about death, even his own. He’d come to think of the body like owning a car that got older and older over time. Sometimes, the car slowly eroded apart until it died, and other times there might be some instantaneous catastrophic failure that rendered the vehicle a loss. The spiritual owner of the vehicle merely moved over and got another vehicle to drive through some other learning and evolving experience.

After Derek had been taken away, the house got closed up. Dave left a few lights on. When he got back to the main Circle, he noted lights on throughout the townhouses and other homes. The Circle was already grieving over the loss of Derek Wilson.

The Circle was a morose place the next day. Dave, Elise, and Alice took Emily and Abby home in his car, driving the few hundred yards. He helped them into the house. They helped straighten up the public rooms and prepared for the onslaught of visitors who would want to extend condolences. No one had gotten any significant sleep.

Elise talked to the older women, made a few suggestions, and found out how they wanted to handle the day. It turned out that Derek, Emily, and Abby had made arrangements for cremations with a national service. The discussions centered mainly on how visitations and such would be conducted, and on planning a memorial celebration of life. Elise took over and doled out tasks to everyone so that things started to move efficiently.

Over six hundred people attended the funeral service for Derek Wilson five days later. A huge tent with seats, walkways, flooring, and a robust sound system had been erected on the fallow fields between Circle Drive and Perimeter Road. Cars were parked by valets with many occupying the entire space dedicated as the Circle Airport. Ushers were volunteers from the Circle and men Dave and Derek had known at FP&L.

Ross Buchman conducted the service. He talked about how we were spiritual beings having a human experience, and how we returned to the spiritual ether from which we came, ready to keep evolving and growing spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally. The service was warm and beautiful, but it certainly evoked many tears as he got specific about Derek.

Dave gave the keynote eulogy, pausing to sob occasionally at the loss of one of his best friends and mentors. He told the stories about how Derek had ‘discovered’ him at the utility and then fostered his career, and even pushed him into the change in jobs to what became EneRG. He talked about loving the man and his family. Dave extolled Derek’s many virtues, his sense of humor, his mentoring to many people, his philanthropy, his dedication to service both at work and in his personal life. He sobbed for most of his delivery but managed to remained cogent.

The entire tent cried along with Dave, Emily, Abby, and the rest of the Circle members who’d loved Derek as the senior grandfather of the clan. The live music came from some of Derek’s favorite organ pieces.

Ashley Steerman sang two songs acapella that left everyone in the huge tent sobbing over the loss of everyone’s friend: In The Arms of an Angel made famous by Sarah McLachlan followed by To Where You Are made famous by Josh Groban. Her tones were crystal clear and a magnificent tribute to the man. The latter song ended the service. After the song almost everyone remained seated as they blotted their eyes and cried. Eventually, people meandered away from the service and tent, many stopping to pay their respects to Emily and Abby.

The world had lost a truly great man.

The Circle was a very quiet place the night of the memorial service and for a week after. Dinner was not served by the Circle the night of the service, encouraging people to go offsite for meals. At Friday evening’s dinner a week later, most of the Circle had returned to their routine.

Dave took the PA microphone and fired up the system. “My friends, lovers, and colleagues of the Circle, please listen up. We miss our friend, but what do you suppose he would tell you about wallowing in your grief over his loss?”

Emily stood and walked up to where Dave stood. She took the microphone from his hand. “I was Derek’s wife for forty-three years. I’ll tell you exactly what he’d tell all of you – ‘Get over it! Move on with your lives. Thank you for your remembrances but I don’t need your sorrow any longer.’ Derek was a happy man. He smiled a lot, and he loved all of you. This is the night to reengage with each other, to love each other with every bit of power you have, and to go back to what we think of as our normal behavior. Thank you all for your remembrances and love. It is not forgotten.”

Dave took the mic back and said, “My thoughts exactly. Let’s have a loud cheer for Derek and the spirit of life and love he always exhibited.”

There was a modest sound from the group.

“Oh, come on. I want you all to shake the rafters when you give that cheer, not sound like a broken axel on a child’s wagon. Ready? One, Two, Three!”

The time there was a very loud ‘HU HA!’ from everyone in the Circle, yelled at the top of their lungs. Everyone applauded.

Instantly, the dining hall felt as though a pall had been lifted from the group. As Dave sat, he felt a new vibrancy in the group that had been missing since the night Derek passed. If anything, the shroud of sorrow had gotten heavier and thicker as the week had passed by. Suddenly, it was gone.

Dave and Emily hugged and then returned to their seats. Emily and Abby had spent quite a few evenings with Dave and family at the Prentiss home. They cradled each of them in love and helped the two women start the healing process of losing a lifetime love.

Just as Dave finished his dinner, a beautiful country music star sat down beside him. “Hi Dave.”

“Hi Ashley. How’s married life?”

She grinned, “Beautiful. I love Kyle so. I also love you.”

“Are you ever going to change your professional name?”

She shook her head, “No. I’m branded as Ashley Steerman. That ship sailed years ago. I’m only Mrs. Kyle Hanks on the junk mail we get – you know, one step up from ‘Dear Occupant’.” She laughed.

Ashley took his arm, “I’m glad you did that a few moments ago. I was wondering how to wake up this place again, even though I don’t get to spend much time here.” She hugged him, “I’m hoping that you and I could spend some intimate time together. Are you promised to anybody tonight?”

Dave smiled, “You. I have missed you in my life.”

“I think I’ll be around here a little more than I have been. I talked to Scarlett about how she manages her life. The fact that Rose and Athena who had been her governess lived here brought her back repeatedly. Kyle and I are going to have children starting soon. In the meanwhile, we were thinking of building a house on Perimeter Road. Kyle and I talked to Jack Anders this afternoon about plans, costs, and things like that. He’s going to do some plans for us. After we have some plans we like, we’ll petition the Circle Board for permission to build, and then go through all the rigmarole to build it.”

“Where is Kyle?”

Ashley laughed and pointed, “Talking to Emily. I don’t know if you remember but the two of them had a special connection that developed a few years back when he first started to come here with me. What’d we used to say, they specialized in each other? I think he’s going to specialize in her tonight – and Abby.”

Dave nodded, “That still goes on. Many of our newer members have not made love with everybody else in the Circle.” He glanced several tables over at Kyle who had gotten a large smile from Emily and Abby. “He won’t come on to them too heavy, will he?”

Ashley chuckled, “He’s always as smooth as glass. He’s very sensitive and empathic. Nothing will happen unless they do the inviting, and even then, he’ll be sure of the basis for the interaction. He’s also the best cuddler. If that’s what’s needed, he’ll hold the two of them all night long and not regret a second of it.”

Dave asked, “Kyle won’t mind having two homes – Nashville and here?”

“Not a bit. He’s dedicated to my happiness, plus he has always been enamored by the philosophy of the Circle and how everyone has made it so workable in thought and deed. He devoured Cricket’s book, by the way.”

Ty stood up and announced that dancing was encouraged. A moment later the melodious tones of Texas Dawn by Ashley started to float from the patio speakers.