Grande's characteristic van drove out of the backyard, with Alpha Benjamin in the driver's seat. Zach sat in the back seat with Derek on the grounds that it was convenient to introduce the surrounding things.
"This is our cemetery." Zach pointed to the land north of the road with a hint of pride, "Originally it was just the cemetery of Grande Funeral Home in the South District, but after the funeral reform, it is now also the cemetery of Barton City. The only cemetery left.”
Derek nodded, wanting to ask something, but he didn't seem to organize the words well, "He..."
The truck had already turned and was weaving through the roads between the cemeteries. Derek didn't need to ask any more questions, he knew where his destination was.
Outside the east circle of Grand West Cemetery, the truck stopped. The three people got out of the car. Derek became inexplicably nervous. His eyes swept across the empty park. The tombstones erected and arranged on the land occupied his sight. For a moment, he couldn't concentrate on distinguishing the marks on each tombstone. handwriting.
Derek doesn't know which one is his father.
Derek stood hesitantly at the edge of the cemetery, not knowing which direction to go. Derek was hugged by Zach, and the vampire smiled, "This way."
The three men gradually walked deeper into the East Garden, and the short monument that only reached their knees occasionally blocked their legs. No one seemed to be in a hurry, they were moving very slowly.
"Just in front." Zach pointed to a place in front, and everything in that direction was the same. It was impossible to know which one Zach was referring to, "That one..."
Derek stopped, looking forward and not sure if he was looking at the right place. He seemed to want to distinguish the writing on the tombstone in the distance, but he didn't seem to want to do so. There was something in his eyes that could not be determined. look.
Zach also stopped and gave Derek time to take a deep breath.
"Let's go." Zach asked tentatively.
Derek. Nodding, walking beside Zach, he walked towards a cemetery that became more and more specific and clear.
'A worthy father'
These are the words engraved on the tombstone, 'Javier Grande, xx--xx'.
Watching Derek lower his head. Looking at the words on the tombstone with a complicated expression, Zach took out the cigarette he had prepared in advance and squatted down.
"This was Benjamin and I's idea." Zach looked at Benjamin, tore open the package, opened it, and placed it in front of the tombstone together with a lighter. "We didn't want to have only one name on the tombstone, so we added this sentence .”
Do you understand what the vampire is doing? It doesn't matter whether it's playing with people's hearts or acting. He needs to match Old Hank's story.
Derek looked at the tombstone in front of him and Zach's movements, not knowing what he was thinking, "Hank said, he..." The title is a problem, but the word 'father' really cannot be said, maybe in Derek's heart , maker, is more appropriate.
Derek frowned. "Hank said he died of consumption."
Zach smiled, realizing what Derek was referring to. cigarette. The real murderer who killed old Grande is also the way Zach now commemorates this 'lovable father'. "Yes." Zach smiled and looked up at Derek, "We usually Ignore this, his previous life. We were not involved. We can only define him by what we have seen." Zach paused, "This person."
Last night, Hank's story about Derek fit into the legal profile of Zach and Benjamin. That is to say, Derek was told that Zach and Benjamin were the same as him. They are all 'sons' who lived outside and found Grande. Everything that is happening now has happened before.
The only difference is that when Zach and Benjamin came, Grande Sr. was still alive, and they were lucky enough to spend some time with this father and get all the explanations of what the word 'father' meant.
Hank Sr. hid Grande Sr.'s true life from Derek, Grande Sr.'s true descendant, and then irresponsibly pushed the rest of the matter onto Zach and Benjamin.
Sad and cunning. Why do you say that? Can everyone understand, because old Hank has already made a decision. Between the former Grande (Hank and Grande) and the current Grande (Zach and Benjamin), he obviously chose the latter. .
Out of compensation, the vampire and Alpha left the matters left to Old Hank to decide on the matters left over from the previous generation Grande, which came full circle and returned to the hands of the vampire and Alpha.
Derek nodded, "What did you see?" His complex emotions made him strangely calm when he spoke, "I mean, what kind of person did you see him."
Zach was a little helpless, this was what Old Hank should have done. There is probably no one in the world who knows Old Grande better than Old Hank. But he kept his mouth shut for the same reason old Hank drove Blake away.
Derek frowned, "Hank, Hank told me a lot of things." Derek shook his head, "He told me that he worked, worked, worked, and because of work, he repeatedly discarded things around him, and then , he got sick, and then he died." Derek stared at the tombstone in front of him, "These are not what I want to know." He shook his head silently, "This is not what I came here to find."
Derek took a deep breath and looked at Zach, "So, tell me, what did you see? What kind of person is he?"
Zach looked into Derek's eyes. Vampires had to squint because of the sunlight. Although it wasn't very clear, Zach could confirm that there was anger in Derek's eyes.
Let us reorganize the information about Derek, a middle-aged man, and understand what kind of person he is from the fragmented clues.
What Derek said to Steve Walker, 'I just came to see the man who made me...' seemed to have no respect for the people lying in this cemetery.
When questioned by James, who did not yet know his identity, he replied, 'Just a guy who can't afford a car. 'So he's not rich, at least not yet.
As well as the fact that he was lost, he seemed to lack experience in the outdoors.
I was recently divorced and thought my children would be fine without a father. This was his explanation to Louise at the dinner table. Perhaps 'no sense of responsibility for family ties' can be used to describe this person.
Also, there is something that only we know, the medical technology he displayed on the road that is about to enter Barton West.
in conclusion.
From his skills and performance, it can be determined that this is a person who has been engaged in medical work, a nurse? doctor? No matter what, anyway, he has been in the workplace for a long time, lacks experience in outdoor activities, and during the long working hours, he has formed the idea that it doesn't matter if his family is without him.
In the end, this kind of life obviously collapsed. Being a backpacker is not a job, so now he has no job and no family (divorced). embarked on the path of finding 'one's own maker'.
An obvious question arises, why did Derek come to Barton, and why did he really come to the old Grande.
"How did he spend the last days of his life with you?" Derek did not wait for Zach to answer, because his question was not really fully expressed. "Does he regret anything?" Derek frowned. Mei, paused for a moment, shook his head, and actually smiled.
"You know what's interesting?" Derek squatted down next to Zach, took the cigarette as a tribute without any respect, and lit it himself, "In the beginning, I set off with anger. You know, hit the road, come to Barton.”
Zach also took out his own bottle of wine. Now is the time to listen. Being groggy would be rude.
"My life." Derek exhaled, "It has completely collapsed. My wife..." He smiled, "My ex-wife left me." His lips moved, "Then her lawyer , made me realize very clearly that I am not a good husband or a good father, and I don’t deserve everything I have.”
This may just be a way for divorce lawyers to obtain financial benefits for their clients, but if you have ever experienced a divorce lawsuit, you will understand how painful this process is, and those accusations will make people question their lives.
"This makes me, well, confused." Derek glanced at Zach.
"So..." Zach raised his eyebrows, "You start to think about who made you like this." The vampire smiled sincerely, "Then you think of the 'father' who is blurred in your memory. He is The initiator, he started all this and started this ridiculous life, right?" Zach chuckled and blinked, "You are here to question the initiator and ask him why he 'created' you like this. .”
"Yeah." Derek nodded and looked at Zach with a smile. In Derek's mind, if anyone could understand him, it could only be the two Grande brothers who had the same experience. He suddenly became curious.
They had a whole day to waste, and probably knowing that all the answers could be found in these two brothers, Derek looked at the two brothers with a smile, "How did you get here?"
"Oh!" Zach glanced at Benjamin who was standing aside boredly, "This is a boring story." Zach smiled and shook his head, "Maybe it's a little different from you." Zach shook the bottle in his hand, "But it was also at the lowest point in my life that I thought of some strange things. For example, should my life continue like this?"
Derek looked at Zach with a thoughtful look on his face.
"We are not like you." Zach continued, "We were still young at the time and had not yet formed our own families. Just like duckweed, we drifted with the times." Zach raised his eyebrows, "So, we have to do something Make a decision, continue to drift like this, or find a place to call home and settle down."
"So you came." Derek looked at Zach, "Come to where it all started and found him." He pointed to the tombstone.
Zach smiled and didn't answer. In these vague words, the vampire meant something else. However, how the listener interprets it is his own decision and has nothing to do with vampires. (..)