Circles of Family and Friends
Tonight, I’m taking this opportunity to just review the last two years since the first episode on March 25, 2020. As the Storyteller of Situationally Theirs, I should know what each of the residents and participants of the Beaufort Estate story think of when not being showcased. But I don’t. They each must have lives outside of their little worlds. Mustn’t they? How do they seem to remain calm while the rest of the world is whirling about?
That’s not quite true. In over two years, they have had their struggles. Desperanza Eliot, or Dez as she prefers, started this story with a bank robbery! Not a real one, just one of opportunity that turned out to be quite unsuccessful. In short, her first experience was at the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, when she was covered with Lysol and taken to the police. From there, the next character was Emelina Beaufort, who turned out to be Dez's sister. Widowed and grief stricken, she was the sole owner of an estate outside of city of Hartley where Dez lived. That same evening, Emelina was left alone for the first time in four years. A call from police to come and get her sister, roused her in the middle of the night. The sisters had not seen or heard from each other for about 10 years. This is where the story began.
Set on Vancouver Island, the beautiful Beaufort Estate and it's residents seems to have no purpose other than to provide a living for Emelina Beaufort’s staff: James Digby, butler; Martha Haverstock, housekeeper, Elizabeth Saunders, Cook and Samuel Forrester, groundsman. There was a time when the Estate was apparently filled with busy comings and goings. That time had passed and Emelina’s grief kept her from being aware of her responsibilities. For the first fourteen episodes, as they told me their stories, Dez and Emelina were getting to know each other again, living in the kitchen of the Estate, taking care of each other and following pandemic recommendations.
I could go on. Dez returned to her apartment and kept taking this job and that job. Emelina grew into her role as an employer. James and Martha finally declared their love for each other after working together for over twenty five years and were married. Cook - that’s Elizabeth Saunders - just keeps on cooking and taking care of people with her good food. Oh, and she has a good friend, a very good friend, in Samuel Forrester. Samuel does keep to himself and would rather be on the land than in any house. Has what he calls a ‘shack’ at the edges of the Estate. Everyone does have their own home which allows them to come and go on each work day.
There have been many other people who have come and gone throughout the last two years and will continue living their lives outside the story. Martha’s daughter and grandchildren, Cook’s letters to her sister Lily in England, most recently James reunion with his brother Thom and his partner Sonja; Samuel adopting a lost dog, naming him Brewster. There was Brigitte Smithson, originally Emelina’s maid who left for university. Giles Thornton, the Estate's chauffeur, married and with children, who lives off the estate. Even a little ghost named Sarah has made several appearances. Tanya, a teenager and babysitter. Tucker, another teenager who did odd jobs for the estate. (The little ghost girl fell in love with him.) Dr. Jeremy Crawford, who marries Emelina, is a doctor in the city hospital.
Although, Situationally Theirs is about Dez and Emelina, it is also about the circle of friends and family around them. Not that different from many people, just living the best way we can in the the world of the Pandemic which goes on and on with each wave.
“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”
~ Dalai Lama
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