Dear Sunny-a FalmouthVerse Side Story
"Dad, I'm home!" Sunny called, as she slipped through the door. Closing it behind her, she quickly slipped off her roller blades and protective equipment, and stashed them with the coats and other shoes hanging next to the door.
She was pretty excited. Today was her birthday! Finally, she had moved up into double digits! This may seem insignificant to us, but to a person like her this was like the next major step in her life. The lack of a response soon clued her in as to where her dad was.
That, and there was a note on the fridge. I should be back around 5. See you then, Sunny.
Dad.
Sunny smiled. She could easily use some of the time to catch on things she'd been missing out on. Luckily she hadn't gotten any homework (as what sort of monster sets homework on somebody's birthday?), but Sunny wasn't exactly lazy when it came to schoolwork. Unlike Sprout. His mom did it for him, which was something of a known secret. Sunny thought Sprout wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.
She put her bag down on the table and took out the items within it, placing her books and other school items on it whilst hanging the bag up. Just then, her eyes saw something else. Sitting on the table was another bag. Inside it was a large black object.
Curiousity got the better of her, and she pulled the object out and looked at it. "Cool!" she said. "A video! I last saw one of these in a museum!"
She looked over the tape. Dad had shown her how these worked, talking about how people used to put these boxes inside other boxes that then read the tape on them to show pictures. The only major downside was that you couldn't easily skip to where you wanted to be. And you had to rewind them when you were finished! However did people watch their favourite bits of movies Sunny had no idea at all.
Once she had finished looking over the tape, she noticed a label on the side of it. Dear Sunny, it said. That was it. Sunny thought this was rather strange, so went into the front room and set up the VHS player. They were the only people in town who still had one, or so Sprout claimed. Then again, his family always had the latest toys and cool gadgets. On the other hand, Sunny and her dad were still working on a layout in the loft. It wasn't the biggest one ever, but that didn't matter to Sunny. It was always fun to update mom on what was going on, seeing as she spent most of her time away from them in some far flung country.
She set the tape to start playing, and to her surprise her dad's face appeared. He looked younger somehow, and without glasses for some reason. The room he was filming in, which Sunny recognised as the study, was considerably less cluttered than normal.
"Dear Sarah," said the TV Argyle. "If you're watching this, I haven't got long. I have so much to share..."
"Sunny?" Argyle called, as he stepped in through the door. He noticed her stuff on the table. "Sunny? What did I tell you about leaving your things on the kitchen table?"
He stopped when there was no reply, and instead heard some sort of sniffling. It was coming from the living room. Argyle walked to the door and opened it to find Sunny in there. She was the source of the noise.
"Sunny, what's wrong?"
Sunny turned to look at him. He could see her eyes were red. "Dad, you- you're not sick, are you?"
Argyle looked confused. "No. What makes you think that?" It was then he noticed the VHS player was loaded. "Oh. You found the tape, didn't you?" He calmly walked over and ejected the tape.
Sunny sniffed again. "I don't wanna lose you, dad."
Argyle smiled as he looked. "I was actually going to dispose of this, but forgot. I think I should probably explain what's going on with this tape. I recorded that years ago."
"Huh?"
"That was all before you were born, Sunny," Argyle explained, as he sat down next to her. "A few months before, actually. I'd been having a few health issues for a bit, and was worried that it could be something serious. So I was waiting on some medical test results whilst waiting for you to come."
"I'm assuming it wasn't good."
"No." Argyle sighed. "It turned out I had some sort of heart problem. I needed to go in for surgery, and there was a possibility I wouldn't make it. But if I didn't go in I certainly wouldn't be here now. So, as a precaution, I recorded that tape in case I never met you. I actually recorded two different versions of the tape."
"Why?" Sunny asked.
"At the time we didn't know if you were a boy or a girl. Your mom and I had already agreed that we'd call you Sarah if you turned out to be a girl, and Samuel if a boy." Argye chucked. "Funny how life works sometimes."
"You're better now, right?"
"Yes, I am," Argyle smiled. "Clean bill of health. And here we are now, ten years after you entered the world. Shame Goldie couldn't be here, although she should be joining us via the phone soon." He paused. "The truth is, Sunny, neither of us will be here forever, and we need to make the most of the time we have together. But I don't think that day is coming anytime soon." He got up. "Come on. I've got a present for you, and we need to get ready."
Sunny followed her father into the kitchen, and took a pair of boxes from him. She opened the packages and flipped the lids open. Her eyes widened when she saw what was inside. "New roller blades? Thank you so much!"
Her father laughed gently. "Your old ones were beginning to look a bit messy. And you'll be able to try them out tonight. If you'd like. The roller rink at Truro just got a new surface."
"Yes please!" Sunny said. "When can we go?"
"Next train's in half an hour," Argyle replied. "I'll just go and get mine."
The worry and concern in Sunny's heart was now replaced with hope and happiness. She knew that, with her family by her side, there was no challenge she couldn't overcome.
Author's Note
This story is a closer look at the relationship between Argyle and Sunny, inspired by the short segment in The Starscout Code where Sunny watches an archive recording of her father. For those interested in timeline elements, this story takes place between the first and second chapters of Thomas and Friends: a New Generation.
The next stage of the main series should be continuing shortly.
