Traitors and Second Chances

    

Author’s Note: From the novel Traitor, this conflict resolution piece explains the effects Fergus Watt’s title as  ”Traitor” had on his grandson Danny, and how it was resolved to bring them closer.

Devastated, Danny Watts learning the horrible truth about his former Special Forces grandfather and has no choice but to chase him down and bring him to justice. Due to a Columbian drug bust, Fergus Watts is now pictured as a “traitor” in everyone’s eye. Searching for days on end, Danny finds his grandfather near a café in London and is furious for ruining their family name. The main conflict of the tale is trust, the trust in someone is easy to lose and hard to gain. Fergus attempts to tell Danny what really happened, but the pain that the name “traitor” has caused has now almost made it impossible to trust Danny’s grandfather again. Is Fergus really a traitor? Can Danny trust his own grandfather? Is it all a lie?

To begin with, being an expert in hand to hand combat old Fergus Watts knew he wasn’t in any real trouble when his seventeen year old grandson arrived. Fergus tried to tell the raging bull Danny that the drug bust was not his fault. Time and time again Danny didn’t believe him, he hadn’t ever met his grandfather before, how was he to believe him? Though Danny’s grandfather told the tale with such detail, it started to make some sense, however Fergus was still part stranger to Danny. Fergus told his grandson that he was framed by a Britain government agent George Fincham. He began to think that it was the truth but one question still remained, why? Why was his grandfather framed? He told Danny that the British were killing not just drug dealers but also civilians and Fergus knew that it was not right.  

However in the book, Fincham knew that Fergus would try to tell the press that they were killing civilians so he had to take him out of the picture. When the grandfather and grandson had been attacked by only Fincham, Danny had no choice but to picture his grandfather’s story as the truth. Suddenly it began to make sense to the 17 year old boy, pictures, the attacks, and Fincham all proved that Fergus was the victim. Danny’s confused hatred now turned much less at Fergus and more at the tyrant Fincham for keeping him apart from his granddad.

   Likewise, the story was forever changed by this turn of events from Fergus being a traitor to revelations of the past. The tale of a 17 year old military graduate searching for his grandfather who betrayed his own country many years ago has now changed. Two friends searching for a way to let the truth be known about an evil man and a Colombian drug bust.

In conclusion, most eyes of England will always see the former Special Forces Fergus Watts as a betrayer of their country, but only Danny Watts will now know what really happened. The terribly long hunt for justice will have formed a new companionship between a kid and his grandfather.