Prologue: Meet Ruby and Craig

Meet Ruby Carr.  Until now her life hasn't exactly been a bed of roses.  Kids can be cruel when you're different and Ruby didn't really fit the mold.  Red hair, glasses, a predilection for reading and excess puppy fat meant school was a constant torment for Ruby.  Physical education pursuits were hell on earth.  Growing up in a small town didn't seem to help, because everyone knew how unpopular 'Red Ruby' was.  An unfortunate nickname because her fair skin would redden when the other children teased her, her blush accentuated by her brilliantly coloured hair.  Thus the other kids all avoided her friendship in order to save their reputation.

Then when Ruby was about fourteen her father, a farmer, hit the bottle -hard.  At least three evenings a week he would go down to the local pub and come back roaring drunk.  Her mother bore the brunt of his alcohol-fueled ire, but he would also berate the children for the slightest infraction.  Ruby became withdrawn and paranoid about little things like leaving the tap running.  Eventually the confrontations became physical.  First Ruby watched helplessly as her mother, sporting a new black-eye, refused to do anything.  One night, when she was seventeen, he hit Ruby too.  That night as she cried herself to sleep she vowed to break away and never look back.

Ruby left school early, without gaining all her qualifications.  For a time she boarded with a family, but they kicked her out soon after she turned eighteen.  Ruby always loved science and so brings in a small pay as a test subject at the local laboratory, with the hope of securing a more permenent and less hazardous position.

As our story begins in earnest, Ruby is doing a lot better.  She lives with Craig Johnson, her fiance of four months and housemate of one.  The couple met online, each quickly recognising a kindred spirit.

Craig has always suffered hardships.  Classified a loser at school, nothing ever seems to go right for our young Craig.  Constantly tripping over his own two feet, forever saying the wrong thing and that memorable time in chemistry which got him banned from all future experiments... 

He doesn't know if it's a string of exceptionally bad luck, or whether he was just never really given a fair chance.  Most people would be halfway convinced that 'someone up there' doesn't like them, many would just give up in disgust, but Craig learned to roll with the punches.

While making a fresh start with Ruby, Craig hopes to prove that losers can become winners.  That happiness is obtainable even for one such as him.

First he has to garner some interest in his artworks.  A painter, though just starting out, Craig hopes to one day make a living from his easel.  His dream is to be remembered as one of 'the greats'.  Unfortuately, everyone he has spoken to so far has turned him down and meanwhile there are bills to pay.