the right place to have something happen to him. the "right place" in this case is likely going to be emotional since it involves the death of a parent. but it might be something external that he needs or wants.
my suggestion for the author here, would be to pick something that will show sam's emotional state as the story opens, and the problem sam has that connects the death of his mother to the situation he's about to find himself in. sam is feeling lost, so there might be a "searching for something lost" theme you can play with. what is sam feeling and needing that would put him in 