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1.
whirligig
it was june 20th
1994
we were driving down blue star highway
i was sitting in the
front passenger seat of an old van
enjoying the sounds
of my daughter laughing in
the back
watching the sun streaking
through
the rich greens of summer
streaming past my window
when
out of nowhere
life
curved
and a car brought terror
speeding into our lane
we went off the
road to try to get away
oh god
there was an
explosion
it was the loudest sound i ever heard
and then a wind
a big wind
and a bright white light came
and took everything away
what happened
i heard rebekah
she sounded so far away
mommy
mommy
she was crying
she needed me
there was blood and broken
glass everywhere
i could not move my head
could not turn to
see her
to see if she was okay
it was bad
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are you hurt
come to where i can see you
are you bleeding
take a shirt and
hold it on your mouth
i watched as the driver of our van
my second husband
got out
he went to see
what happened to the driver of the car that hit us
the other driver was dead
later i heard
some people
went to get help
they lived near a blueberry farm
on the other side of the tree line
i could not move
could not think to take off the seatbelt
or get out of the van
i was stuck
in too much pain
bekah
is that smoke
it
sounded like steam
like pressured air releasing
get out
it's gonna blow
it's gonna blow
we will get hit by a truck
get out get out
she was
crying
no
no
you have to get out
it’s gonna blow
but she wouldn’t
leave me
at ten years old she was so brave
she stayed
bleeding,
thinking i would die
not caring what happened to
her
she stayed
my memory goes
blank after that
later i found out
rebekah
undid my seatbelt
and pulled me across the engine
and got me out of the van
she was my hero
the only image i
remember
after that
was being
outside and
twirling
like some kind of a
whirligig
spinning
in slow motion
spiraling
toward the
ground
falling gently
downward
to a surreal
silent
stop
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copyrights reserved by jenn weinshenker
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