down the road (excerpts)

table of contents

1.   whirligig

2.   the road

3.   diagnosis

4.   a new life

5.   reading

6.   music

7.   writing

8.   painting

9.   acceptance

10.  the thought

11. the reward

down the roaddecadesschooledthe artisthome

 

whirligig

it was june 20th
1994
seven years ago

we were driving down blue star highway
i was sitting in the front passenger seat of an old van
the sun was
streaking through rich greens of summer
streaming past my window

i was enjoying the scenery and
the sounds of my daughter laughing in back
when out of nowhere
life
curved
and a car brought terror
speeding into our lane

we went off the road 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

Page 1 of 2


 

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 got out of the car
 he left us there

 i could not move
could not think to take off the seat belt
or get out of the van
too much pain
i was
stuck
bekah
is that smoke
get out
it's gonna blow
it's gonna blow
we will get hit by a truck
get out get out

no
no she was crying
no

you have to get out
it’s gonna blow

but she wouldn’t leave me
at nine years old she was so brave
she stayed
bleeding,
thinking i would die
not caring what happened to her
she stayed with me

my memory goes blank after that

later i was told rebekah was the one who got me out of the van
she was my hero

the only visual picture i have
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

 

 

 

Page 2 of 2

 

copyrights reserved by jenn weinshenker

BackNext