RELUCTANT PRESS

Journal Entry: September 27, 1997

Cruising...I don't think I'm EVER going to do it again!

I hope Miss Werner will excuse me for missing an entry for the 26th, but I was in the hospital. I think she will.

I was sitting in the back of the Jeep. Pete and Scott High, another guy from the football squad, were in the front. We were cruising down Main Street, waving at the girls. Pete said we'd make a few circuits to see who was out, then we'd hit on them!

Out of the corner of my eye I saw this big white Caddy run a stop sign. The driver was a good-looking lady about forty or so, but in that split second before she hit us, I could see her eyes were glazed. Then, she slammed into the front of the Jeep! That sound of ripping metal and shattering glass is one I'll hear in my dreams forever! Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after the impact. We spun right in a circle at least three times. On the first spin I saw the Caddy was deflected from the road right into the electric pole on the corner. As we were spinning around the second time, I saw the pole splinter as the front of the Caddy sheared it right off! The third time I saw the pole bouncing free of the ground, held up by the wires. The air bag seemed to fill the entire front of the Caddy. Then, the Jeep flipped over!

We were all wearing seat belts, so at least we didn't fly out. Thank God the roll bar held together! Sparks flew like fireworks as we screeched upside down about fifty feet! Then it got real quiet. I was dazed and banged up from being bounced around so when I unbuckled my belt, I fell right on my head, knocking me cold.

When I came to, I was lying on the sidewalk with my head resting on the lap of the lady who'd been driving the Caddy.

She was stroking my head tenderly and crying, "I'm sorry, oh so sorry! I didn't mean this to happen, you must believe me! It's not my fault! I'm sorry."

I knew I was injured, but nothing seemed to hurt.

TWO LITTLE GIRLS

By JENNIFER SUE

There was a crowd of people standing around, but no one was near us. Pete and Scott were looking at the Jeep, cursing a blue streak. I could hear the sirens coming closer. It all seemed so surreal. I looked into the old lady's eyes, they weren't glazed any more, they looked as if she was...dying I guess...and relieved to be doing so, once she knew I was all right.

Then, there was this loud TWANG! I saw sparks flying from the top of the electric pole as it fell. One wire, sparking like crazy, fell right towards me and the lady. I heard the people scream and saw them run back. Then, the wire dropped right on us. It draped over the lady's head and right down to mine. Sparks flew like mad from her head; her hair burst into flames! I could see her eyes bug out, then suddenly go blank.

As I watched, she seemed to dry up almost like a mummy. My entire body was tingling with the surge of electricity that was coursing through us, but again, I felt no pain. I couldn't move, and neither did the lady. We were frozen in the positions we were in when the wire landed on us. I could tell she was dead, and it scared me because I figured I had to be dead, too. I didn't understand why I was still able to think.

They told me we were like that for ten whole minutes. The live wire throwing sparks, her head smoldering with all the hair burnt off, and me cradled in her lap. When they finally killed the power, she just collapsed. I rolled off her lap into the gutter. I could still think, see, and hear, but I couldn't move. The paramedics rushed in and started CPR on me. Suddenly, the pain hit me with full force. The last thing I remember was screaming.

I woke up in the emergency room of the hospital. My Mom, Helen, was holding my hand and crying. Behind her I saw Cynthia and her mother, Grace. My entire body ached. On the other side stood Doc Harvey with his stethoscope pressed to my chest.

"Well, I don't know how, but you're going to be all right," Doc told me in a relieved voice. "Do you remember what happened?"

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