Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: CALENDAR (10/20/16)
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TITLE: Turning the Page | Previous Challenge Entry
By Francie Snell
10/27/16 -
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Traffic was at a standstill when we stopped behind the line of cars. While waiting, we spotted a side road off to our left. My husband and I decided to take it hoping it would be a way around the congestion. We drove the rough pavement for a short distance before we found ourselves facing the same line of cars.
As we pulled to a stop, a woman was standing by the side of the road with a cell phone to her ear. She turned around and looked at us with pain in her eyes and spoke to us through our open window. “They were my students. We were first on the scene.” She shook her head and looked down at her phone. “And I can't get a hold of any of their parents.” She turned and slowly trudged away, pressing the numbers on her phone as she went.
The flashing lights of an ambulance passed in front of us and stopped a few hundred feet away near the waiting helicopter.
The ambulance sat parked on the side of the road, lights flashing, but the rear doors remained closed. We watched as two firemen, appearing unhurried, arrived at the back of the ambulance and pulled open the doors. Inside was a man moving in constant rhythm, pushing down on the chest of someone laying on a gurney. This went on for what seemed to be forever. Then the doors to the ambulance closed.
Two unmarked SUVs with flashing lights drove by in front of us towards the ambulance. “Those are coroners,” my husband murmured.
The line of cars began to crawl as a woman pulling a trailer motioned us to get in line in front of her. As we were pulling back in line, a car behind us honked, as if frustrated with our slow advance into traffic. The cars inched a few feet and stopped.
A young fireman, pacing along the shoulder of the road, along the line of cars, was beckoned by someone in the truck in front of us. We watched as the young man stepped up to the truck and explained through the passenger side window the situation. “Sir, we’re trying to move things along as quickly as possible. We should have you on your way shortly. I apologize for the inconvenience.” After a short response from the driver in the truck, the firefighter again repeated what he had just said, again apologizing for the delay. The young firefighter seemed patient when he explained it to the man for the third time.
The Headlines reported: Mother And Daughter Die In Triple Fatal Crash On J-59.
News reported that a woman, 66, was driving northbound in a Toyota on the two-lane highway when a vehicle illegally crossed into oncoming traffic over the double yellow lines to pass her. A young woman, 16, was driving southbound in a SUV and swerved right to avoid the passing vehicle. The young woman lost control of her vehicle and it overturned onto its right side. It slid across the roadway and its roof smashed into the front of the Toyota. The driver of the vehicle that was passing illegally was not hit and took off from the scene.
The young woman, 16, died at the scene. Her passenger was her 51-year-old mother who was ejected from the vehicle and also sustained fatal injuries. A relative and passenger of the driver, 66, was flown to the nearest hospital but succumbed to his injuries. The man was 72. Two passengers in the back of the vehicle driven by the 16 year old woman, a boy, 17, and a girl, 16, both suffered major injuries and were flown to a hospital 50 miles away.
Three people died that day, and three survived. If we had arrived just minutes earlier, we could have been the victims.
A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. Job 14:5
From now on, when I turn the page of a calendar, I’ll consider the blessing of the days the Lord has given me, and thank Him for my life.
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