Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN (04/13/17)
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TITLE: The First Responder | Previous Challenge Entry
By LeslieJean Anderson
04/20/17 -
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Last month we were called out to a highway wreck in a remote area. We found a tractor-trailer that had crushed a sportscar against the concrete median when it tried to pass on the right.
As I ran towards the sportscar, I saw the truck driver sitting on the ground, holding his head.
“I’m ok – get him,” he said, pointing to the sportscar.
One glance at the crushed car told me that we needed the jaws of life to get the driver out. I barked into my walkie and peered through the windshield. I saw an older man pinned inside, folded up like a pretzel, surrounded by glass and deployed air bags, but fully awake and alert.
“Get me out of here,” he yelled. Then he began spewing a stream of foul curses at me.
A coworker helped me extricate the man, but when we pulled him out, he grabbed his chest and passed out. We rushed him to the ambulance.
He’d had a heart attack. And by the time we got him hooked up, his heart had stopped. My coworker began CPR. The driver – a devout type - began to pray out loud. Then we took turns with the CPR.
“Should we stop now?” my coworker asked fifteen minutes later.
“Naw – don’t give up yet,” I growled. “Even though he’s been a real butthead and a jerk.”
Then, to our amazement, as we approached the hospital shortly after that, he began breathing and his heart started up again!
“Code Blue,” I yelled as we pulled into the driveway. I leaped out of the ambulance and Emergency jumped in. He was their problem now. Even though he’d been unpleasant, I hoped he’d survive.
A week later, my two coworkers and I were summoned up to his hospital room. My heart sank. More curses? A lawsuit? But he greeted us with a smile.
“Hello, boys,” he grinned. “So, who’s the one who called me a butthead?”
I frowned. “Those were my words,” I admitted. “You’d been cussing me as I was trying to save your life.”
“Well, kiddo, since you were so successful, I'm gonna tell you what happened after I passed out.”
I blinked. How would he know?
He laughed at the look on our faces. “Get this, guys. Somebody was waiting for me when you pulled me out of the car. It was my mother, long deceased.”
“"Jimmy,” she said, “you are in between worlds right now. I want to show you something.””
“She pointed to the truck driver, who was sitting on the ground, his head in his hands. I could see the words he was praying, like in a comic book bubble. He was praying for me. He was afraid he had killed me. An angel had her hand on his shoulder.”
“Then she turned to my crushed sportscar and pointed to a pool of blood. Another angel stood nearby.
“That should have been your blood, Jimmy. You should have been crushed like a bug in that car. But your father and I have been praying for many years that God would teach you what we failed to do – that God loves you even more than we do, and that He sent His Son to save your soul.”
“As I stared at the pool of blood by my car, the angel waved her hand and it vanished. Then my mother did too, and I was in the ambulance with you.”
Pointing to my coworker, the man said, “I heard you praying for me as you drove.” Pointing to my other coworker, he said, “And, I watched you as you started CPR on my lifeless body.”
His face softened, and he turned to me. He teared up and said in a whisper, “And then I heard you call me a butthead and a jerk. For the first time in many years, I felt true sorrow for my behavior. I wanted to apologize and thank you for trying to save my foul-mouthed existence. And I wanted to give you a hug for your efforts. That’s when I popped back into my body.”
We stared at him, astounded.
He waved at me, and said, “Come over here, young fella. Let me give you that hug.”
So, I did as he asked. Then he shook hands with all of us, thanked us repeatedly and promised to send a big check to the First Responders Foundation.
750 words
This is a work of fiction
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Well-detailed story that packs its own punch in a credible setting.