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THE ELUSIVE GIFT OF TRAGEDY
by
Regina Rose Murphy

John had resigned himself to not going away to school that fall and decided to buy a truck. Because of the high rate of teenage accidents, I suggested John get an old truck for a year and then he could have any car or truck he wanted. He willingly agreed to this and bought an old Ford Bronco. About two weeks after he got his license, he got up on Sunday morning and told us, “I’m going to pick up Derek, a friend, and drive him home.” If the guys in the neighborhood were partying on a Saturday night, they would crash wherever they were that night and find a way home the next morning. John was excited to do this.

Two minutes after he left the house, the phone rang. He had hit a light post and needed me to come right away. By the time I got there, traffic was backed up because the Bronco had caught on fire and then finally became engulfed in flames. Four fire trucks were on hand, putting out the fire, and no traffic was moving because of a police barricade around the entire area. The column of smoke seemed to be a mile high in the sky. The first thought David and I had was that John had gone back into the truck for his CDs just before it became consumed in flames and that he’d been killed. David told me to get out of the car and run to the scene because we couldn’t drive through the police line. As I left David in the car, I could see him make the sign of the cross. Of course, in the back of my mind was the prediction that John wouldn’t see his twentieth birthday. Finally as I approached the scene, I couldn’t even recognize what had once been a Ford Bronco. A police officer saw the panic on my face and asked if I was “Mom.” The police officer pointed over to the grass and I spotted John sitting there safely about a hundred feet away. He was immensely relieved to see me.

John later explained, “After I hit the post, the truck spiraled out of control and Derek didn’t have his seatbelt on. The passenger door flew open and Derek held onto the door through the open window as he swung outside the truck. The back wheel came off and the truck almost overturned onto Derek. As soon as the truck stopped, we got out but the sparks from the wheel that came off started the fire and then the truck became a fireball.”

John realized how close he came to killing his friend. The truck would have crushed Derek if it had flipped onto its side. Apparently, John had looked down to change the song on the CD player and wasn’t paying attention. When he looked up and saw the light post, he tried to turn but the side of Bronco bounced off the light post. When I was teaching him to drive, I must have yelled at him a thousand times for changing a CD and not watching the road.

This close call reminded me of the astrologer’s awful prediction about his early exit and I was constantly holding my breath about that. However, John did become a much more careful driver after that. The next purchase was a brand new truck and it wasn’t long before his next accident, which wasn’t his fault. He was rear-ended by a police officer because John slowed down for an ambulance to pass and the policeman did not. John suffered a severe neck injury, which took three months to heal enough for the doctor to release him for work.

On July Fourth, the day before he was to return to work, John dove into the swimming pool and hit his head hard on the bottom. His head wound was streaming with blood and he re-injured his neck. He went back to the same chiropractor who took x-rays and the doctor told John he had a concussion and more damage to his neck, so he couldn’t go back to work for at least two weeks. Not only did this news receive no sympathy from John Sr. but it also was the straw that broke the camel’s back. John Sr. unloaded like never before about what a disappointment John was and basically told John he never wanted to see him again. This was the worst fight the two of them had ever had, and John stayed in his room for three days. I was starting to worry, but got him out of his room by convincing him to go to the beach with his friends. This prospect cheered him up, and he started to plan the trip. In fact, John became famous for his trips to the beach.

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