50-50
Eleven year old John Webster had
no idea what was about to happen to him. He was an innocent little child who was
carrying just a little too much cash in his hands for the mean streets of
Detroit. Everyone knew carrying too much cash often caused a lot of trouble,
very fast. Even as a child, John Webster
knew what happened on the streets of Detroit, and it terrified him incredibly.
His parents didn’t know he could see their TV through his cracked open bedroom
door, and that was how John knew about everything that happened, as long as it
was on the 9:00pm news.
As John continued down the
mean streets of Detroit, suddenly he heard something, or someone stirring
behind him. I should really be heading
home now, he figured. Impatiently, he picked up his pace and noticed a
figure out of the corner of his eye. Could
It be?, he wondered, no I’ve just
been watching the news too often, he concluded. But as young John turned
the corner, he was mugged by three men that apeared to be wearing big numbers on their black jackets.
Hours later, John’s parents, Martha
and Mike, sat anxiously beside his hospital bed. It terrified them to think of
their son laying helplessly in a coma, when just hours ago he was walking home
through the streets of Detroit. The doctors had recently informed John’s
parents, the longer someone is in a coma; the higher the chances are they won’t
wake up. After hearing this the Webster parents were shell shocked. They asked
the doctor what the chances were John would wake up. After a painfully long
silence, the doctor answered, “It’s a 50-50 chance.” Astonished, John’s parents
gasped in horror.
“Y-you-you mean that his
chances of life and death are the same?” retorted Martha, furious at anyone who
could think to hurt her son.
“Yes,” the doctor answered
nervously, “Sadly, that is the case. I wish I could tell you better news, but
there is nothing I can do at this point, but wait along with the two of you. I
am so sorry.”
“Well, I think that we need a
little bit of time alone, Doctor Jones,” said Mike.
“Yes, of course,” Dr. Jones
replied.
Mike and Martha closed the
door behind Doctor Jones. Martha was uncomfortable, and it showed with the long
silences between the two of them. “I can’t believe we let John walk around the
mean streets of Detroit alone,” Martha said as she broke the silence.
“Well,” stated John, “it
wasn’t really our fault.”
“Not our fault!” Maria
yelled, “How could you possibly think that this was not our fault?”
“Quiet down. This room isn’t
sound proof,” Mike snapped. “People can hear us.”
“I don’t care how crazy we
sound! It’s our son and he was so badly injured his life is on the line!”
“I know, but that doesn’t
mean that we need to be yelling. You know we could be adults and talk with
inside voices,” Mike retorted with impatience toward Martha.
“Oh, pish posh! You and your
kindergarten talk. Talk in inside voices, blah, blah, blah.” Maria stated
mockingly.
“Hey, I was just resorting to
what I know best! We always had to talk to John’s teachers about that,” Mike
declared. “But never mind that! What we should be talking about is why we gave
him that much money to walk with around town. Maybe if he didn’t have all of
that money for the night, or if we would have communicated better, and he had
gotten picked up on time, then he wouldn’t have gotten mugged.”
“Of course he wouldn’t have
gotten mugged! The only reason he got mugged in the first place is because
someone knew he was carrying all that money,” Maria yapped.
“Fine, whatever, what we need
to know is…” Mike retorted before he was cut off when the door instantaneously
burst open.
Dr Jones cried, “Little
Johnny just woke up!”
Maria sat speechless, but
Mike answered, “W-w-what do you mean, is he out of the coma? Is he back with us
and among the living?”
“Yes! Amazingly, he is alive!
I just happen to be in the room checking his pulse when I noticed he opened his
eyes,” the doctor excitedly stated.
“I am speechless, but it’s
the, it’s the, the, the best news I’ve heard all evening!” Martha stuttered.
“I would have to agree with
you on that, Martha,” Doctor Jones said.
“Soooo…” Mike and Maria
stated simultaneously.
“So, do you want to go see
your son, or keep talking about it out here in the hallway?”
“Okay, take us to John!” Mike
said with a certain excitement in his voice.
Swiftly, John’s parents walked
out of the conference room, and Maria whispered to her husband, “We should be
so thankful John is awake and with us again.” As they walked down the hallway,
Mike thought to himself, am I dreaming this,
or will I really see my son looking into my eyes once again?
They continued down the corridor until they
reached John’s room. “After you,” said Dr Jones.
Impatiently, Mike nodded, opened the door and noticed
that there was a TV with the news on in the background… Mike saw his son lying
up in his hospital bed. For several minutes, Mike stood motionless realizing he
would not have been able to stay strong for his wife if he had lost John. Their son meant the world to both of them, and
they had nearly lost him. “Hey Dad,” John whispered in a hoarse voice, “I just
woke up, how long was I out? What happened? Why is-”
Mike shot John a, We will talk about that later look, and
John closed his mouth and just smiled. Mike then asked his son if he felt
alright, and John replied, “I’m fine, I guess. Just a little sore.” When Martha
first saw her son awake and talking, it stunned her into another silence. Martha
hadn’t really known what she would do when she saw her son come out of the coma,
but she there would certainly be tears of joy. Abruptly, Martha started sobbing
on her husband’s shoulder as she tried to focus on her son’s whispering voice.
“Dad…Mom, listen to the news,”
John said in a scratchy voice as everyone looked up to the television.
A reporter came on and
announced in an unemotional voice, “The police have just found evidence that eleven
year old John Webster was mugged by three members of the 50-50 gang..."
