This is a Fiction Piece - the idea for this
story was from a dream I had where I lost Mary and the dogs in a car accident.
Alison and Jonathan had known each other
for 14 years, and for 10 of them, were happily married. Their lives were perfect,
and they knew it. Sometimes they would look at each other and say, “What would
happen if our world fell apart?” but it never did. That is until July 10, 2015
when everything went horribly wrong.
It was a normal day for them. They
got up at 6 a.m. and went jogging. They came back, got ready for work, were out
of the house by 7:30 a.m. and at their respective desks by 8 a.m.
Jonathan would get home by 4:30 p.m.
to take their dogs over to the local dog park. He did this daily and was always
back by 5:30 to help Alison with preparing the dog's meals as well as
their own. Alison started getting worried by 5:40 when Jonathan hadn’t
returned home with the dogs. By 6:00 she was frantic. The phone rang at 6:10 and it wasn’t Jonathan. It was the police telling Alison that Jonathan had
been in a serious car accident. He was being taken by helicopter to Baystate Hospital in Springfield.
Alison asked about the dogs and the
officer said they were badly hurt and needed to be treated. Alison asked if he
could stay with the dogs until she got to the accident scene which was only
five minutes away. When she arrived, the officer helped get both dogs into the
car. Alison had already called the Vet Clinic to tell them that she was
bringing them in.
The staff were waiting outside. Each
dog was assigned a vet to assess the injuries. Once they were examined, it was
decided that due to the nature of their injuries, both dogs were going to have
to be put down. Alison was with each one of her beloved pups when this happened.
One of the techs gave Alison a ride
to Baystate Hospital to
be with Jonathan. Once Alison arrived at the E.D., she was told that he was in
surgery and they didn’t know how long he would be there. About an hour later, a
doctor came out and informed Alison that Jonathan’s injuries were so serious
that he was brain dead. Alison reacted hysterically to the news and had to be
given a sedative. She was asked by a nurse if there were any family members who
would like to see Jonathan.
Back when the two of them started
dating, Jonathan’s family refused to have further contact with the couple since
Alison was black. That decision devastated Jonathan for years.
Alison contacted Jonathan’s family to
let them know of his condition and to give them the opportunity to see him
before he died. Elizabeth, his mother, was the only family member to come to
the hospital. Alison also contacted Jonathan’s friends and colleagues who came
in droves to say their good-byes.
At the funeral, over 200 people
attended. Jonathan’s best friend and groomsman at their wedding gave the
eulogy. David spoke about Jonathan’s love for Alison. He also related cute
stories about their dogs. One was about Daisy who always snapped at his
shoestrings. When David changed to loafers, Daisy continued to snap at his
shoes. For Daisy, nothing had changed.
After the week of obligatory
casseroles, Alison found the flood of concerned friends had slowed down to a
trickle. She was at a loss as to what to do with her life without Jonathan and
the dogs. She went back to work, but the thrill of the job had faded.
Colleagues tried to be understanding, but other things in their personal and
work lives took precedence. Alison became quite lonely.
At around this point Alison, heard
from their vet. They had a puppy who had been hit by a car and had been
abandoned. She had undergone surgery and was in the healing process. The vet suggested that Alison stop by and visit. She did, and right away, felt a kindred spirit with the puppy. She decided to name her
"Hope" and brought her home.
Alison spent countless hours trying
to understand why Jonathan died. Alison heard from the District Attorney’s
Office about the accident. The individual who had hit Jonathan had started
drinking at a local bar around noon and
left a little after 5:00. He fled the scene of the accident but was later
identified because of a witness's report of what the car looked like. That car
belonged to a Congressman from their local district. This caused a flurry of
news reports that led reporters to Alison.
She briefly spoke to them explaining
how much the loss of Jonathan and the dogs had changed her life forever. She
also mentioned that she had hired an attorney to sue the Congressman for wrongful
death. Within 48 hours after her comments to the reporters, his attorney contacted Alison's with a settlement offer.
The offer was for a half of a million
dollars with the agreement that Alison would never discuss what the settlement
details were. Her counteroffer was $750,000 and that attorney fees would be
paid by the Congressmen as well. Alison planned to start a scholarship fund for
students in need at Sacred Heart University where
Jonathan had gotten his degree.
One thing Alison did do
was to complete the painting project of the laundry room that Jonathan had
started. He had painted two of the walls neon yellow and stopped. Several
years went by and Jonathan never picked up a paint brush to finish the project.
The main wall had about 20 pictures hanging on it and Jonathan did not want to
displace them in the process.
Alison took a photo so she could put
the pictures back in their appropriate places. Once the job was done, Alison
finished up the project by signing Jonathan’s name in a corner above the
baseboard. She also included the date he was killed. She re-hung the pictures
and looked at the room that she and Jonathan had created. For the first time in
months, she smiled.
