Moving Forward

It was during a routine mid-morning patrol that police noticed a dim light shining from the cotton field. This wasn’t the first time local authorities had seen something similar. It turned out to be nothing more than kids fooling around or someone who had missed a turn and ended up in a large ditch. Pulling the patrol car over, the officers waded through the tall vegetation as they edged closer to the crushed Ford pickup. The truck’s headlights had been totally shattered by the old tree upon impact, leaving only the red glow from the taillights to help guide the officers to the accident scene. As they approached, both men could hear the humming sound of the truck running, even though it appeared to be totally inoperable. Shining their own lights toward the vehicle, the officers were shocked to discover the motionless, bloodied and bruised eighteen-year-old driver slumped over the steering wheel. Thoughts of trying to revive the teenager came to both of their minds, but just looking at him; the officers knew there was no point. When the boy’s mother arrived on scene, her mood wasn’t what the police officers had expected. In most cases, when a loved one was called out to the scene of deadly accident, they were hysterical and barely able to react to what was happening in a stable manner, but not her. When she stepped in front of the wreckage, she was as calm and controlled as the day she had given birth to him. When word spread of her behavior, many people in town thought it was odd that she never once shed a tear when she discovered her own child dead. Instead, she had just helped the police begin to piece together what had happened. People always react to death in different ways. No two people ever respond alike to a situation like that; but when her husband had arrived on scene, she refused to allow him to see their son in that horrid state. Instead, she calmly ushered him away and explained what little the police had been able to figure out.