The Well Magazine Fall/Winter 2015 | Page 7

my 19-year-old daughter’s condition and why was Mary crying. He told me that all they knew was that the accident was serious and that the hospital was waiting for my call. When I called the hospital, they advised that I needed to get there as soon as possible, and they told me that they had been in contact with airlines in St. Louis and Chicago. They went on to give me contacts at both and advised me that the costs for the trip were already covered. I just needed to get there. I called the airlines. Chicago had a flight leaving at 1:30 a.m. A non-stop drive from Springfield to Chicago was at least three hours. Maybe I could make it. But the flight was not direct and at best it would be 8 a.m. before I landed in Lexington. I told them no thank you. I would drive. I hung up and ran towards the door. Then I realized that I had left my wallet. I ran back into the kitchen to grab my wallet and I started to run again when I stopped and knelt down at the phone stand and started to pray. When I got up, I called Mary and told her that we could drive. Thirty minutes later, Mary, our son Kwame and daughter Aisha were making the six hour drive to Lexington. On arrival, we walked through the packed emergency waiting room. More than 60 students from Joi’s school, Kentucky State University, the school’s chaplain, the school’s chief of police and the dean of students were in the waiting room. There was no time to talk. I we