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