Gideon's Tree

The "Emmy's Story" series begins when Emmy isfour-years-old and quickly progresses to focuson her teen years and beyond. In this book, "Gideon's Tree: Emmy's Story, Part 15,"Emmy's comfortable life is changed by an online article."What are you looking at? Have you been crying?" Kenny asked."I was reading this article about a baby who passed away last year. He only lived for forty-three days."Kenny scooted around the couch. "What happened to him?""His heart didn't work right," Emmy said."What was his name? Does it say where he lived?""He lived in Florida. His name was Gideon. His parents would sit on a bench under anoak tree every morning to pray for him."She stresses over the girls getting older, Heather's interest in a local boyand is stunned by a friend's health crisis. Emmy slipped on the wet parking lot as she ran to her car. She thought about Kenny. I'll call him when I get to St. Bart's. There's no need to tell him about Gideon until I know more. She turned onto Canton Lane and headed to the hospital. She made it through several green lights, but then caught a red one at Townsend Avenue. Emmy pounded the steering wheel and muttered,"Come on change. How long can you stay red."The light changed. Emmy let out the clutch and floored the accelerator. The front tires struggled to gain traction on the damp pavement."Come on!" Emmy yelled. A split-second later the car was filled with flying glass and thescreeching sound of metal grinding against metal. The driver behind Emmy slammed on his brakes, slid sideways, came to a stop and swore."Holy Jesus!" his wife shouted as she was thrown forward."You better call 9-1-1.