The Running Dream

Excited about the prospect of running again, Jessica goes home and shows her family the videos of the runners with specialized prosthetics. She explains that the team is having a fundraiser so they can purchase a leg for Jessica. But Jessica’s dad is not convinced this will happen. She eavesdrops on her parent’s conversation in the kitchen and is floored when she hears her father say that “if it’s a pipe dream, it’s cruel!” (143). The running prosthetic costs twenty thousand dollars, and he doesn’t believe the team can raise that much money from bake sales and carwashes.

When Jessica’s father expresses how hard it has been to cover the medical bills as they are, his wife suggests they contact a lawyer, in order to apply pressure on the family of the man who caused the accident. He retorts with the point that the lawyer will take half of whatever settlement is agreed upon, and it will take years for it to happen, anyway.

Jessica sneaks away but says she “can’t escape the guilt” (144). Perhaps the money her team raises should just go toward her medical bills or the regular prosthesis. Jessica feels that she is a burden to everybody.