A child runs
across the street
She just wants to play
A truck comes up behind her
He keeps coming
and coming
Doesn’t slow for anything
His head is down
He’s not watching the road
He hears a bang
He looks up
but it’s too late
He steps out of the truck
gets down to her level
She’s not breathing
He’s overcome with grief
What does he do now
The mother comes
calling to her child
“Dinner time”
She sees the body
lying beneath a truck
She screams
and cries
Her baby is gone
This man took her from her
He got a text
He looked at it
“what’s the ham”
he thought
“I’ll just take one peak”
He throws his phone
to the ground
watches it shatter
This object
distracted him
and now this child
has to pay
Sirens wail
as doctors approach
They push and push
on her tiny chest
Push and push
again and again
Then they breathe for her
Again and again
they try and try
until finally
the little heart beats
The mother cries joyously
as her once lifeless baby
lives once more
She knows she is lucky
not all stories
have a happy ending
The man from the truck
breathes a sigh of relief
He takes a vow
never to touch his phone
while he drives
He keeps to his vow
while the little girl
lives a happy life
and he leaves his phone
in the back seat
far
out of reach
by Leah Theroux
Words In Motion 2014
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