Peanuts and Life

It is late, the phone is ringing, and Mom and Dad are getting the one call no parent ever wants. I glance at my Snoopy alarm clock. It is one thirty in the morning. Dad's voice changes from sleepy to panicked. For a moment, I think Johnny T has beaten me at my own game. For a moment panic seizes me. For a moment, I think Johnny T has gone before me. But he is still alive. Mama and Daddy are hurrying out the door on their way to the emergency room. There has been a wreck. Johnny T was driving drunk. Beverly went through the windshield. She will probably be leaving here before me. I have always wanted to be Johnny T, but for the first time, I think he would give anything to be me. To be fourteen and dying--at this moment that place would be paradise. Our lives will never be the same again. Johnny T will be changed forever.