Authors: Wendelin Van Draanen
The Running Dream
Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief
Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man
Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy
Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf
Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary
Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy
Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes
Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception
Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen
Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway
Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things
Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash
Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher
• • •
How I Survived Being a Girl
Flipped
Swear to Howdy
Runaway
Confessions of a Serial Kisser
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Wendelin Van Draanen Parsons
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Van Draanen, Wendelin.
The running dream / Wendelin Van Draanen. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: When a school bus accident leaves sixteen-year-old Jessica an amputee, she returns to school with a prosthetic limb and her track team finds a wonderful way to help rekindle her dream of running again.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89679-8
[1. Running—Fiction. 2. Amputees—Fiction. 3. Prosthesis—Fiction. 4. People with disabilities—Fiction. 5. High schools—Fiction. 6. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.V2857Rv 2011
[Fic]—dc22
2010007072
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.1
M
Y LIFE IS OVER
.
Behind the morphine dreams is the nightmare of reality.
A reality I can’t face.
I cry myself back to sleep, wishing, pleading, praying that I’ll wake up from this, but the same nightmare always awaits me.
“Shhh,” my mother whispers. “It’ll be okay.” But her eyes are swollen and red, and I know she doesn’t believe what she’s saying.
My father—now that’s a different story. He doesn’t even try to lie to me. What’s the use? He knows what this means.
My hopes, my dreams, my life … it’s over.
The only one who seems unfazed is Dr. Wells. “Hello there, Jessica!” he says. I don’t know if it’s day or night. The second day or the first. “How are you feeling?”
I just stare at him. What am I supposed to say, Fine?
He inspects my chart. “So let’s have a look, shall we?”
He pulls the covers off my lap, and I find myself face to face with the truth.
My right leg has no foot.
No ankle.
No shin.
It’s just my thigh, my knee, and a stump wrapped in a mountain of gauze.
My eyes flood with tears as Dr. Wells removes the bandages and inspects his handiwork. I turn away, only to see my mother fighting back tears of her own. “It’ll be okay,” she tells me, holding tight to my hand. “We’ll get through this.”
Dr. Wells is maddeningly cheerful. “This looks excellent, Jessica. Nice vascular flow, good color … you’re already healing beautifully.”
I glance at the monstrosity below my knee.
It’s red and bulging at the end. Fat staples run around my stump like a big ugly zipper, and the skin is stained dirty yellow.
“How’s the pain?” he asks. “Are you managing okay?”
I wipe away my tears and nod, because the pain in my leg is nothing compared to the one in my heart.
None of their meds will make that one go away.
He goes on, cheerfully. “I’ll order a shrinker sock to control the swelling. Your residual limb will be very tender for a while, and applying the shrinker sock may be uncomfortable at first, but it’s important to get you into one. Reducing the swelling and shaping your limb is the first step in your rehabilitation.” A nurse appears to re-bandage me as he makes notes in my chart and says, “A prosthetist will be in later today to apply it.”