White Hair Man Research Paper

Sarah Carlson
Mr. Green
English 11A
11 November 2012
The White Haired Man I had just finished helping my dad put the last of the holiday wrapped Christmas presents into the back of our green navigator, which we called the green monster, when I slipped on a patch of black ice. “Be careful,” warned my dad, “that ice can be dangerous.” My dad has always been very calm and serious, he says things the way they are, he does not sugar coat anything. As I was standing up and wiping the cold, wet snow off myself my mom came out of the house with our golden retriever, Oscar, trailing behind. Oscar loves winter, so of course he had to roll around in the fresh, soft recently fallen snow before getting into the green monster. After he was done
kicking snow in every direction and was covered head to paw he finally got into the car so we could begin our three hour road trip to grandmas in Farmington Hills. Our trip had not gotten off to the best start, we only made it half way down our road, Belmont, when Oscar decided we wanted to shake the snow off himself. Snow flung everywhere and my mom laughed, she has always been easy-going, she never sweat the small stuff. After driving for about twenty minutes things in the green monster settled down, Oscar found a spot to lay in the backseat next to me, mom and dad were listening to Rudolph the red nosed reindeer on the radio to try and get into the Christmas spirit and I was indirectly talking about how excited I was to spend the holidays with my entire family. When we finally reached the highway it began snowing again, it had been off and on all week, the weather channel expected this winter to have a total of the most inches since the sixties. As we traveled farther down the highway the visibility got worse. The falling snow flakes looked like they were as big as my hand. There was no other cars around us from what I could tell, but the snow was so thick there was no way to tell what was going on around us. About an hour into the trip, Oscar began to get restless, he continued to move around and scratch at the windows, he was driving my dad crazy, my mom however, did not mind because she was busy singing Christmas carols at the top of her lungs. My dad could not handle the distraction of Oscar any longer so he turned around to spank him. That is when he lost control. Before I knew what was happening the car jerked off the road and I could feel the green monster roll side over side again. My mother was screaming, the beautifully wrapped presents were flying throughout the car. Then everything went black. The next thing I remember was waking up in a tiny, cold, all white hospital room with a young woman in lavender scrubs staring at me.
I mumbled a few words that even I could not understand, “Hello, Elizabeth, I am your nurse, nurse Johnson, you were in a car accident and you are now at Hackley Hospital.” I was listening to what she was saying but I could not comprehend her words. My head was pounding and my right leg felt like I had a thousand needles stabbing into it. I tried to sit up but my entire body ached, I felt like I had been crushed by a ton of bricks. “Can I see my parents?” I asked so quietly I was not sure if the nurse could hear me. “Of course, they are right down the hall, I will go get you a wheel chair and I will be right back,” said nurse Johnson. I tried to get out of my hospital bed while she was gone but a horrible pain went through my ribs, I looked down and noticed I had a giant white cast on my right leg. Nurse Johnson came rushing in to help me into the wheel
chair, “Oh be gentle, you fractured three of your ribs so you will not be able to move quickly.” Great, I thought, I am going to have to wheel around in a wheel chair forever. “Any other injuries I should know about?” I asked. Nurse Johnson just stared at me for a second before answering “You broke your right leg, and you suffered a minor concussion,” she spoke softly. “And what about my parents?” I asked, trying to hold back my tears. “Your dad hit his head pretty badly and got stitches, he broke a couple ribs but he is going to be okay. Your mom is hurt a little worse, her lung collapsed and she broke her left arm and has some damage to her back.” I started to feel claustrophobic and could feel the tears rolling down my cheeks, I did not want to be in this room with a stranger any longer. “I am ready to see them.” Nurse Johnson wheeled me down a long white hall way with multiple rooms off it, each room had either beeping or groaning coming from it, some rooms had flowers or balloons on the doors. We finally got to a bigger pale yellow room with a big window in which my parents shared, they were both bruised and I hated seeing them this way. Nurse Johnson said she would give me a couple of minutes of alone time and she would later be back for me. After she left the room I wheeled between their beds and touched each of their hands. Why did this have to happen to me? What did my family and I do to deserve this? I then remembered Oscar, where was he? Is he alright? I sat between my parents beds for about a half hour before Nurse Johnson came into get me. “You all set?” she asked, she sounded like the lady that worked at the Meijer by my house she made it sound as if I was at a grocery store buying bananas.
I nodded and allowed her to wheel me back to my room. “So do you know what happened to my dog, Oscar?” I prepared for the worst news because that is all I have heard from her so far. “Oscar is fine, he is a tough fellow and is staying at the animal shelter down the road,” she answered with a slight grin. How could she smile? My parents are badly hurt as well as myself and the idea of Oscar being alone in a cold cage broke my heart. “I am tired, I think I am going to try to get some sleep” I said as I was trying to get myself out of the wheelchair, just as I finished my sentence an old man with white hair and green scrubs on entered and jokingly said “What you did not get enough sleep in the past week?” What was he talking about?
Week? “What is the date?” I asked, the white haired man looked at me strangely, “It is December 28, 2008,” he answered “after the accident you went into a coma, you have had many visitors, grandparents, friends, all kinds of other family members.” I did not answer, I was finally back into my hospital bed with the fluffy pillow against my badly hurt head. I can not believe I missed Christmas, I missed spending the holidays with my family and I missed my grandmas delicious Christmas ham. The white haired man and nurse Johnson left the room after checking my temperature and pulse so I made myself comfortable and tried to get some rest. It did not take me long to drift off, I do not have any idea how long I slept for, it could have been another week. I woke up the next morning to the smell of cooked bacon and eggs. I guess the nurses brought me breakfast. I opened my eyes and prepared myself to receive more bad news about my family’s condition, except something weird happened. Instead of waking up to a cold, white hospital room with strangers looking at me, I woke up to something familiar. I opened my eyes to my pink and green polka-dot walls and my pink comforter. What was going on? I got out of my bed expecting to feel as awful as I did in the hospital but I did not…I got out of my bed with no problem, I walked to my long mirror on my closet door and looked at myself, I looked fine, no bruises, no broken leg with a big cast. I knew my mom would know what was going on so I walked into the hallway and down the steps towards the Kitchen. I expected to see my mom the way I saw her in the hospital, all bruised and broken, but she looked normal and happy. “What are you doing?” I asked her. “Oh Liz, sweetie, I was going to surprise you with breakfast in bed!” I shook my head and looked at the floor, was I really in the hospital for that long? “Where is dad?!” I asked frantically thinking the accident was worse than the doctors expected and he did not make it. “Sweetie, you look like you just saw a ghost, he is outside getting the gifts into the green monster. Sit down and eat something before we leave for grandmas.” I could not just sit without answers. “How long was I sleeping for?” I asked without moving from where I was standing. “Just for the night, why? Do you need more sleep?” My mom did not look up from the stove as she answered. “Mom, what is the date?” I asked, just as I spit the words out of my mouth Oscar pranced into the kitchen, most likely trying to get some scrap bacon. “December 21,” my mom said looking at me as though I was some sort of crazy woman. “Yes, but what year?” at this point I was getting antsy, why couldn’t she be serious just once? “2011, the same year it was when you went to bed last night.” I could not figure out what was going on so I went outside to talk to my dad. I met him in the driveway when he asked why I looked so pale, I explained the situation to him, the accident, waking up that morning and the coma. “Honey, I think you had a bad dream, go on inside and eat breakfast, we will be leaving for grandmas soon.” I stared at him blankly and turned and headed for the door, but before I took a single step out of the corner of my eye I saw the white haired man drive by. Maybe it was a dream, or maybe I was crazy, the only thing that mattered to me was my family and I are okay. I have no idea what I would do without my family and my dream made me realize that. Now I get to enjoy the holidays the way I wanted.

Carlson