The Running Dream

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2011

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Part 1, Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapter 10 Summary

Jessica works with the hospital’s physical therapist, who teaches her a series of stretches and exercises that she will need to complete every day. The brief exercise exhausts her so much that she lies down on the bed and hopes the therapist will leave. A knock at the door reveals a surprise visit from Jessica’s best friend, Fiona, who is there at Jessica’s mother’s invitation.

Fiona gives Jessica a giant stuffed teddy bear, and Jessica is caught staring at her friend’s legs, thinking, “I never really realized how beautiful legs could be” (24). Fiona apologizes for wearing shorts and then bursts out crying and hugs Jessica. Fiona explains that she had tried to visit a few times before but was always turned away. Fiona doesn’t know what to say except that she misses Jessica and that she has been frightened for her friend.

When Jessica declares that she is “dying in here” (24), Fiona quickly corrects her by saying that she is thankful Jessica is alive. Lucy, another girl on the bus in the accident, was not so lucky. Jessica did not know about Lucy’s death, and this news causes her to have a flashback to the accident. Lucy was sitting in front of Jessica on the bus, and then she remembers the lights, the sounds, and the pain in her foot before she passed out.

Part 1, Chapter 11 Summary

Fiona calls Jessica back from her memory and realizes that Jessica didn’t know about Lucy’s death. She explains that Lucy struck her head and died instantly. Jessica becomes dizzy thinking about Lucy, who “Joined the team to make friends” (27). No one else on the team was seriously injured, though the driver who hit the bus also died. Fiona fills Jessica in on the driver’s actions, saying that he was hauling wrecked cars in a truck with faulty brakes. He missed a turn, went off the road and down an embankment, then struck the school bus.

Fiona tentatively asks to see Jessica’s leg, and after a moment’s hesitation, Jessica draws the covers on the bed back to expose her stump. Fiona turns “whiter than [Jessica’s] sheets” (28), at which point Jessica covers the leg back up. She tells Fiona that the leg was “smashed beyond repair” (27), which was why the doctors couldn’t save it. When Jessica’s mother re-enters the room, Fiona hugs Jessica goodbye. Jessica watches her friend walk out of the room on her perfectly beautiful, whole legs.

Part 1, Chapter 12 Summary

As Jessica continues to heal, her sessions with the physical therapist become more detailed. She learns how to clean, dress, massage, and protect her leg, and in Jessica’s words, she “learn[s] not to vomit at the sight of it” (29). Her sister Kaylee visits again, and this time Jessica is in a more conversational mood.

To alleviate Kaylee’s discomfort, Jessica tries to make light of her situation. When Kaylee asks when Jessica will come home, she jokes that she doesn’t know if she wants to leave a place where “They wait on [her] hand and, uh, foot” (29). Jessica asks about the family dog, Sherlock, and whether he’s being exercised enough. She tells Kaylee to walk Sherlock more so he won’t chew any of Jessica’s shoes. Then she adds that Sherlock can have her right shoes only. Kaylee doesn’t laugh at Jessica’s attempts at humor, but instead hugs her sister and says that she loves her.

After a card game, their mother comes to take Kaylee home. Jessica plays the role of big sister, warning Kaylee not to wear her clothes and to stay out of her closet. Jessica realizes that she is exhausted from “pretending to be strong” (30) for her sister’s sake.

Part 1, Chapters 10-12 Analysis

Jessica begins her physical therapy sessions, which prove to be tiring. Her mother arranges for Jessica’s best friend, Fiona, to visit her in her room. Their reunion is a heartfelt one, with Fiona declaring how much she has missed her friend. Jessica, however, has a hard time not noticing Fiona’s perfect and beautiful legs, more aware than ever that hers will never look that way again. This envious gaze illustrates how far from acceptance Jessica is at this point in her recovery.

While talking to Jessica, Fiona remarks on how she has missed her and how frightened she was for her. Jessica’s comment that she is dying while trapped in her hospital room prompts Fiona to mention that another teammate on the bus, Lucy, did die in the accident. She struck her head and was killed instantly. This knowledge causes Jessica to have a flashback, reliving the moment where car and bus collided. This action of flashing back can be seen as typifying the early stages of recovery: Jessica is still effectively re-living the trauma.

Jessica finally talks to her sister, Kaylee, for the first time since the accident. She tries to deflect the awkwardness and Kaylee’s fears by joking about the loss of her leg. This, too, is indicative of Jessica’s lack of full acceptance of the gravity of her situation, proven by the fact that it exhausts Jessica to try to do rather standard things, such as being a good and caring sister to Kaylee.