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Show my relatives and friends walk' toward the casket. They passed by, one by one, and looked at me with the saddest sad-dest eyes I've ever seen. Some of my buddies were crying. A few of the girls touched my hand and sobbed as they walked away. Please . . .somebody . . . wake me up! Get me out of here. I can't bear to see my Mom and Dad so broken up. ' My' grandparents are so racked with grief they can barely walk. My brother broth-er ahd sisters are like zom -bies. They move like robots. ro-bots. In a daze. Please don't bury me! I'm not dead! I have a lot of living to do! I want to laugh and run again. I want to sing and dance. Please don't put me in the ground. I promise if you give me just one more chance, God, I'll be the most careful driver in the whole world. All I want is one more chance. Please, God. I'm only 17! glass were sticking out all over. Strange that I. could not feel anything. Hey, don't pull that sheet over my head. I can't be dead. I'm only 17. I've got a date tonight. I am supposed to grow up and haven't lived yet. I can't be dead. Later I was placed in a drawer. My folks had to identify me. Why did they have to see me like this? Why did I have to look at Mom's eyes when she faced the most terrible ordeal of her life. Dad suddenly looked like an old man. He told the man in charge. "Yes, he is my son." The funeral was a weird experience. I saw all of This article is reprinted from Dear Abby, by request. It's good advice and if re-' printing it saves one life, it will certainly be worth it. Unfortunately you don't hear about lives such an article saves you only hear about those lives lost because they didn't heed good advice. The day I died was an ordinary or-dinary school day. How I wish I had taken the bus! But I was too cool for the bus. I remember how I wheedled the car out of Mom. "Special favor," I pleaded, "all the kids drive." When the 2:50 bell rang, I threw all my books in the locker. I was free until 8:40 tomorrow morning! I ran to the parking lot, excited at the thought of driving a car and being my own boss. Free! It doesn't matter how the accident happened. I was goofing off going too fast. Taking crazy chances. But I was enjoying my freedom and having fun. The last thing I remember was passing an old lady who seemed to be going awfully slow. I heard the deafening deafen-ing crash and felt a terrific jolt. Glass and steel flew everywhere. My whole body seemed to be turning inside out. I heard myself scream. Suddenly I awakened. It was very quiet. A police officer was standing over me. I was saturated with blood. Pieces of jagged |