Scenario

Author's Note- This is a fiction piece to the novel, Rules of the Road, by Joan Bauer. It was written as Jenna, the main character. She adventures out on a road trip with her boss, and meets many new people along the way. Harry Bender is one of the most special people that she's met, and she wished that he would have been her dad. This is a scene I added right after Jenna gets tragic news about Harry.

The Turning Point

I was having such mixed feelings at this point. I didn't know what to do besides just lay in my bed and cry. I wasn't quite sure how I loved Harry Bender so much; I had known him for about two weeks. Although, later I realized that the more I cried the better I felt about my dad, Harry, my life.

This feeling was ruined when we got news of how Harry died. I was so furious and sad at the same time. Mrs. Gladstone came into my room for one of my special grilled cheese sandwiches that night. She said that she had bad news; I didn't think that anything could be worse than what I had experienced the previous night.

"Jenna, dear, I don't know how to tell you this," Mrs. Gladstone said with sorrow in her voice.

"What?" I questioned.

"I just don't want to hurt you."

"What is it, Mrs. Gladstone?"

"You are going to have to live with this for the rest of your life. I don't want you to have to go through this, but I guess you deserve to know."

"Please, just tell me."

By this time I was very frustrated even though I knew that it was going to be bad news.

"Okay. Here it goes. Jenna, you know how Harry Bender died."

From where this started, I knew this wasn't going to have a bit of hope.

"The drunk driver that killed him was…"

She paused for a moment. I automatically got a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"It was... your father."

She stared directly into my eyes, as if she was wondering what I would do. The situation was extremely ambiguous to me, although I knew exactly what I needed to do. All I needed to do was cry. I needed to get all my feelings out. I really needed to talk to my grandma. She would understand. I missed home, and this wasn't helping the situation. I couldn't decide if I should be mad at my father or try to forgive him. I realized that I had forgiven him too many times to accept this mistake. This was, by far, the worst thing he had done. One of the only people I felt comfortable with, he took away--just like everything else in my life that made me happy.