Daddy Daughter

A couple of weeks ago, trauma hit our area hard. I am hoping they don't come in threes as the saying goes. I received a phone call from Doug informing me that he was called to help with a search and rescue behind Dennis' old house. He explained that two little kids had fallen into the canal and needed to be rescued.

The next call was much worse.

Doug called back and told me that two kids had indeed fallen into the canal, that one was alive, and the other was dead. The little two-year-old girl was Isabella, a girl we all knew from a family we all knew. She and Jesus, her best friend, had slipped out the back gate which was left open by the pool construction crew who left for the dump but forgot to close the gate. Minutes later, the 19-year-old boy, Michael, went looking for the kids. When he couldn't locate them immediately, he called for his dad, John, who had been ill and was very weak. Despite this, John and Michael went into the backyard to look for the kids. When he saw the gate open, he ‘knew we were in trouble.’ They went out the gate and immediately noticed the dirt slide marks down the bank of the canal leading to the water. Michael jumped in there but was unable to find the kids.

On instinct, and judging from the current flow, Michael climbed out and he and John began running ‘downstream’. About a quarter of a mile from their home, the canal runs under McDowell Road. On the other side is a water-flow regulation gate. Michael ran across McDowell and jumped in the water just in front of the gate. He quickly found Jesus who was clinging to a pole with his head beneath the water. How he knew at two years old to hold on to a pole is beyond me. Michael grabbed the boy and hastily handed him up to John. John took the boy over to the sidewalk – Jesus was coughing and gasping.

Michael returned to the search – frantically looking for his little sister. If Jesus was here, she would be too. Soon John heard a scream from the water – and Michael held Isabella’s lifeless body up for him to pull from the canal. John told me later that he knew she was gone. By this time, 911 had been called and helicopters were on the scene to take the children to the hospital. John said he was relieved to let the professionals continue to administer CPR – taking over where he left off.

When I arrived at their home, the other children were all home and news reports described two kids in critical condition. Two television stations had parked their vans in the cul-de-sac and periodically would come to the door and ask if there was an update on the children’s conditions. The home has a large front door that is mostly glass. We covered the door with a sheet so the media could not shoot through the door and capture the hugging and crying going on in the entry.

I have never in my 45 years upon this earth seen grief and sadness on a person’s face like I saw when John walked in the door from the hospital. His wife, Jacqueline had similar sorrow on her face. They wanted nothing more than to hug their children. Then, officially, they took their children into the master bedroom and informed them that their little sister had passed away. We all waited for ‘the meeting none of ever wanted to be invited to’ to finish.

By the time I arrived to their home there had already been a lot of food prepared and delivered. The family, of course, was not terribly interested in eating it. Probably the most interesting/touching gesture from a neighbor was luminaries. Their walkway was lined with small, white lunch bags filled with sand and a candle in the bottom – a fitting tribute or gesture that really said nothing more than ‘we care’.

I was asked to help assemble a DVD with music depicting pictures of this little girl. I also was asked to help with the funeral program. I was honored to be able to help. As the week progressed, I prepared to leave town to take my daughters on the ‘Daddy-Daughter Campout’. As I had not received all the information on time, I ended up constructing the program and delivering it to Kinko’s for printing over the weekend. I was unable to deliver it so while I was gone, Debi chased around to different establishments to get this thing printed. She saved my life. Without her, I would not have been able to go to the campout – which was fun.

The Sunday after the campout was the viewing for this little girl. They held the viewing in their home and opened the front door to HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of well-wishing friends, family, and neighbors. The DVD was playing just inside the front door while the body lies in state in the family room. The courageous parents stood by and greeted the throng. One particularly poignant comment offered was, ‘…it’s not right that they make caskets that small. It should be illegal.’

The most surreal part of the Sunday night event was that Jesus was running around, in and out of the crowd, obilvious of his friend in the box.