Saved by John

There was a book I read when I just got into secondary school or what some nations call high school. The title of the book was "John Saved the Train", it was such a long time ago that I have forgotten the name of the author. The book was about a little boy, who saved a train from derailing.

It is ironic how the story of this book often comes into play in real life. I do not mean the actual stopping of a train, but the stopping of something bad that is about to happen.

Sometimes bad things want to happen to us, but unexpectedly someone creates a situation or does something that makes us not get into that bad thing or problem.

I remember the year was 2005. My dad had told us that our favorite uncle and his family were coming and would spend a weekend with us. My uncle had given my dad the time and date of arrival, they had already booked their flight in advance.

The day before their arrival, the whole family was full of expectations, there wasn't a dull moment with my uncle around. That morning I had cleaned my room, it was spick and span, shining like the back of a silver plate reflecting the rays of the sun. The whole house was glittering, we know our beloved uncle dislikes dirty and untidy places. Mother and my older sister were already in the kitchen preparing my uncle's favorite meal.

We were all waiting for my dad to drive in with my uncle and his family. Dad had driven the long distance from our house to the airport to pick up his beloved brother and his family from the airport. It was an indescribable joy when I heard the sound of my dad's car coming up the driveway. I almost flew down the stairs (I'm sure I broke Usain Bolt's world record) to the driveway.

To my surprise, Dad was alone in the car. I turned around and even looked under the car. Where is my uncle and his family? Is this a prank? My uncle is known as a great prankster. My dad got out of the car and walked past me, his face ghostly, eyes as red as fireballs. I have never seen my dad like this in all my life. He slowly walked into the house and I followed him.

The smile on my mom's face disappeared as she saw Dad. She asked, "Where are they?" Dad pointed at the TV. We all turned to the TV but it was switched off. I walked over and turned it on.

I almost passed out. I turned back to see that my mom had collapsed to the floor and my sister sobbing already had walked to her. Showing on the TV was breaking news of a plane crash, the plane that would have brought my uncle and his family to us.

I sat on the floor confused and dazed, we were all staring at the TV.

The phone began to ring, it rang more than twenty times but none of us bothered to answer, this was not the time for condolences.

After about two hours, the phone started ringing again. Finally, I slowly walked to the phone, picked it up, and immediately put the phone on speaker.

Hello! Hello! Hello! Came the voice from the phone's speaker. It was the voice of my uncle. We all froze.

The voice said hello three more times and then called my dad's childhood nickname. My dad answered by calling his brother's nickname.

My uncle started talking, "It was John, I asked him to go pick up things I had bought for your family from the shop, he had a minor accident on his way back home, he was delayed, and we missed the flight".