Anna’s reaction to being in court is not what one would
expect from a 13-year-old who is filing a lawsuit against her parents. Instead
of enjoying watching her mother being cross-examined, Anna feels pity and
simply wants the trial to be over – not exactly what one would expect to hear
out of a teenager filing for medical emancipation. Two doctors, Dr. Bergen and
Dr. Chance, both testify next. Like many doctors that are called into court,
they are eager to leave and get back to their patients. After both of the
testimonies from the doctors, it can be concluded that they believe that
everyone is doing their best to do what is in the best interests for the entire
Fitzgerald family.
The novel
then flashed back to 2002 when Kate is in remission for a short time before
relapsing. We learn of the story of Taylor Ambrose. As one can expect, Kate met
this boy in the hospital while he was getting chemo and she was receiving
platelets. They flirted and eventually Taylor asks for Kate’s number, which she
happily gives him. One quote that describes the relationship between Taylor and
Kate perfectly is when Sara says, “The arsenic, which ultimately put Kate into
remission, worked its magic by wearing her down. Taylor Ambrose, a drug of an
entirely different sort, works his magic by building her up” (310). Even when
Kate begins to relapse, he is there for her to rub her back as she vomits
during chemo. Taylor is one thing in Kate’s life that actually makes her
genuinely happy. Even in this environment, Taylor asks Kate to the hospital’s
“prom” – a memory she believed that she would never get the chance to have. The
dance was just a couple days away and finding a dress was Kate’s nightmare (she
was doing her best to cover up the many scars she had). Kate said that for just
one night she wanted to feel beautiful. Sara ended up finding a beautiful dress
for her on eBay, and the family took plenty of pictures to remember that
special night. After Kate’s perfect night with Taylor, three days had passed
and she had not even heard from him. Sara was also troubled by this, so she
asked one of the nurses if he had been here this morning only to find out he
had died. Since Kate had just started chemotherapy and would be hospitalized
for about a month, Sara decided to wait to tell her – she did not want her to
give up fighting for herself. Once Sara did tell Kate, Kate was furious and
incredibly melancholy. Kate loved Taylor.
Brian gets
called to another fire; this time it is at the elementary school. It is clear
once Brian looks at the fire’s damage that it was also started by the arsonist
that he has been trying to track down for months. Until Brian finds a cigarette
butt on the ground at the fire’s site, he still has no idea that Jesse is the
one that has been starting all these fires. Once Brian discovers that it was
Jesse, he goes home and confronts him about it showing that he knows of Jesse’s
arson. After Jesse breaks down and admits that he has been starting the fires,
Brian realizes that the reason Jesse started in the first place was because it
was his way of dealing with the pain in the family. Fire was Jesse’s way of
controlling something when the rest of his life seemed to go on, with or
without him. Although Brian understood why Jesse did this, he still was certain
that he would make sure Jesse never did it again.
When they
all go back to court the next day, Campbell is depending on Brian’s testimony
in Anna’s favor. With Brian as a witness, winning this case would be
significantly easier. However, once Brian gets on the stand and it comes time
for him to say he believes that Anna is right, he doesn’t. Instead he states
that he believes Anna should still donate her kidney. While this is definitely
a setback to Campbell’s and Anna’s case, it now would be almost impossible to win
without Anna’s testimony. At present, Anna refuses to testify in court, and
argues that that is the reason she hired Campbell in the first place. After
Sara cross-examines Brian, she realizes that they are once again on the same
page – trying to do what is best for their family. It is after all this that
Brian and Anna finally return home.
Later in
court Julia Romano, the guardian ad litem, testifies. She says that she
believes that after considering both sides and trying to determine what the
best course of action is for Anna, she has come to the conclusion that neither
Anna nor her parents are capable of making a decision for Anna’s behalf that is
unbiased. This is mainly because no matter who in the family makes the decision,
they will be making the decision that also effects other members of the family
in drastic ways. Julia’s recommendation to the court is one that the reader
most likely does not suspect; she does not know what to recommend to the court.
It is at this point that Anna asks to take the stand.
While
Campbell begins to ask Anna questions, Judge – the dog – begins to go crazy.
Judge DeSalvo asks Alexander to quiet his dog, but to continue questioning the
witness. One question led to Anna saying that someone convinced her to file
this lawsuit, which caught everyone by surprise. Who? Kate convinced Anna to file the case. At
this point Judge is going absolutely crazy until Campbell collapses and begins
to have a seizure.
Brian
rushes to Campbell’s side and gets him stable while determining that he just
had a grand mal. It is at this point in the novel that we finally find out why
Campbell Alexander has a service dog; he is an epileptic. After having a
seizure, he had lost control of his body including his bowels. Luckily, Brian
had brought a spare pair of pants for him to wear to finish the trial. Julia,
who was completely unaware of Campbell’s condition, is now more concerned than
angry about the past. The reader finds out that Campbell has had this condition
since he was 18 and has not told anyone about it. Campbell also explains to
Julia that the reason he left her was because he did not want to burden her
independent spirit with him, especially since he could have a seizure at any
moment. We finally understand what truly occurred between Julia and Campbell.
After telling Julia all of this, she says that this time Campbell doesn’t get
to leave her because she is going to leave him. After telling her to go, Julia
says, “’I will…In another fifty or sixty years’” (385). The reader finally gets
the reconciliation of these two that we have been waiting for.
Once the
trial resumes and Anna is once again in the hot seat, Campbell asks Anna what
Kate asked her to do. Her response was this: “’She asked me to kill her’”
(388). This was definitely not what anyone in the courtroom expected to hear. Everyone was surprised. Kate was tired of living like this for a long
time, but she could not bring herself to kill herself, so she asked Anna to do
it for her. After hearing this information, Judge DeSalvo decides he needs to
talk to Kate now, especially after all of this newfound information.
Judge
DeSalvo gives his verdict the next morning that he is granting Anna medical
emancipation from her parents and that Campbell Alexander is to be her medical
power of attorney. Even though this trial started out as a terrible break
between the family, the entire family is happy with this outcome. Campbell and
Anna stay a little later to fill out some of the paperwork, while the rest of
Anna’s family goes ahead to the hospital to meet them afterward.
While Brian
is at the hospital, he gets a call from work that there has been an accident
and the crew needs his help. He gets to the crash scene and sees a giant truck
that had t-boned a small BMW. The BMW looked like an accordion wrapped around
the front end of the truck. Brian learns
that the driver went through the windshield and has already been taken to the
hospital, but there are still two people in the back of the BMW that they
cannot get out. As Brian is working his way from the trunk of the car trying to
get the people out, one of his crew opens up the door with the Jaws of Life and
a dog runs out of the car. It is at this moment that the person whose blood is
smeared all over the back window is none other than Anna’s. They get Campbell
out of the car and then finally Anna; her pulse is weak. Once the ambulance
arrives, they rush her to the hospital. At one point they had to use the
paddles to jump-start her heart again – getting her small pulse back. After they
get to the hospital, Campbell and Sara find Brian, who is without words, and
the doctor informs them that Anna is brain-dead.
Even though
this is a tragic moment for most, Kate gets Anna’s kidney after all; this
allows her to provide an epilogue for the reader. Kate hated herself because
she believed that this was all her fault. If she had not asked Anna to stop
donating to her, she never would have filed the lawsuit – never would have been
in that intersection. Eventually she got to the point where she realized, Anna
would have wanted us to be happy. They kept in touch with Campbell and Julia
for a while – until it got too painful. The Fitzgeralds even went to their
wedding. Jesse graduated from the police academy, which suggests he turned his
life around for the better. Brian started drinking and has been struggling to
stop since then. Kate graduated high school and is teaching ballet – something
that makes her think of Anna. Besides all of the pictures and memories of Anna
that Kate has, she has her kidney; something of Anna’s that will always be with
her.
This is not
a happy ending by any means, but it is a real one.
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