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Ted was a retired carpenter. Widowed for more than 6 years, he honored the memory of the only woman he ever loved by going to church each Sunday and sitting in the same pew they always occupied as a couple. He was sure she could hear him when he was there. He had many friends, but there would never be another woman for Ted. He had prepared well for retirement, and lived comfortably and quietly. His only son had given him two grandchildren--Henry and Ellie--and little Ellie was practically the exact image of her grandmother. She was an absolute delight.
Two days before Thanksgiving in 2009, Ted was preparing the house for his son’s family to come over for the holiday dinner. He was a capable cook, and truly put out a lovely spread every year for them as well as for a few friends who always seemed to wind up alone on special days.
The driveway of the house was directly opposite the stop sign, so if a driver were to go straight after the stop, he’d pull right up to the house. Ted had asked the city for years to authorize a guardrail with reflectors in his front yard, but it had yet to respond. He had built a set of interior shutters for the front bay window that he closed at night to avoid the constant glare from headlights. As he was about to close the shutters that evening, he noticed a car coming towards the house at a furious speed. He dove frantically to the left as the 1999 Ford Taurus crashed through the front wall and into his living room with a horrendous sound.
