The Running Dream

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2011

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Part 2, Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Chapter 4 Summary

Jessica’s mother comes home while she is in the shower and becomes upset when she can’t find Jessica. She is shocked and asks Jessica if Fiona helped her into the shower. When Jessica says no, her mother lectures her, saying she shouldn’t have come upstairs alone. But Jessica points out that she is just fine and now clean. She proudly explains to her mother how she got up the stairs and into the tub.

Jessica continues to surprise her mother by telling her that she is going out for food with Fiona. She has also surprised herself, and she wonders how she could be in such a good mood.

Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary

Fiona arrives to take Jessica out to lunch. Jessica’s mother frets about Jessica taking care of herself when Jessica chooses to use her crutches instead of the wheelchair. She waves goodbye to her mother but sees the worry in her mother’s face. Suddenly Jessica realizes that her mother isn’t really worried that Jessica will fall; rather, Jessica realizes that her mother is worried about Jessica coming home alive. The last time Fiona picked Jessica up was on the way to the bus for the track meet. She asks to borrow Fiona’s cell phone to call her mother and reassure her that she will be okay.

Jessica understands that her mother has given her all, that she has been so strong and positive during this tragedy. She has been the exact opposite of Jessica, and suddenly Jessica realizes that it’s time to switch roles with her mother. Her mother has run her leg of the relay race, and she’s too tired to go further. It’s now up to Jessica to take the baton.

Part 2, Chapter 6 Summary

At the restaurant, Jessica must deal with people who won’t look at her and others who stare openly at her missing leg. After they are seated, Jessica indicates that she is almost ready to go back to school. Fiona encourages her to go tomorrow, a Friday, as it would only be one day and then she would have the weekend to recover. She also thinks that she would “have all weekend to get over people staring or ignoring”(83).

Fiona shares all the school gossip with Jessica, including the continuing romance between Gavin and Merryl. During their conversation, Jessica begins to think about how insignificant she is to the school community. Life has continued to go on without her, and without Lucy. She finally asks Fiona about track, and Fiona tells her the team lost its last meet. Without thinking, Jessica asks which teammate picked up her leg of the relay. When Fiona and Jessica realize the phrasing Jessica used, they look at each other and then burst out laughing. Jessica understands that she is “leaving one long, hard section of track behind me” (85) and that for the first time in a long time, she feels good.

Part 2, Chapters 4-6 Analysis

Jessica begins to assert some independence, which her mother is happy about, on the one hand, and desperately worried about on the other. Proud of her accomplishments, Jessica is in a good mood and decides that she will go out to lunch with Fiona. A change begins to occur in Jessica as she emerges from her self-imposed exile and understands that everyone has been strong for her and it’s now her turn to step up.

At lunch, Fiona convinces Jessica to return to school the next day. She fills Jessica in on school events, and Jessica sadly reflects on her insignificance in the community. Life at school has gone on as usual, just without Jessica and without Lucy. Regardless, Jessica makes an inadvertent joke when asking about the track team which causes her and Fiona to laugh out loud. This ability to joke shows Jessica has taken a step forward in her healing process.