Get Ready to Say Goodbye - Hardcover

Rosen, Fred

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0882820796 ISBN 13: 9780882820798

Publisher: New Horizon Press, 1994

Synopsis

The lives of a loving mother, father and their bright, athletic thirteen-year-old son are changed forever when he is shot by his fourteen-year-old best friend. Neither drugs nor gangs are involved, but childhood violence comes to the suburbs in this gripping true story.

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Reviews

An angry and vengeful account of an act of possibly-not- gratuitous violence that turned a 14-year-old into a quadriplegic. Dwayne McKee was shot by his best friend, Jeffrey Townsend, who used a loaded gun left in an unlocked drawer in the Townsend house. Dwayne's mother tells the story (with Schwarz, The Hillside Strangler, 1981) of her son's suffering, of the morbid prognosis, of the struggle and sacrifice first to keep him alive and then to help him regain physical functions. At the heart of her story is a quest for retribution. According to the author, no one in the Townsend family--including Jeff, who pointed the loaded gun and said, ``Get ready to say goodbye''--showed remorse or concern or even acknowledged responsibility. Their financial resources stretched too thin to provide Dwayne with the medical treatment and physical therapy he needed merely to stay alive, the McKees consulted lawyers about suing Jeff's father, David Townsend. No go, said the lawyers; the family would only declare bankruptcy. Eventually a lawyer was found who helped to uncover hidden assets and obtained a judgment of $8.5 million against an insurance company that held a policy on David Townsend's business. David Townsend himself went to jail on a not entirely unrelated charge. The McKee family is still trying to collect the $8.5 million. Dwayne has determinedly begun to learn to walk again. And his mother is still bitter and close to self-pity. Cheer for the judgment against the big insurance company and for Dwayne's accomplishments; pity the mother, who has obsessed for so long about wanting the accused to say ``I'm sorry.'' -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

YA-Jeff Townsend, Dwayne McKee's "best friend," utters the words, "'Get ready to say goodbye,'" before pulling the trigger of his father's loaded handgun and shooting Dwayne through the neck. This easy-to-read account by McKee's mother details the malicious shooting, her son's tedious and minimal rehabilitation, and the family's struggle to gain recompense for the overwhelming medical expenses. The police report and subsequent trial proceedings ultimately determine negligence as the cause but the Townsend family is so adept at scamming even their own business out of money that many years and court proceedings pass before there is any hope of receiving financial help with Dwayne's escalating expenses. YAs will find this sobering story an education in many ways. The specific physical and emotional details required to care for a quadraplegic are spelled out, showing the pain and anguish Dwayne and his family suffer. The result of careless gun control and the lasting effect of teenage jealousy are clearly illustrated. And finally, the inadequacy of the judicial system for providing timely and just reaction to a criminal tragedy tunes readers into the need for prevention rather than cure.
Jessica Lahr, Edison High School, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 1985, 14-year-old Dwayne McKee was shot by his 13-year-old friend Jeff Townsend in the affluent California town of Woodland Hills. According to Dwayne, the shooting was deliberate, a view espoused by his mother in her affecting recreation coauthored with freelancer Schwarz. The shooting left Dwayne a quadriplegic immobile below his neck. Much of the book is devoted to his struggles to stay alive, and later to conquer his paralysis. After seven years of physical therapy, Dwayne took his first step. We also read of the McKee family's attempts to collect money from the Townsends for Dwayne's medical bills, resulting in a legal judgment of $8.5 million, which is being appealed. Jeff, who was found guilty of attempted murder, was placed on probation. The real villain of the tragedy, however, is Jeff's father, David, who is presented here as irresponsible, a thief and a con man. The McKee family's pain and outrage permeate the book with impact. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In June_ 1985, McKee received a telephone call that would change her family's life forever. Her 13-year-old, Dwayne, had been shot in the neck with a .38 caliber pistol by his best friend, Jeff Townsend. The two boys were in Townsend's parents' bedroom, and although Jeff said the shooting was accidental, inconsistencies in his story and testimony from Dwayne, who sustained massive spinal-cord injuries, prompted Jeff's arrest and eventual conviction on a minor negligence charge. Making the tragic incident more compellingly readable is the Townsends' casual attitude toward it: they seemed more concerned with protecting the assets of their multimillion-dollar business than accepting financial responsibility for quadriplegic Dwayne's medical bills. The McKees remain understandably perplexed and angry. Meanwhile, Dwayne's medical and psychological struggles continue, as does the legal battle to collect an $8.5 million insurance settlement, which is also detailed in this candid reflection. Sue-Ellen Beauregard

Dwayne McKee and Jeff Townsend were best buddies, growing into their teen years together, going to school and parties, and trying to figure out what made females tick. Then one day Jeff said, "Get ready to say good-bye," aimed a .38 Smith and Wesson directly at Dwayne and pulled the trigger, severing Dwayne's spinal cord. LaVonne McKee writes eloquently of the outrage, confusion, and plain, simple pain of her son's slow recovery from his injury. Her story is particularly harrowing because it could happen to anyone. The McKees and Townsends were both "normal" upper middle-class families with no experience with violence. How could McKee's son be a victim of such a savage act? McKee writes from the depths of a mother's soul when she recounts the trial of Townsend, who received only a year's probation for his crime. She feels that the punishment did not fit the crime and that Townsend should have been locked up until her son could walk again. Recommended for general readers.
Belinda J. Pugh, Kings Bay Base Lib., Ga.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: New Horizon Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0882820796
• ISBN 13: 9780882820798
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 200