One day, Jake, a 27 year old man, was strolling down the street during a classic New York ice storm. Later that day something was going to happen to him that would completely change his life. He was still walking down the street trying to get to work, when suddenly, a frozen electrical pole came tumbling down. It was headed straight for him, but just as the electrical pole was about to hit him a man came and shoved him out of the way of the electrical pole. The man walked away as if saving a man’s life wasn't a huge deal. He tried to thank him, but before he could he was walking away awfully fast. After that, he walked home in shock and awe knowing that he could be dead right now. He walked in the door to his home when he was happy to see his wife Mary, William his son. He was even excited to see his annoying dog, Butch.

After he greeted everyone he sat down and talked to his wife about what happened earlier that day.

“Today, when I was walking to work, and an electrical pole that was frozen from the ice storm came crashing down. It would have hit me if it weren’t for another man. I tried to say thanks but he just walked away,” Jake said.

“Well it doesn’t matter now does it? I mean you’re alive and you’re sitting right in front of me,” Mary said.

Jake did the usual routine after he got home. Take a shower, help his son with his homework, ate dinner, and he asked everyone how their day was. After all this Jake tucked in his son and went to sleep.

The next day Jake got up and went to work again. He showered and headed out the door. His wife stopped him before he could go just to say good bye, but something was completely out of the normal when he looked at his wife. She had numbers above her head. He thought he was just woozy and was seeing things, so he headed out the door forgetting about the whole number thing.

When he was walking on his way to work, he saw more numbers above people’s heads. He ran back inside to take another look at his wife and also his son. His wife had the number 21,896,997 above her head, while his son had the number 19,967. He nearly fainted. He went over to his bed and slept from 8 0’clock to 1 o’clock. He went to the bathroom and washed his face off with water in the sink. He went back to his wife and still saw the numbers. He let out a deep sigh and looked out the window. It was New York rush hour and everybody was out, resulting in more red numbers. One lady even had two numbers, one above her head and one above her belly. He knew he couldn’t avoid the numbers so he just had to deal with seeing them.
Later that night when he was sitting in bed he tried to think of what the numbers could resemble. Then it hit him like a baseball to the face. Those numbers where how long people had to live. That’s why the lady had two numbers, when for her, and one for her baby. He remembered the 2 numbers that mattered the most to him, his wife and his son’s. His wife had a good number, 21,896,997, while his son had 19,967. He ran through his son’s room.
He told his son, “We are going to the doctors… now.”
“Okay I guess,” William said.
After he got him checked out, he found out his son was going to die very soon, unless he got a heart transplant. It was way too much money for him to spend. He would try to raise it, but if he couldn’t then he would sadly have to watch his son die in pain and misery.
It had been 2 weeks by now. He had to go through the pain of watching his son die. He had not even got close to raising enough money for the transplant. He told his son what was going to happen and oddly enough he didn’t cry, or start pouting and whining. He just stood there.
He said his goodbyes at night, knowing that he would probably die later in his sleep. Sure enough he did.
His family wept over him for a long time. Eventually, his family got over the death of the young boy and stopped weeping.
His dad, Jake, learned something though. You only have so long to live before you die, which means you should do what you can in the time you have and try everything you want to do you should.